To start my second blogger post ever, let me just say that the reason I decided to write this blog is because I was watching my new favorite show, Iron Chef, and they made their own homemade noodles. Which reminded me of that new credit card commercial where a chef makes noodles with different colors. When I watch Food Network I always get inspired to make something new and look up recipes and found that you can in fact make CHOCOLATE NOODLES. Starch and chocolate? YES PLEASE! (This goes out to my preggo sister Susan, hollah).
So I started thinking about the one source of food that not only rules women's lives, but Ronald Dahl's too! (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory). I am an avid chocolate fanatic and if I do not have some chocolate everyday, I will explode. Before my trip to Costa Rica I loved the Hershey's milk chocolate and white chocolate bars, but little did I know.....hardly any or even no chocolate! I attended a chocolate tour during the first couple of days in the country. Boy did I have no idea how complicated chocolate is! There is a harvesting, processing, blending, conching, tempering, blending, and a storage stage. Each Cacao beans goes through WEEKS of treatment before it lays nicely on your tongue. So with all that commitment and time given by that poor cacao bean, shouldn't we respect it by eating it pure instead of tarnishing it with sugar and condensed milk? Milk chocolate only needs to have 25% of cacao in it. 25%?!?! That's it? it is more other ingredients than chocolate itself! And don't even get me started with white chocolate. There is actually NO real cacao it white chocolate at all! It is made of coco butter. Um...I put coco butter on my skin, why would I want to ingest it?
Some of you may be thinking "Wow, Erica is a fatass." But no friends, I am telling you this for your HEALTH. Chocolate IS good for you, when consumed responsibly. Listed here in Wikipedia (hehehe):
"While chocolate is regularly eaten for pleasure, there are potential beneficial health effects of eating chocolate. Cocoa or dark chocolate may positively affect the circulatory system. Other possible effects under basic research include anticancer, brain stimulator, cough preventer and antidiarrhoeal activities. An aphrodisiac effect is yet unproven.Limited amounts of dark chocolate appears, according to research, to help to prevent heart disease. The oxidation of LDL cholesterol is considered a major factor in the promotion of coronary disease. When this waxy substance oxidizes, it tends to stick to artery walls, increasing the risk of a heart attack or stroke. Research has shown the polyphenols in chocolate inhibit oxidation of LDL cholesterol."
So other words friends, eat smart. Eat CHOCOLATE! And make sure it's dark. I personally like chocolate bars that are at LEAST 65% chocolate. It it more of a savory chocolate you want to melt in your mouth slowly other then milk chocolate that you just chew and swallow. Do yourself a favor, treat yourself to more CHOCOLATE!
And to help I attached the link for a CHOCOLATE NOODLE recipe I found online! Looks delish :)
http://annesfood.blogspot.com/2006/01/imbb-22-chocolate-noodles.html
