Plum Delicious!

 

Changing the way you view (and eat) plums forever, Sunsweet Bakery has  combined the dense nutrition of its highly popular dried plums with other purple ingredients to create an exciting new line of baked goods as healthy as they are delicious. New products such as Purple Country Bread and Purple Swirl Loaf Cake can now be found at Costco locations throughout Southern California and the Southwest.

 

"Studies have shown dried plums to be higher in antioxidants, higher in fiber, and lower in sugar than raisins and dried cranberries. Our plum infused product line is a natural evolution of the Sunsweet brand", said Tom Leahy, representative for Sunsweet. "By using our customer's favorite fruit as the key ingredient in our new line of breads, cookies, and pastries, we are creating exciting new taste experiences with a healthier nutrition profile than other similar products. Plus, by combining plums with purple wheat and purple corn, the products are not only further enhanced nutritionally, but they are also beautiful to look at."

 Never mind all that. These are DELICIOUS! Think of it—you can feel virtuous treating your craving for something sweet and yummy. The Breakfast bites are scrumptions and the bread is versatile—use it in sandwiches or as not-too-sweet toast.

 Choose from a wide variety of new products, including: Purple Country Bread, Purple Swirl Bread and Purple Dinner Rolls. The bread line features Sunsweet's Plum Amazins™, purple wheat and purple corn, along with 11 other grains.

For those who are health conscious with a sweet tooth, Sunsweet Bakery also offers Oatmeal Plum Walnut Cookies and Plum Walnut Breakfast Bites, both made with Plum Amazins™.

beautiful, nutritious, delicious.

 

http://sunsweetbakery.com

 

The Little Bread Maker that Could...and Does!

 

Maybe you have thought about getting a bread making machine, just to be able to have home-baked bread more often. But the thought of lugging around and storing  a big box put you off the idea.   The Home Baker Mini Breadmaker from Zojirushi is a little space-saver that might just change your mind. Not only does it do all the kneading and baking, it also makes home made jam. And it is just 8 ½ by 11 by 12 inches.

The Home Bakery Mini Breadmaker's 1 lb. loaf is the perfect size for smaller households to savor the taste of freshly baked bread everyday without waste. Its compact design also makes it ideal for kitchens with limited countertop space. Select from three bread textures (Regular, Firm or Soft). It also prepares dough, cakes, jam, cookie and pasta dough and has a sturdy handle for easy carrying and a user friendly easy-to-read LCD control panel.

Simply have the ingredients on hand and the next time you have a hankering for home-made bread, just get baking.

http://www.zojirushi.com

Flat Breads, Full Taste

 

Naan traditionally must be baked in a tandoor oven at 1400 F degrees, and is not readily available outside of Indian restaurants. But in between visits to your favorite Indian eating establishment, you might want to try the Fabulous Flats Tandoori Naan,  the next best thing to going to an Indian restaurant. Available in Original, Garlic, and Whole-Grain, the ingredients are natural with no additives or preservatives.

Fabulous Flats also has new Sandwich Flats—easy to open (they are already cut) flatbreads that are very nice indeed for sandwiches for breakfast or other meals. They are available in Whole Grain White and Multigrain and work well with sweet or savory fillings. Or just on their own.

http://www.fabulousflatbreads.com/

   

 

If You Were a Sandwich, What Kind Would You Be?

You can always count on Arnold—and a their new line features three varieties: Soft Made with Whole Grain White, Soft Honey Wheat and Soft 100% Whole Wheat Bread. Each is baked with whole grains, yet has a soft texture that pleases even the pickiest palates and each is a good source of fiber.

And now, in addition to these 100% Natural Soft breads, made with no high fructose corn syrup, no sucralose and no artificial colors, flavors or preservatives, if you visit their website, you can have a little fun.

Until May 4th, kids living in the designated contest area (see contest rules) can enter the Arnold Best in Class Sandwich Challenge, a contest to make a creative and well-balanced sandwich recipe using Arnold 100% Natural Soft Breads. Four winners from separate age groups will receive a $5,000 donation to their school and a $1,500 savings bond. Recipes should be submitted at http://www.arnoldsandwichchallenge.com/.

There is also an amusing quiz you can take. At the finish, you will discover just what kind of sandwich you are.

Arnold 100% Natural Soft Breads are available in supermarkets and mass retail locations in the Northeast, Southeast and Midwest with a suggested retail price of $2.99.
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Sandwiches can be pure poetry:

A Sandwich Can Be Useful—

A sandwich can be useful. Thick slices of bread with crusty edges,
The middle soggy from mayonnaise or butter.
A sliver of bird’s meat,
A wedge of Swiss cheese.
Lettuce is crisp, unless the weather is too warm—
Then it is soggy as well.

If, for some reason,
Lunch is delayed,
Instead of sitting outside in the warmth,
On the steps of the Met,
The sandwich can be shoved into your mouth—
Conveniently,
On the way to class,
The sandwich is portable.

Memories are made and can be broken while eating a sandwich.
Over a sandwich you can construct a friendship,
Or, find true love.
But maybe not with tuna,
Or, egg salad.
This, however, can be useful.
A sandwich can fend off an enemy,
An unwanted acquaintance—
A baguette is easily a sword.

Sandwiches are useful.

---Elizabeth Fallon

Partially Stuffed

Winter Holidays and Winter weather mean it is the perfect time to prepare homey, comforting dishes like stuffing. The basic ingredient is bread but it is the seasoning that really makes it stuffing. Stove Top is pretty much synonymous with stuffing and is one of the easiest dishes to prepare right out of the box.

But suppose you are in the mood for stuffing and you only need a serving for one person? Stove Top has come out with individual -sized microwaveable containers of stuffing so that in about 45 seconds you can have tasty Corn Bread or Chicken stuffing. The size is right and the consensus is that the taste is very good—just like boxed Stove Top stuffing except you can take it and make it anywhere. You can eat it as it is or add other ingredients such as cheese, dried cranberries, or a bit of your favorite vegetable. Have it as a snack or as a side dish. It also makes a nice companion to single-serve soup.

One respondent said she wishes she had the single-serving stuffing when she was away in college. It would have been a nice change from Ramen noodles

Bread with Something Extra

Bread is such a food basic that is often just absent-mindedly tossed into the toaster or used to slap together whatever constitutes the middle of your sandwich. True, relatively recent changes like that whole wheat bread costumed as the smooth and tasty white bread of an earlier decade, have made it more interesting and the more recent endless variations on grains—whole wheat, cracked whole wheat, 12-grain whole wheat, wheat berry, etc., ensure that when you are paying upwards of $2.50 a loaf (if it’s on sale) you can pretty much get what you really want.

Arnold, long a baker of good-tasting and hearty breads, has four new very tasty choices:

Grains & More Double Fiber
Grains & More Double Oat (to help lower cholesterol)
Grains & More Double Protein
Grains & More Double Omega

Now there are even more ways to get your Omega or Fiber.

Here is a bit of background of this company from their website

http://arnold.gwbakeries.com/history.cfm


“Arnold Bread is a love story in baking. In March 1940, in a brick oven at the rear of a small house in Stamford, Connecticut, Dean and Betty Arnold baked the first two-dozen loaves of Arnold bread. Placing their trust in superior ingredients, unbleached spring wheat flour, honey, butter and eggs, they developed the compact, golden rich bread that would soon become a leading premium bread with an international reputation.
Ironically, Mr. Arnold established a baking business of his own because of a serious allergy to flour. After graduating from Columbia University, he worked for a large baking company until his allergies grew too severe to continue. In January 1940 with only $600 in severance pay, he and his wife, Betty, moved in with his uncle on a farm in Armonk, New York, and the love for baking began.
Always believing there was a need for a better loaf of bread, Dean and Betty took their unique recipe and stoked up their first brick oven. Soon, the whole family was involved as relatives helped to slice, wrap and hand deliver the bread from house to house. By 1941, business was booming and the bakery needed to expand. Though he didn’t have a financial statement, Dean was granted a bank loan on the taste of his bread alone and moved the bakery to Port Chester, New York…”.
“…In the sixties, they built the largest bakery under one roof in the world in Greenwich, Connecticut, with the largest brick oven anywhere.”

Arnold is now a part of George Weston Bakeries.

Super Special Soups

Isn’t there something so inviting and comforting about a steaming bowl of hearty soup now that the weather is turning cooler? If you plan on making the soup an important part of the meal you might want t choose a hearty and filling variety; just try to be sure it doesn’t seem heartier because it is thickened with an ingredient like corm starch.

Try some Autumnal varieties like Curried Lentil or Organic Pasta, Organic Thai Coconut Soup (doesn’t that sound wonderful?!) , Organic Tuscan Bean and Rice, or Three Bean Soup from Amy’s Kitchen. For lighter sodium there is Organic Butternut Squash, Organic Cream of Tomato, to name just a few. All are hearty and filling because they are filled with heart-felt and honestly healthy ingredients.

Add a few pieces of robust bread and maybe some cheese or hummus, and you have a well-rounded meal that is satisfying and good for you.