Dark Chocolate is Part of a Healthy Diet

A while back one of my facebook friends posted the image below. My eyes darted down the left side of the page straight to "Dark Chocolate'

Yes your eyes do not deceive you dark chocolate can and is part of a healthy diet. It is known to have antioxidants, boost metabolism and stanch cravings. 

via https://www.primalblueprint.com/

Make Your Own High Quality Chocolate Bars at Home

Our very own Laura Arendsen Rowe is busy finding ways to make all of our lives better. How about an awesome way to make deluxe high quality chocolate bars at a fraction of the cost? Check out her posts below and look out for more DIY chocolate fun to come!

I can't stop making chocolate bars! (Link in profile)

A post shared by Baking Pure & Simple (@bakingpurensimple) on Feb 17, 2017 at 11:58am PST

Part 1: DIY Chocolate Bars

"Lately, I have been reevaluating my spending. Upon reflection I found that my chocolate bar habit was up to about $90 a month! I like high quality dark (70 – 90%) chocolate. Some might even go as far as to say I self-medicate. I adhere to the theory that chocolate is an essential anti-oxidant – vital for good health..." (keep reading at Baking Pure and Simple)

Part 2: Enough with the Chocolate Bars Already!

"But when is enough – enough? Really? I know what you are thinking. Get over it. Go to the store and just buy some chocolate – but no! It’s so much fun to mess around with the different levels of cocoa and to add stuff to the chocolate bars and to master tempering the chocolate. And of course to clean up the melty chocolaty mess!..." (keep reading at Baking Pure and Simple)

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Watch: Cocoa Farmers Trying Chocolate For the First Time

I found this video via Gizmodo awhile back if you haven't seen it yet take a moment and appreciate. With the ease of having a million different kinds of chocolate at our fingertips we probably don't think about the process of getting it from cocoa bean to rich creamy sweet confection.

These cocoa farmers work hard to bring us the raw ingredients for our favorite treats, but they have never tasted the final product until now. Watch the video below. I hope it brings some perspective on the advent of the "food of the gods"

via Cocoa farmers trying chocolate for the first time is a must watch 

5 Steps to Getting Back on Track

Sometimes, we all get off track.  For years (over 10 years) I had a near perfect habit of getting up at 5am ish and either getting to the gym for a swim and weight lifting or a doing a 35 minute session of yoga at home.  The Polar Vortex winter of 2014 in the mid-west took its toll on my good habits.  I found it was all I could do to get the driveway shoveled and get to work - let alone get out to the gym at my normal hour.  Soon, everything was falling apart.  My good habit of eating a light spinach salad with carrots and hard-boiled egg each day for lunch which was nutritious and frugal gave way to a slice of meat lover's pizza from the near by cafe, still cheap, but not nearly as good for me.  My need for comfort food and sleep took over my trusted systems for health and energy and soon, my energy was all but gone and depression set in along with a few extra pounds to lug around.

Needless to say the few extra pounds only added to the depression and the lack of energy. This went on until about April.  When those of us living through the toughest winter in 130 years began to believe that spring really would come again. I managed to get to the gym after work a few times. Then, just as I thought I was getting back on track, a ski injury kept me from my workout for a few weeks. After that crazy vacation schedules, work and personal travel and other obligations continued to make getting to my regularly scheduled workouts a challenge. I still showed up at the gym at odd times and did not always swim due to colds, etc. Something had to be done!

How it all began...

The year was 2003, I found myself studying international and indigenous peoples law abroad for the summer. I would spend the first week in Belgium and 4 more in Switzerland with a few days in Amsterdam after flying in and before flying home. Little did I know the fruits of my adventure would have much more to do with decadence, music and yes, chocolate, than it would with legalese...

I had to have it, I had to try just a taste of ALL the gorgeous Belgian and Swiss chocolates. I paid for individual pieces more than you would pay for a snickers bar and gobbled them up, at first...