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Food for Thought Friday: 5 favorite food discoveries of '22 so far 🥥🧀🍏🎒
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Hello & happy Friday!
Today I want to share 5 of the latest food things I’ve been eating / discovered recently! In summary:
- most surprising new favorite healthy treat: Culina flavored coconut yogurt
- my longest running favorite cheese (since 2010!): La Tur
- most unique snacky legume discovery: Lupini Beans
- "OMG" most delicious thing I’ve eaten in 2022 so far: Apple Butter blended with Preserved Lemons (on heavily buttered toast)
- new hack for a walk to the farmers market/grocery store: using hiking backpack to carry food 🤣
Details below...
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1) Most surprising new favorite healthy treat: Culina flavored coconut yogurt
When I was a kid, I did NOT like yogurt. I thought the texture was just… EWWWW. That’s probably because back in the early 90’s, I remember yogurt as always flavored and artificially colored. I can still picture that bubblegum pink and bright blue yogurt squirting out of long tubes during the “GoGurt” trend, which REALLY grossed me out.
Side note: Childhood Jess was also a “natural only please” girl at heart. I cried at age 5 when my mom got me a manicure, and would only let them paint my nails clear. I have never liked fake colors in or on my body. 🤣 The "Let's write with Milky Pens All Over Our Arms" craze was my worst nightmare. Even though I knew the other girls thought I was weird, sorry I just didn’t want that colored gel on my skin! I stuck to my guns, no drawing on me, please! Anyways… back to the food:
I started coming around to yogurt in college, when I needed quick food on the go and discovered the Greek “FAGE” brand at the first fancy grocery store I had ever had access to: Dean & Deluca. They had plain Greek yogurt with a “split cup” of a jam-like fruity topping that you could mix in to the plain yogurt yourself to control the sweetness. Now that appealed to me! (Remember these? ⬇️ )
photo swiped from the internet:
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Soon enough, the smoother, tastier plain yogurts came into abundance, and I became a plain yogurt lover. Nowadays the yogurt options are plentiful, with multiple non-dairy options to round out the shelf. I keep both dairy and coconut milk yogurt in the fridge - always plain, never flavored. And though I love trying new coconut yogurts, sometimes even those (plain kinds!) have been sweetened too much.
About a month ago I was browsing recipes online and saw a new coconut yogurt name recommended on the Minimalist Baker site: Culina. I’d never heard of it so googled it and found a great clean ingredient list AND that it was available at my local Whole Foods! When I finally went to grab it, the store only had a flavor that day: blueberry lavender. I had only been planning to try the plain, but I was in a rush so I just grabbed it.
Fast forward to when I come home and try it: OH. MY. GOSH. I could not believe it! An ACTUALLY delicious flavored yogurt! It was perfectly sweet, which is to me, barely sweet, with real blueberry pieces at the bottom, super creamy, and just tangy enough. Wow. I was seriously amazed. Now - it’s a tiny, expensive little jar (over $4 for one) - but it was SO GOOD, I slowly savored those mere 5 ounces over a span of 4 days!
Next time I went back to Whole Foods, they had even more flavors and I tried as many as I could! So far I’ve tasted: Sour Cherry Almond, Strawberry Rose, Blueberry Lavender and the Plain. The plain is quite tangy, so I actually prefer the flavors as a treat! I couldn’t tell you which flavor I like best - they are all SO delicious! They have all organic ingredients and are sweetened with maple syrup.
I seriously cannot BELIEVE I’m so excited about a flavored yogurt… but I am! So, next time you want a dairy-free treat, give Culina a try! It looks like they are available nationwide at Whole Foods and some other stores too! (Also for reference, my current favorite larger-size, plain coconut yogurt is Cocojune - which is also organic, has a clean ingredient list, available at whole foods, and is ideal for wider uses like making sauces. I also love the plastic-free packaging!)
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2) My longest running favorite cheese (since 2010): La Tur
When I’m standing at the front of the cheese cooler, shopping for a cheese board, I always have that moment of: “AH! I have to pick a GOOD one that people will LOVE!”
When doing this lately, I realized that my #1 ALL TIME favorite cheese hasn't changed since 2010, so it’s about time I told you about it!
La Tur, from Italy. It’s a soft, creamy cheese - a combo of sheep, goat, and cow’s milk - more flavorful and interesting than a brie, without being too stinky. I think it’s the perfect cheese.
My friend Neil first introduced me to it at our favorite little Wine Bar/Market in DC called Cork on 14th Street. (I'm happy to see they still have it on their website too!) Once a specialty item that I had only ever seen at that shop, over the years I’ve now spotted it at numerous Whole Foods across the country. I have served it to many a friend/party over the years and everyone always LOVES it. This week I finished a whole round myself in three days... it's just that good.
When you're looking for it at the cheese counter, it now most often looks like the photo on the right below - a little hard to see, with a cardboard container wrapped in plastic. Keep your eyes out, and/or ask for it at your favorite specialty cheese shop! (Or order on Amazon Prime via whole foods here.)
photos taken from the internet:
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3) Most unique snacky legume discovery: Lupini Beans
Remember those first few weeks of March 2020, before the whole world shut down, when we were talking about Coronavirus but had no idea what was coming? I have vivid memories of things I did in those weeks, before we "knew." One of them was a trip with a friend to a Middle Eastern grocery store in the South Bay, where we were both like..."Well, I guess it wouldn't hurt to buy a few extra canned goods, right?"
I loooooooovvveeeeee specialty grocery stores, and when I go I like to buy the most unique things possible. One of the things I bought that week was a large jar of Lupini Beans. I had NO IDEA what these were, but I like beans, it said "ready to eat," and they were from Lebanon (where my grandfather was born!) so I thought, why not try them?! Seemed like a good emergency food. Welp... that jar of beans has been sitting in my pantry (collecting dust) for the past 2 years as I didn't know how to eat them, until...
...a few weeks ago when a good friend popped a pack of Lupini beans, and started raving about them as a perfect snack for on the go, or on cheese boards! I tried them at her place and YUM, they were delicious! I was really excited as I remembered that these were the same beans I had sitting in my cupboard.
What makes these beans really different and "snacky" is that they are pickled! So they have a nice tang while also being hearty. My friend served me the Brami brand, which comes in a few flavors: sea salt & vinegar (what we tried), balsamic & oregano, chili & lime, garlic & rosemary, and hot chili pepper. I haven't tried the other flavors, but they sure sound really good! Interestingly, Lupini beans have 50% more protein that chickpeas, too. Pretty cool, and worth a try if you need a new snack and/or easy protein source! Check em out here.
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4) "OMG" most delicious thing I’ve eaten in 2022 so far: Apple Butter blended with Preserved Lemons, on heavily buttered toast
This one is truly the most delicious thing I've tasted so far this year, and I love how simple it is - just apple butter combined with preserved lemons! I discovered a little jar of this at my favorite fermented food spot in Berkeley, the Cultured Pickle Shop, and I couldn't believe the deliciousness. The complex, earthy tartness of preserved lemons pairs SO well with the sweet, heartiness of apple butter.
I feel a little bad recommending this one because even if you live in the Bay Area and could get to the shop, I don't know if they still have it - it might have been a seasonal thing (I bought mine in January). But I decided to include this rec anyways because I think it's a beautiful reminder that sometimes the simplest things are the most delicious. I always forget about apple butter, but it's sooooooo tasty, and especially lovely in winter when we're lacking in fresh fruit. Apple butter is especially great on buttered toast... or would be wonderful on a cheeseboard to go with your La Tur! It's usually in the jelly/jam section of the grocery store.
Also, since you can buy apple butter and you can buy preserved lemons, there's no reason why you couldn't blend these up yourself at home (I'd use a cuisinart or immersion blender)! I haven't done it personally yet, but it's on my "someday" to do list. If/when I do it, I'll certainly write about it and let you know! In the meantime, inspiration!
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5) New hack for a walk to the farmers market/grocery store: using hiking backpack to carry food 🤣
This is kind of a silly one that you probably won't do unless you're a weirdo like me, but I'm gonna tell you anyways...
I don't have a car so still mainly get my groceries on foot. I've historically liked the challenge and built-in workout of this task, although admittedly that has changed a bit since I'm now shopping for double the amount I used to, ie: feeding a hungry husband (more on this cooking adjustment coming soon). He helps with the grocery trips, but I still prefer to be the one to go to the farmers market on Sundays. And although I used to bike, I've really been enjoying walking lately instead, except for the part where I buy too much and am then bogged down in bags and walking home, uphill.
Enter... the new medium-size (~30L) hiking backpack I got before our December honeymoon trip to Patagonia - it's REALLY comfy, as we happily found out during 8 days hiking the O Trek. And in January I had the idea to start taking this to the farmers market for my Sunday workout-walk / veggie run. OMG, it's kind of a game changer!! (Nerdy post-farmers market photo of me below)
This backpack is built for weight, as hiking backpacks are, duh! It's SOOOO much comfier than the school-like one I used to take to the market. I strategically load it up as I shop through the farmers market with food that can stand to be stacked, and then I carry a lighter bag on each arm with my delicate foods (greens, berries, etc).
It's my Sunday "workout" and a great use of my hiking backpack, other than those once/year long hikes.
Hope you enjoyed my 5 latest food things. Happy weekend, friend!
Love,
Jess
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All photos are taken by me and recipes written by me, unless otherwise noted.
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In case you missed out, here are a few past issues to check out:
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Hi, I'm Jess! I help health-conscious, busy people transform their cooking from chore to lifestyle through intuitive cooking, which I teach through online classes, free content, coaching and more. This is my newsletter, Food for Thought Fridays, where I share highly actionable tips and inspiration to help you cook more intuitively (which makes cooking feel easier and SO much more fun!). Once a month or more, I share a recipe that's really worth making, and I only share those with my email subscribers. Sometimes the text above may include affiliate links, meaning (at no additional cost to you) I get a commission if you click through and make a purchase. This helps me to continue to share free content, so I would love it if you buy through my link! Thank you for supporting Garlic Press Jess!
I currently work + live on land that is the unceded territory of the Ramaytush Ohlone. And I can't wait to eat at Cafe Ohlone when they reopen someday! Check out this article about them.
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