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- Blueberry Almond– There was a defined blueberry flavor that was pleasant and it blended well with the almond, especially with the crunch added as decoration.
- Ginger Green Tea– It was hard to taste the ginger because the green tea overpowered it but since I like match green tea it was a great combination with the dark chocolate.
- Pumpkin Chai– YUM! This was like a Chai drink and a chocolate pumpkin pie made into one candy. It was very delicious. I even saved that half for a later occasion. *wink*
- Pure Bliss Cocoa-The pure cocoa enhanced the dark chocolate flavor and made for a creamy chocolate moment. If you are a plain dark chocolate purist, this is for you.
- Walnut Flaxseed Crunch-There was definitely crunch but it was minimal, perfect in a truffle. I do not know what got in the way, whether it was the flax or the walnut but it might have been the flaxseed flavor.
- Sunflower Banana Butter-This was the most interesting flavor and probably not my favorite. It was a creamy buttery flavor because of the sunflower but it did not grab my senses to much. The flavor distracted me to much.
- Which truffle intrigues you the most?
Nicobella Chocolate Review and Giveaway
March 1st, 2011
WINNER ANNOUNCED: CONTEST CLOSEDDid I say chocolate? Yes, I did. If you look at my index you will notice many recipes using chocolate because I like it. I like a specific type of chocolate though. It has to be dark and pure even if it means it is 90% dark. Give it to me bitter!
Ryan gives me a hard time when I do not keep semi-sweet chocolate or chocolate chips because he prefers that kind but I find that I crave sweets or even chocolate less when I have it in its purer forms. In fact, I received some samples for dark chocolate back last month, tried half of them and did not taste the rest for a whole month! I just have not been craving or desiring sweets. Thank God! Hee hee hee.
What are those samples I am talking about? I am talking about a wonderful company called Nicobella. I first read about them online about their organic chocolate. I read the owner’s story and immediately knew that I would love her product. If you get some time, please read Nichole Dandrea’s story. The success of a company seems to be based on a passion and she certainly found it and went with it.
Her company specializes making organic dark chocolate vegan truffles and munch, which I plan on ordering soon! The truffles are void of cream and sugar and are subsituted using natural ingredients like brown rice syrup, agave nectar and fair trade products. I received a box of truffles with Nicobella’s signature 6 truffles.
All in all I have to say that the Pumpkin Chai was my favorite. I look forward trying the munch soon. Nichole was generous to offer a box of truffles to one of my readers. If you are interested in trying these decadent treats please enter. Only open to US residents.
Mandatory entry:
Extra entries (Leave a comment for each)
2. Follow Nicobella on Facebook
3. Follow Nicobella on Twitter
4. Follow Opera Singer on Facebook
5. Subscribe to Opera Singer’s blog by email
6. Follow Opera Singer on Twitter
7. Tweet the following: Win a box of @vegantruffles from @singerinkitchen. Enjoy dark chocolate at its finest! http://bit.ly/eBl9b6
Giveaway will end on Sunday, March 6th, at midnight EST. A winner will be announced on March 7th. Good luck!
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Libre Tea and Tea Glass Review
February 28th, 2011
Hello everyone! I know it has been a bit but I have needed some time off for a bit. Can you believe it is almost March? I can’t. This year has already started flying!
I will be having several reviews in the next couple of weeks for products that I have been able to enjoy. I usually only review items that go with my lifestyle but sometimes I like reviewing items that I have never tried before.
Many people know that I enjoy hot beverages. On most occasions I can focus more on coffee and all that is coffee but other times I sit back and relax with some herbal or low caffeinated teas. Lately I have been in my tea moods. I have not been wanting any coffee lately so I have been resorting to my tea collection. Do not get me near a tea shop or else my wallet will be in trouble. There is something about walking into a tea shop and smelling all the different types. Sometimes I think it is an evil ploy so that the customers will continue buying and buying more. Hee hee.
Good thing I do not have a place near me because I can focus on using up the supply of tea bags and loose tea I have. When Libre tea contacted me aksing whether I would be interested in reviewing their Tea Glass and one of their teas, I agreed! How exciting since I had a mug but was not completely satisfied with how the tea became so cold so fast.
Libre tea glasses are special and amazing. The brand I received has an polycarbonate exterior that is BPA-free and a glass interior. It keeps the tea hot a long time and it has an stainless steel filter where the loose tea leaves can steep. I like traveling in style because as I let it steep. I placed it in my purse and walked around with it. It is leak-proof too!
The other wonderful thing about this glass is that I also do not need to keep the filter attached to the glass. I can drop a tea bag and our hot water and go. I am looking forward taking a delicious concoction with me on my next concert.
Libre tea also sent me some samples of their organic Ming Mei green tea. It is a high quality tea from a specific province in China. I first placed hot water into the tea glass and then screwed on the filter. I then poured the 3 grams of loose tea into the filter and placed the lid on top. I flipped the tea glass over and let it steep according to the packaged directions. I was happy to know I could use the teas at least 2 other times.
The green tea was lovely and not too strong. I usually do not put sweetners into my tea so I enjoyed it as is, in its pure form. I cannot wait to try it again and with other loose teas.
If you get a chance, check out Libre’s site. They have different type of tea glasses, even ones that have both a glass interior and exterior!
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Banana Jazz Bars
February 21st, 2011
What a weekend! I cannot believe that it went from mostly all snow melting to 1 foot of snow and all covered up!
Ryan spent enough time this morning shoveling snow in order for him to get to school on time and I spent an hour finishing the other part. I found out my gym was closed today due to the weather so I thought, what a better way to exercise? Wow, the snow was light but it was packed in! A foot of snow looks so different from a far, but all I can say that it is done!
My voice came back in time this past weekend in order for me sing with the Holland Chorale. It was a fantastic performance! I was working in increments, or at least my voice was, since I finally got my high notes back the day of performance. It is incredible the amount of warming up the voice needs after being sick and on vocal rest after 2 weeks.
I am just happy that I was finally able to sing. I learned so much about myself in the last week and a half. I love singing and I cannot do without it. I was told that I was not going to be able to sing or that I should not sing for the performance since I was dealing with a bit of laryngitis but it was pretty much cleared by.Saturday. Thank God! I was drinking ginger teas and lotd of warm beverages and slightly warming up my voice. All in all, I was super thankful to be able to contribute to the performance.
We finally arrived home after a couple of day and truly had a restful Sunday. Sometimes it is hard to realize that Sunday IS a day of rest so we actually rested. I prepared a bit for the week and decided to bake. There is nothing like baking after a week off. I have been mostly cooking lately and resting from all the baking but I noticed some dark bananas that called my name. I really had a hard time trying to think of something different to make with them.
I finally came around to a site called Omnomicon featuring Banana Split Blondies. They looked very intriguing and easy to veganize. While I decided to change the recipe around I made sure I read the comments to see if anyone had anything to say about the results. There were several people that let the author know that her recipe did not really come out like blondies. I was not dissuaded. I still wanted to see how they came out.
The result of my veganized and adapted version came out to be more like a cake, bar, and blondie,all in one, What is a person supposed to name a recipe that is a bit like the three? I asked some people on my Facebook page and got some funny responses. Cablondie? Blake? Cacophony bars? It was realy humorous.
I finally decided to go with Ryan’s suggestion, calling it a Banana Jazz Bar. It is a bar and it is jazzed up with crushed peanuts, lots of bananas, and my favorite, dark chocolate chips! These bars came out very moist and made the house smell delicious. Ryan said he loved the smell of baked goods with bananas. You will really need to try this! It is a keeper and different than your all-around banana bread. Enjoy!
Banana Jazz Bars
print recipe
makes 12 bars
½ cup Earth Balance margarine (1 stick), softened
⅔ cup palm sugar
⅓ cup maple syrup
2 teaspoons vanilla
4 very ripe bananas, mashed
1 flax “egg” (1 Tbsp flax seed meal + 3 Tbsp water)
2 cups Bob’s Red Mill whole wheat white flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ cup Ghiradelli dark chocolate chips
½ cup chopped peanuts
Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
In a mixer, cream margarine and sugars, then add vanilla, mashed bananas and flax “egg”.
In a separate bowl, mix the flour and baking powder. Add to the banana mix and stir until well combined.
Stir in chocolate chips and peanuts.
Spread into well-greased 9×13 glass pan. Bake 35 minutes, and allow to cool completely before cutting. Cut into 12 squares and enjoy with a glass of almond or coconut milk!
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Blogger Foodie Exchange and E-book Update
February 16th, 2011
I hope everyone had a lovely Valentine’s Day! My husband got me these beautiful flowers early in the morning. Seems as though he had been hiding them from me! Stealthy indeed.
We decided that we were not going to cook but instead we were going to be bold and try a new restaurant in the area. IF you have not heard me say this before, Michigan does not have the greatest Mexican food resturants. Ryan’s favorite place to go in Texas is Pappasitos, but we had yet to find something as comparable.
We had noticed in the past year that our neighbors seemed to work at a local Mexican joint but it did not look too appealing. Well, of all days, it appealed to us. The verdict? Ryan had the BEST fajitas he has had in a while. I had bean enchiladas with tomatillo sauce and sauteed mushrooms and spinach on top. They created that dish for me. They were really nice too! I was able to order some horchata, a great rice beverage popular in Mexico. All in all, we had a great experience, so much so that Ryan is already asking when we can go again! ha ha ha
After our dinner we went to see Gnomeo and Juliet. Ryan was very suprised it was more entertaining than he thought. Thank you to husbands who allow their wives to make movie choices. Actually, there weren’t other choices that were great. We were very suprised that the movie was assisted by Elton John. It had a lot of his songs so then it made sense he was the executive producer. Go watch it. There are many funny moments.
On another note, the next day, I received a nice package from Amber from Almost Vegan. We have gotten to know each other very well through our blogging experiences and we have been supportive of each others endeavors, so when we talked about getting some goodies to each other, I was on it! Actually I was late on getting mine out but it was nice to get hers first. Here is what I got!
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| Healing Miso Udon Soup |
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| Zucchini-Carrot Salad |
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| Sloppy Joeless over Greens |
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| Tempeh Taco Meat Nachos |
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| Fennel & Garlic Hummus Bruschetta |
Do I have anyone that is intrigued by the rest of the recipes? Thank you for all your support and for reading this blog. It has been such a great experience for me as a singer and cook to be able to be healthy and creative with all the meals and dishes.
Singing update: I am on vocal rest for now. I am on an antibiotic and I have been told to keep quiet for the next week and a half. It has been frustrating to know that after a year and a half of not getting sick that it hits me pretty hard this time. I thank God for the opportunity to stay still but at the same time it is hard not to feel guilty not being able to perform in the performances I committed to. Such is life and I am taking it one day at a time.
One last note: If you had a choice, what else would like to see on Opera Singer in the Kitchen?
Oh and yes! Please consider voting for my Pomegranate-Coconut Cupcakes with Pomegranate Frosting for the POM contest! Thanks!
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So Delicious Coconut Milk Coupon Winners!
February 15th, 2011
Thank you to all who entered! We had 139 entries. I hope that everyone get to try this product even though they did not win today, but hey you have a chance to win at So Delicious’s Facebook page. They are having 100 days of giveaways and you have a chance to win something there. GO check it out!
Here are the following 5 winners who will each get a coupon for a free product of their choice.
Amber Shea @Almost Vegan
Liz @veganfoodrocks
Amanda @BakingWithoutABox
Lindsay @ LindsayKaufman
Tanya @TanyaTheViolist
Please email me your mailing address and I will send that out to you! Thank you for playing!
