Category Archives: Health/Nutrition

Fruit and Nothing But the Fruit — Plus A Food Gal Giveaway

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Peeled Snacks' "Paradise found'' variety with organic bananas, mangoes and pineapple.

In this day and age with ingredients lists a mile long on food packaging, you have to hand it to the “Much-ado-about-mango” one.

Its ingredient list?

Organic mangoes.

That’s it.

Peeled Snacks of Brooklyn makes conveniently packaged dried, organic fruit that has no added sugar, no preservatives, no sulfites and no gluten.

As a result, this dried fruit actually tastes like real fruit and not a souped-up sweetened version of it.

The resealable snack pouches come in 10 varieties, from “Cherry-go-round” (organic cherries) to “Farmer’s Market Trio” (organic raisins, apples and cherries).

Recently, I had a chance to try some sample bags.

Although the fruit is dried, it still has a nice soft texture. I can’t get over how vibrant the fruit tastes when it’s not masked by sugar, as is the case with so many other dried fruit products.

I especially liked the “Paradise found” with its thick, tender chunks of dried banana (none of those thin, hard chips here), along with pieces of mango and bits of pineapple. Call me a purist, but my favorite was probably the “Much-ado-about-mango,” which is just big shards of mango the color of a sunset and the taste of the tropics.

Just mango.

One serving has about 120-130 calories, depending upon the variety.

Tuck a bag into your child’s lunch. Or toss one into your purse, workout bag or carry-on luggage.

A 4.4-ounce bag is $3.49 and is available at select Whole Foods, CVS and Starbucks stores.

Available in resealable bags.

Contest: Two lucky Food Gal readers will get a chance to try a free variety-sampler pack of Peeled Snacks (a $25 value). Entries, limited to those in the continental United States, will be accepted through midnight PST Sept. 8. Winners will be announced Sept. 10.

How to win?

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Fresh, Local Produce Delivered to Your Door & A Food Gal Giveaway

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A peek at what a Full Circle produce delivery box contains. (Photo courtesy of Full Circle)

There’s a new organic produce delivery company in town.

And its name is Full Circle.

You may remember reading a couple months ago about how I got to try out the service for a test run. It was definitely convenient to find a box on my doorstep each week, brimming with seasonal veggies and fruits.

The company, which started in Carnation, WA, launched its service in the Bay Area earlier this summer. It delivers as far north as San Rafael, east to Concord and south to San Jose.

You choose the size of box to be delivered each week, depending upon the size of your household. I chose the smallest option, the “Seed Box” ($20.95), which is perfect for one or two people and comes complete with enough produce for about 15 servings total.

What’s particularly helpful is that you can customize your box. If there’s someone in your family who hates beets or broccoli, you can opt never to have that included in your delivery.

You also can check your online account a few days before each delivery to see what your next box will likely contain, making it easier to plan your meals or shop for additional accompaniments at your local grocery store.

What’s more, you can add gourmet grocery items to your box at an additional cost. Full Circle collaborates with a host of artisan producers, many of them organic, to sell everything from bread to artisan jams to fresh, pasture-raised chicken. I ordered the wild shrimp once and they were nearly lobster-like in their succulence.

Moreover, you can put your deliver on hold or cancel your subscription at any time.

Want to give it a whirl? Keep reading…

Contest: Five Food Gal readers will get a chance to win two weeks’ worth of Full Circle produce deliveries for free. Essentially, you’ll win an $84 credit to use after creating an account. The credit is enough for two free boxes of the largest-size delivery, the “Harvest,” which will feed 3-6 people. Or if you have a smaller household, you can stretch the credit out for a longer period of time by choosing a smaller-size box of produce. After your credited amount runs out, you can either choose to continue the service by paying for it on your own or you can choose to cancel your subscription.

Entries are limited to those who live within Full Circle’s delivery areas in California, Washington state, Idaho and Alaska. Click here for more details.

Entries will be accepted through midnight PST Sept. 1. Winner will be announced Sept. 3.

How to win?

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Beefy Burgers and A Food Gal Giveaway

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Juicy grilled burgers made from Piedmontese beef.

Nothing says summer backyard gatherings like a great grilled burger.

These are particularly flavorful, made from the Piedmontese breed of cattle, which originated in the foothills of Italy.

Raised on ranges, where they grow up eating grass and are finished on grains, these cows produce meat that is less marbled, and therefore lower in saturated fat and cholesterol. Because of their genetic makeup, the meat doesn’t have the usual stringy fibers of regular beef, making it naturally tender.

Recently, I had a chance to try samples of these burgers from Montana’s Ranch Brand Natural Meats, which contain no antibiotics or growth hormones. The sizable 8-ounce patties are dense, almost just shy of sausage-like in texture. They are very beefy tasty and despite being on the leaner side are quite juicy.

A package of 12 Piedmontese Steak Burgers is $38.54. They are shipped on ice packs to their destination.

They’re just one of many items available via FromtheFarm, a California company that bills itself as an online farmers market. It partners with growers and producers around the country to ship produce, meat, flowers, baked goods and jams directly from the farm to your house.

Through Aug. 27, Food Gal readers can get 10 percent off the purchase of Piedmontese beef. Just use the code: FOODGAL.

Contest: One lucky Food Gal reader will win a dozen Piedmontese burgers, courtesy of FromtheFarm. Entries, limited to those in the continental United States, will be accepted through midnight PST Aug. 18. Winner will be announced Aug. 20.

How to win?

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The Newest in Urban Farming at Ecopia in Campbell

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A bounty of lettuces from Ecopia Farms.

Look closely at that bowl of beautiful, baby salad greens.

If only you could reach out and grab a few leaves to taste, you’d be amazed at their sweetness, pepperiness and all-around intensity of flavor.

What makes these lettuces different is that all were grown indoors under LED lights, using a fraction of the water a conventional outdoor farm would.

Ecopia Farms in Campbell is unlike any other agricultural endeavor — housed indoors in a non-descript, out-of-the-way warehouse in Campbell.

Utilizing the latest technology and know-how, it was founded by a couple of tech giants: a former CEO of Solectron, and a former president of Lockheed Martin Missiles & Space.

With water and land increasingly precious commodities, their goal is to create a way of farming that is not only more efficient and sustainable, but replicable in high-density urban areas.

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Granola — In Chip Form, Plus a Food Gal Giveaway

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Butter Pecan Granola Chips to munch on.

The folks in Oregon have gone and given granola a new look.

Willamette Valley Granola Company has eschewed the usual clusters for chips instead.

Yes, its new Granola Chips offer the crunch of granola, but in bite-size chips a little larger than a quarter.

They’re made with whole grains, including oats, barley, amaranth and quinoa. The chips get their sweetness from milled cane sugar and barley malt syrup. A 28-gram serving is 110 calories.

There are four varieties: Honey Nut, Vanilla Bean, Butter Pecan, and Wild Berry.

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