The Detox Market with a side of cookies

Last Sunday, my girlfriends and I took a day trip to a few places around the city, all of which were recent discoveries of mine.  I had been dying to bring my friends because I had inklings they would have appreciated them.  

First we stopped into a shop that I literally salivate over.  It's called The Detox Market and it's on King St. and Blue Jays Way.  Immediately upon walking into the store, you're greeted by a wall of what I, until further tastings, believe is the world's best chocolate.  The brand is called Taza Chocolate and I was first introduced to this piece of heaven by my school's nutritionist this past June.  Now, she's from New York so my challenge was finding this in Canada and for a long time, I had no such luck.  In September I was in New York myself and found the chocolate instantly at the Whole Foods in Columbus Circle.  Naturally, I stocked up and brought a whole ton back to Canada.  It wasn't until a few weeks ago that I stumbled upon this magical chocolate wall in The Detox Market and my dreams had come true.  

What I like best about this chocolate is that you have some of the most basic ingredients and not too many either.  It rarely surpasses five ingredients.  They use stone ground cacao beans and a bit of cane sugar and depending on the flavour, it would usually contain one or two more ingredients.  But wait...no soy lecithin??! Is it true?  Yes, yes. There is none of that stuff and it's wonderful and I think that might be part of what gives it this unique texture.  I think the texture is what makes it stand out the most for me.  When you bite into the chocolate it almost dissolves in your mouth into a powdery, almost sugary substance.  It kind of sounds too good to be true but believe me, you need to try this chocolate.  

This one I just tried for the first time and it's everything 

right in the world, captured by a chocolate bar

This is my go-to, all-time-favourite flavour and

has the perfect powdery texture I mentioned

So I've just walked through the doors and went on a whole tangent about this miracle chocolate... but turn your head to the left and you'll see a cold-press juice bar from Greenhouse Juice Co.  Not only do they have beautifully delicious flavours of juices (and almond milk, coconut water, aloe water, shots) but they have the cutest names and glass bottle that you can return and collect on a card until you get a free juice!

My friends and I went a little overboard...

The rest of the store is filled with fascinating products - skin care, make up, hair care, body and bath products, fragrances - all free from the chemicals and toxic gunk that you find in most beauty products.  I still need to properly explore this part of the store but lock me in there for a few hours and I'd be in paradise.

And I was in paradise.  I think my friends had to drag me out of the store.  And really the only thing that got me out of the store was knowing that our next destination was cookies.  And not just any cookies...

Le Gourmand (on Spadina and Richmond) has the best chocolate chip cookie in Toronto, according to me and likely numerous Torontonian blogs.  Sidenote: it is also a café but that doesn't really matter to me because as soon as I walk through those doors all I can smell and see and feel (I have a sixth sense for cookies), is that chocolate chip cookie.  

 

This is a record of my first ever Gourmand Cookie reaction, as Instagrammed by my friend...

And here's a happy picture of me and my friends.  All smiles because, well, cookies.

Pleasantly yours,
Bart

Ode to Oatmeal

I was lucky enough to have had this past week off and the first thing I bought was a big old bag of Bob's Red Mill oats.  I was inspired by all of these fancy bowls that I've been seeing on basically every single blog.  It made oatmeal into more than just breakfast.  It was art.  

My first attempt was pretty sloppy.  I learned that as delicious as cinnamon is, it's not very photogenic.  So I had to flip the banana slices over one by one to save the picture.  I take my oatmeal very seriously.                

  

oatmeal with vanilla, plain yogurt, almond butter, 

raspberries, banana, blueberries, walnuts,

coconut and cinnamon

I posted that picture on Instagram and I was embarrassed at how messy it looked but also kind of proud because I went to a lot of work, not just for the photo but for the meal too.  The picture got a whopping 122 likes.  Not even my adorable niece can get that many likes on Instagram.  Shamefully, I'll admit that this superficially motivated me to make more oatmeal throughout the week.  My next mission was the infamous carrot cake oatmeal.

 

oatmeal with shredded carrots, cinnamon, ginger, 

cloves, nutmeg, vanilla, raisins, muesli, blueberries, 

almond butter and coconut

WOW!  It was probably the best oatmeal I had ever had.  To be fair, I've never really gone this fancy with my oats, but still.  I would make carrot cake oatmeal more often if it weren't for the fact that shredding carrots hurts my hand and sometimes extra labour frustrates me.  I'm a lazy chef, what can I say?

oatmeal with banana, almond butter, dates, 

lucuma powder, cacao nibs and coconut

After this bowl, I discovered how tasty dates can be in the mix.  This was also my first time trying lucuma powder but I didn't really taste it much so for my next bowl I was a little more generous.

But oh no!  I ran out of oats!  Thankfully I had a questionably old box of steel cut oats in my cupboard!  I'm still alive so I guess they were okay after all.  Worth it.  This bowl was delicious.

steel cut oatmeal with vanilla, carob powder, lucuma powder, 

cinnamon, cacao nibs, dark chocolate squares, 

almond butter, muesli, raisins, dates and coconut

My mom always tells me that Dr. Oz says that a bowl of oatmeal in the morning makes you happier.  If I had a penny for every time she told me nutritional advice from Dr. Oz, I'd be much richer and shopping at Whole Foods on a daily occasion.  That being said, I agree with her on this one.  Oatmeal is fabulous.

Pleasantly yours,

Bart

Homemade Vegan (I guess) Candy Bars/Cookie Dough - No More than Five Ingredients

Today I accidentally made something vegan.  Before I begin, I'll make one thing clear - I am not a vegan.  I don't have anything against veganism (I've been against animal cruelty since I first binge-watched Bambi at the innocent age of 4), it's just that I'm not in a place in my life right now where I can make that sort of commitment to a lifestyle.  I am, however, pretty passionate when it comes to eating healthy.  Mostly it comes with the fact that I'm a dancer and I rely on wholesome food as fuel and medicine for my body.  I've also been influenced by my older sister through my teenage years and I've always been fascinated with what she had to tell me.

That being said, I am also guilty of having an incurable sweet tooth.  Which is why, recently, I've been experimenting with finding ways of making snacks and desserts healthy, because the truth is this: sugar sucks.

Halloween was yesterday and while my trick-or-treating years are behind me (debatable), I couldn't help but feel cheated while I stayed in, watched movies and resentfully ate kale chips with my friend.  I probably was what children in my neighbourhood consider the "grumpy old witch".  So in brighter spirits this morning, I took out my handy dandy food processor and got creative.  I blended some raw cashews until they made a paste (it's pretty amazing how nuts do this) and then added some dates.  I used a mix of Medjool and honey dates because that's just what I had.  I processed the ingredients until they were properly combined and made something that looked just like cookie dough.  After this, I added cacao nibs and pressed the mixture out flat in a square tupperware.  Obviously, I sampled in between steps.

sorry for the snapchat documentation

This alone is dangerously delicious and am not even exaggerating when I say it tastes exactly like cookie dough.  So by all means, if anyone ever makes this, just leave it at that.  Eat it by the spoonful.  But I was feeling très experimental and melted some dark chocolate with coconut oil, put that on top of the cookie dough and stuck that baby in the freezer.  Fifteen or so minutes later I took it out and.....

Voila!  Candy bars!

um...still not vegan

Ingredients:

Base/Cookie Dough:
Raw cashews
Dates (really any kind. Medjool are tastiest)
Cacao nibs (or chocolate chips)

Chocolate Coating:
Dark chocolate
Coconut oil

Steps:

1. Toss the cashews into a food processor until it becomes cashew butter (yum).
2.  Add dates. Make sure there are no pits (not yum).
3. Press mixture flat into square pan or tupperware.
4. Melt dark chocolate and coconut oil in a cup in the microwave for a minute and drizzle on top of the cookie dough base.
5. Let it solidify in the freezer for fifteen minutes, then cut into squares and enjoy!

* As I just made this today (and will continue to make this) I'm going to experiment some more.  I bet you could add vanilla or cacao powder for some taste.  Or even coconut flakes, raisins, oats, etc.  Get fancy.

Pleasantly yours,

Bart