I have a confession to make….I forgot to do something…and I feel really bad about it….

I get a lot of offers to do product reviews for a variety of different companies whose products either are or relate to food in some way. Some products I just refuse right away because I cannot support the ingredients - either they are not healthful or just full of preservatives. Then there are the many that I do try that just aren’t very good – either once I get the product I realize it is full of nasty ingredients or the taste is just bad– so I won’t feature them on this blog because it is not fair to you, my faithful readers.

But there has been one very strong exception to the rule, and here is my confession. I received 2 boxes of Matisse and Jack’s Bake at Home Snacks a loooong time ago and I tried them and LOVED them. But for some reason the first box I made, we forgot to take pictures and then it took me a while to make the second box – which I did do very recently.

Here is why I love these products:

1) They are all full of good for you ingredients that are all natural.

2) They are customizable – meaning you add your own goodies to them, and they give you plenty of suggestions – you can even make them vegan.

3) They are as easy to make as a prepared cake mix – you just add wet ingredients (like yogurt or applesauce) to the dry, mix and bake. It could not be easier.

4) Best of all – they taste great – perfect for breakfast, snack or dessert with a bit of ice cream for an a la mode.

5) They are helping the environment by reducing waste that usually comes with conventional energy bar packaging.

So finally here is a great product line that I can support, and feel good about! They are full of good ingredients with a wonderful taste AND a mind for helping control environmental waste! There is just so much to love about these products!
I am just so sorry I took so long to do the write up and let everyone know about these delicious bars!

(I hope the great folks at Matisse & Jack’s can forgive me! )

Have you all experienced what I have lately? Family members and friends who are asking for your “list”. Items that you would like to have as a holiday gift. If you are like me, and you love food, cooking and all things kitchen related, I may have just done your work for you. Following in the footsteps of PB&Julie, Pixie and Emiline, and I am sure others, I have put together a list of my favorite kitchen related items from this year, a la Oprah Winfrey. There is a variety of items and prices. These are things that I have and love, as well as a few things from my own wish list, that I may not have had the pleasure of using yet.

Lisabeeen Coffee
I have spoken quite often about Lisa and her amazing beans. She hand-roasts them lovingly at home in a coffee roaster she made by converting an electric grill. To see how she does it, click here. She has a small cottage industry going on from her home in beautiful Bennington VT. Try some today!

Kalamata Gold Greek Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil - 500 ml bottle
I love olive oil and for Mediterranean cooking (my favorite) you must have a good olive oil, no scratch that you must have an EXCELLENT Olive Oil, Extra Virgin, please. I know everyone has their favorites, but I favor Greek Olive Oil (I know, I am a bad bad Italian). It is like liquid gold – full of freshness, floral hints and a peppery afterbite.

Mediterranean Diet Cookbook: A Delicious Alternative for Lifelong Health
Speaking of the Mediterranean Diet, this cookbook is a must have. It is a culinary tour through all the regions of the Mediterranean, from Italy to Greece to North Africa, Spain, The Middle East and Southern France. It is full of SUPER healthy AND delicious recipes that feed your spirit, tastebuds and stomach, in that order. I could not LIVE without it. Seriously. To read more about it, click here.

Dolce Italiano: Desserts from the Babbo Kitchen
Speaking of Italian things and cookbooks, this is one of my new favorites. I had the extreme pleasure of meeting Gina DePalma, the author and pastry chef for Mario Batali’s Restaurant, Babbo, through cyberspace. I was able to join a few other American Expats in Italy by trying several of Gina’s recipes and it was a wonderful experience. Through the experience I realized I had found another “can’t live without” cookbook! Thanks Gina! To read more about the event and contest click here and here

Bialetti Moka Express, 6 Cup and Shin Bistro Milk Frother By Bodum
Continuing on the Italian theme (see I am redeeming myself after confessing to preferring Greek Olive Oil) here is a product I use EVERY DAY. I love it and when using Lisabeeen’s coffee, I now cannot go out to get good coffee without complaining, because this is just SO MUCH BETTER. To read more on this topic – my devotion to coffee, click here (Don’t worry Cris, I will be talking about Brazilian coffee very soon!)

Sherry Vinegar 6.8 oz
I don’t know how I lived without this product for so long. I just didn’t get it. I thought with Balsamic, Red Wine, White Wine, Rice Wine and Apple Cider, you had all your bases covered. I wasn’t feeling all these extraneous vinegars. I mean how many vinegars did one person need. I already have an olive oil problem (too many!), I didn’t need to start on the vinegars. How wrong was I. Since I discovered this Sherry vinegar, I have been converted. We had it at the cooking school where I work, and I added it to a red pepper dip I was making, and it turned that dip to magic. It was amazingly better. So I knew this was something I needed to add to my repertoire!

So this begins my own wish list section!

NEW! Short Hair Black Cat Cork Bottle Buddy Wine Stopper
Enough said. I love all things Black Kitty as they remind me of my own sweet kitty (even though this one looks lke a boy cat and she is a total GIRL).

Solid Pewter Coffee Scoop with Matching Hook, Floral Design, Made in USA (Handcrafted)
Tin Woodsman is an Oregon company that makes handcrafted kitchen “jewelry”. It is so beautiful. Paula Deen uses the fish measuring cups and spoons on her show and they have more than just cups and spoons, they have things for tea and coffee, salad spoons, and even holiday things. Really cool stuff! Also made in the USA, by a true artisan. Love that.

Vita-Mix 1321 Professional Series, Ruby
This is the ULTIMATE in kitchen appliances. We have one at the cooking school and I have so enjoyed using it. I always describe it as a manual vs. automatic (in car terminology). There is an on-off switch but there is also a speed dial that allows you to easily control the blending, grating and pulverizing this machine can do. Yes, it is expensive, but with it, you replace a blender, food processor and coffee grinder. It even comes with a HUGE cookbook that has many tasty recipes! It is very very cool and comes in a lot of wonderful colors like Ruby, Onyx and Platinum. I like the red.

Also guys, help a fellwo foodie!!! There is a wonderful new blog that Jennifer at ….and the eggs has started called: People + Food. It is all about people and their relationship with food through a food memory. I am being featured today so please go and check it out! She is looking for more participants so please send her your food memory TODAY!!!! For more info check out The Leftover Queen Forum

Coming up:
Holiday Cookies
A Gift From Brazil

So the title of this blog is called The Leftover Queen, right?
What kind of Leftover Queen would I be if I didn’t have any Tupperware?
Tupperware is like leftover’s sidekick! You really cannot have one without the other.
Tupperware is what keeps leftovers fresh and easily accessible for cooking. I love the way it keeps me organized too. They are now stackable and easy to store when not in use. I am not a big fan of cling plastic wraps, as many of them don’t work the way they are advertised. Plus it is not good for the planet. With my Tupperware I don’t waste or throw away as much plastic wrap, so it is good for the environment as well! Plus I can use it to transport things to my cooking classes, to parties or anywhere I need my food to travel.
So this week’s product of the week, pantry essential, is none other than Tupperware. Long gone are the days of Tupperware parties, now you can order straight from their webpage all of their Fridge Essentials which are now 35% off through June 29th.
So go check out their webpage – your leftovers will thank you!

Now let’s get something straight first. I am not a diet person. Sometimes, we all have to get back into balance after a holiday season or too many weekend parties or excursions in a row, but in my opinion diets the way they are set up always fail, and people who are always on them, struggle more than they need to working so hard, just to end up not being able to keep up with all the rules and regulations. I was in the health field before I broke out and became a professional foodie. I learned so much about how people eat, why people eat and how people finally got a handle on their eating and got healthier. The way is one word and one word only which I think is initially scarier than “diet” because it requires change and commitment –the word is lifestyle.

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Most people in the foodie world have heard of Truffles. No, not the deep chocolate ones, but the earthy fungi ones that cost a gazillion dollars and can only be harvested from fall to mid-winter in Italy and France. These truffles are harvested from the ground near certain trees and must be sniffed out by specially trained pigs or dogs. Now you can have the wonderful taste of these prized truffles for a fraction of the cost by getting Tartuflanghe’s Truffle Infused Olive Oil (Olio al Tartufi) 55 ml.
I promote this particular brand because Tartuflanghe is owned by Domenica Bertolusso, one of the few women in this male dominated business and despite this one of the regions most influential sellers. This oil is great to drizzle on risottos, pastas, stews, egg dishes and anything else you want to lend an earthy undertone too. Use sparingly!

If you are going to make a recipe of Gelato alla Nocciola, you are going to need this essential ingredient: Whole Raw Oregon Hazelnuts
Since hazelnuts are the cornerstone to this recipe and it is the essence of this nut that you are trying to achieve in a gelato flavor, it is important to get the best hazelnuts you can find. Organic nuts are the way to go - they are not processed using any kind of chemical and they taste most true to form. You do yourself and your mouth and your end product a dis-service not to get the best!

Speaking of Tunisian CousCous, you can now purchase your own Tunisian Fancy Couscous (6.7 Ounce) by igourmet.com through Amazon. Amazon has a wide variety of wonderful gourmet and imported food products. Many of which I have available through my store. I will be featuring a variety of products through these product reviews on a regular basis, so stay tuned!

The national dish of Tunisia is in fact CousCous. CousCous is a small pasta that is made from semolina. Tunisian Cuisine is a complex mixture of Middle Eastern, Berber and European foods.

The olive is the symbol of the Mediterranean. You cannot have one without the other. Olive oil is used in everyday cooking throughout the Mediterranean. It was even used as currency in the ancient days. It has been used as medicine and for heating. But today, olive oil is a culinary staple. If you cook Mediterranean food, you must have a good olive oil. It is a requirement! But are all olive oils created equal? Of course not. The most highly prized olive oils come from Greece, Italy and Spain. That is where the growing conditions are ideal. But there are subcategories even within these:

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