One Bowl Chocolate Pumpkin Muffins (Vegan and Gluten Free)

It is Thanksgiving weekend in Canada and this is traditionally a time for gatherings to give thanks and share a feast. However, the act of giving thanks and expressing gratitude around harvest time is nothing new.

Chocolate Chargers Energy Bars

As with energy gels, energy bars are a convenient and easily portable food manufactured to fuel endurance sports. One of the main distinctions between energy gels and energy bars is that the gels tend to be primarily carbohydrates and, although energy bars are mainly carbohydrates, they can also contain smaller amounts of protein and fat. As mentioned in my earlier article, Mango and Date Energy Bites, the main purpose of gels and bars is to serve as a sugar that digests quickly to provide energy for extended activities.

Chocolate Cranberry Muffins

Recently my computer suffered a sudden unexplained and extremely inconvenient demise.  As the computer was long past its prime, it was not worth making any attempt to restore the machine and the important piece was the loss of data. With most of my data on a back-up drive, I decided to cut my losses and retrieve what I could from there.  This exercise turned into a bit of a trip down memory lane as I sifted through old documents.

Chocolate and the Differences Between Cacao and Cocoa

Bottom Left to Right: cacao butter, cacao powder and cacao nibs (Photo Credit: Blair/Joanne @ TheDragonsPicnic.com)

Considered by many as food of the Gods, the world’s love affair with chocolate is thought to have began approximately 5,300 years ago in the rainforests of Ecuador. It is believed that ancient civilizations used cacao to produce drinks for festivals, feasts and medicinal purposes. Also, contrary to the old adage that money doesn’t grown on trees, they also used cacao seeds as currency!

I concur with this global consensus and have coveted and feasted on chocolate in all its glorious forms since childhood. However, I only discovered the use cacao powder, cacao butter (oils of the bean) and cacao nibs (the dried and fermented pieces of cacao beans) since exploring whole foods, plant-based (WFPB) eating.  Cacao appears regularly in WFPB recipes as it is considered raw and is minimally processed with no additives.

What is the difference between cacao and cocoa?

Cacao and cocoa both start out as beans from the cacao plant and the difference comes in the way they are processed. Both are fermented for a few days to develop a flavour and then they are dried.