So Spring has sprung here at Peeled Snacks world headquarters, which means a few things: flowers in the air, sniffles from the pollen count, the return of sun-screen, the shedding of coats.  Given what we sell, it also means the beginning of the harvest season - many of the farmers we work with have just dusted off their tractors and headed back to their fields.  And after a somewhat punishing winter (I broke 2 snow shovels this year!), we surely deserve a bounteous harvest.

Spring also means Earth Day.  Earth Day makes for a wonderful opportunity to think about our affect on the environment, and we at Peeled Snacks work year-round to make a positive impact.  From our products to our work place, from how we market ourselves to who we market to, we are constantly on the lookout for new ways that our company can do good and equally important, how our company can avoid doing bad.

When it comes down to it, Peeled Snacks markets and sells fruit.  When we develop our products, we're not working with technicians, we're working with farmers. Our commitment to organic means that we work with farmers who aren't putting poisons in the soil, on the fruit, or around their workers.  Peeled Snacks partners with the American Farmland Trust to support their efforts to protect small farmers and preserve American Farmland. We encourage our fans to learn more about the AFT and their No Farms No Food program.

I need to make a shout-out to the Peeled Snacks staff.  Our founder and CEO, Noha Waibsnaider, made the decision to start this company in New York City, which is the most environmentally progressive city in the U.S.A.  No, I'm not making that up- we've got the public transportation, we've got the population density, we've got the recycling, and we've got energy efficient buildings (with more and more "green buildings" going up every day). 

Everyone at Peeled Snacks either walks to work or takes public transportation.  We have a garden on our office porch. And our staff eat a lot of real food (besides our snacks), purchased through Community Supported Agriculture programs or one of the many farmers' markets around town.  Not every community offers such programs, but since living in New York City lets us live this way, well, we do.

On this year’s Earth Day, we hope that you'll think about simple ways that you can have a positive impact on your environment and the people around you.  Of course you can drive less, exercise more, and swap out your light-bulbs.  But we encourage you to also consider how the food you eat impacts the world.  Some ideas from us: find out where your food comes from, eat more “real” food, support local agriculture, farmer’s markets or food cooperatives, and encourage your friends and family to do the same. Happy Earth Day to you,

Peeled Skinny, eating some CSA Kale tonight!

Posted by iankusc at 12:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

By: Amie Valpone, HHP, AADP Culinary Marketing Consultant and author of the Gluten-Free food blog, The Healthy Apple, www.TheHealthyApple.com

I'm a huge fan of Peeled Snacks and all of their incredibly pure products.  As the CEO and Editor of The Healthy Apple, my philosophy is 'Clean' pure, gluten-free foods in their most natural form.  That is why I love all of the Peeled Snacks products and enjoy them as a go-to snack anytime of the day tossed into my bag, sprinkled atop salads, mixed into whole grain dishes and even used in baked goods and as a topping on ice cream and desserts.  There are endless ways to incorporate Peeled Snacks into your daily meals and snacks, therefore I've created a few handy-dandy recipes that you can make using these pure dried fruit products. 

The Cherry Bran Muffin Crumble was inspired by a delicious muffin I had at a small bakery last week that was so incredibly moist and had dried blueberries inside. I decided to create a spin-off of this recipe and add dried cherries, agave nectar and buttermilk for an extra moist bite.  The addition of bran crumbs adds a healthy dose of fiber and a bit of crunch to round out these tasty muffins. Museli is my favorite gluten-free breakfast; it’s delicious enjoyed with thick Greek yogurt and can be added to any regular cereal or enjoyed on its own with any of the Peeled Snacks offerings; here I combined three of my favorite Peeled Snacks in this recipe for an extra kick of natural sweetness in each bite.

The Rice Ricotta Pancakes are one of my most famous dishes and I’m always asked to create these on a cozy Sunday morning for my family; the ricotta and rice combination makes these pancakes nice and fluffy while the Peeled Snacks Raisin Expectations perks up these simple cakes so you don’t need any maple syrup or sweetened topping.

My delicious Re-Fuel bars are the perfect snack to carry around in your bag when running errands or to serve to your kids at snack time and with lunches as these bars are pure fruits and nuts and can be enjoyed alone or crumbled atop vanilla yogurt for a homemade parfait.  They’re a great mix of protein and healthy fats that will keep your blood sugar steady and your tummy satiated between meals for a pick-me-up when the vending machine is calling your name! 

And last but not least, my favorite recipe of all, Cottage Cheese Almond Banana Bread, which can be enjoyed toasted with nut butter for breakfast, served with ice cream for dessert or enjoyed crumbled atop oatmeal, hot chili or rice pilaf dishes as this bread is not too sweet, which allows for it to be incorporated into meals and snacks that you’ve already prepared or eaten alone simply toasted with jam and your favorite nut butter. I hope you enjoy these delicious recipes and find other fun ways to incorporate Peeled Snacks into your daily eats.

Bon Appetit!

Cherry Bran Muffin Crumble

Makes 10 muffins 

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup whole-wheat flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups bran crumbs (ground bran crackers)
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1 teaspoon ground allspice
• 2 tablespoons canola oil
• 2 tablespoons molasses
• 2 tablespoons agave nectar
• 1 large egg or egg substitute, lightly beaten
• 1 1/3 cups low fat buttermilk
• 1/2 cup Peeled Snacks Cherry-Go-Round
• Greek plain yogurt, for topping

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 375º F.  Prepare a muffin pan with nonstick baking spray.
2. In a medium bowl combine all dry ingredients.
3. In a small bowl, combine canola oil, molasses, agave nectar, egg and buttermilk and mix well.
4. Add liquid ingredients to dry ingredients and stir just until dry ingredients are moistened.  Do not over mix.
5. Stir in Peeled Snacks Cherry-Go-Round and fill prepared muffin pans 3/4 full.
6. Bake 15 to 20 minutes in preheated oven or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.   Serve bran muffins crumbled atop nonfat Greek plain yogurt.

Morning Muesli 

Makes 8 (1-cup) servings

Ingredients

• 1 1/4 cups dry oats
• 2/3 cup unsweetened almond milk
• 2/3 cup nonfat Greek plain yogurt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2/3 cup fresh orange juice
• 1 cup chopped walnuts
• 1/4 cup agave nectar
• ½ cup shredded carrots
• ½ cup Peeled Snacks Much-a-do-About Mango
• 1 cup Peeled Snacks Apple-to-the-Core
• 1 cup Peeled Snacks Go-Figure

Instructions

1. In a large bowl, combine oats, milk, yogurt and vanilla. Let sit for 5 minutes to soften oats.
   
2. In a small bowl combine orange juice, chopped walnuts and agave nectar. Add carrots, and Peeled Snacks. Stir into yogurt mixture and mix well. Serve chilled.

Rice Ricotta Pancakes

Serves 2

Ingredients

• 2 eggs
• ½ cup low fat ricotta cheese
• 1 Tbp. Oil
• ½ cup rice flour
• 2 tsp. sugar
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• ½ tsp. salt
• ¼ cup Peeled Snacks Raisin Expectations
• ½ cup unsweetened almond milk

Directions

1. Beat together the eggs, ricotta cheese; add oil.
2. In a separate bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Beat into egg mixture; add Peeled Snacks and almond milk.  Mix well.
3. Transfer batter onto a heated griddle sprayed with nonstick cooking spray.
4. Makes 1 dozen 4 inch pancakes.

Homemade Re-Fuel Bars

Makes 5 bars

Ingredients:

• 1 cup oats
• 1/4 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/4 cup cocoa powder
• 1/2 cup egg whites
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup Peeled Snacks Farms Market Trio

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Combine all ingredients in a bowl and mix well.
3. Spray a loaf pan with non-stick cooking spray.
4. Spread batter into pan evenly and use a fork to flatten.
5. Bake for 10-12 minutes.
6. Allow to cool before cutting.

Cottage Cheese Banana Almond Bread

Makes 1 loaf

Ingredients:

• 2 ripe bananas
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• ¼ cup slivered almonds
• ¼ cup Peeled Snacks Paradise Found
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 tsp almond extract
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 cup low-fat cottage cheese
• 1/4 cup canola oil
• Pinch of cinnamon
• Pinch of nutmeg
• Pinch of salt

Directions:

1. Pre-heat oven to 325 degrees F. 
2. Coat loaf pan with non-stick spray. 
3. Combine ingredients in large mixing bowl; mix well.
4. Pour batter into loaf pan; spread evenly.
5. Bake for 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle of the loaf comes out clean.
6. Allow to cool on wire rack before serving. 

Posted by iankusc at 01:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

So this past April Fools Day (happy birthday Myka!) Peeled Skinny tried a Facebook prank- I announced on my wall that I'd received a deportation notice, and complained about the impending bureaucratic nightmare I'd slog through to avoid being hoisted to foreign shores.  Perhaps my Irish roots made it seem authentic, or perhaps my tone of annoyance (rather than alarm) sold the joke, but the post had a great deal of responses before someone (late in the day, mind you) finally outed me.

I caught wind of another great April Fools joke from Vator.tv: an article talking about a new business incubator designed to help incubate business incubators.  I thought that was GENIUS- a joke that MIGHT be true, yet turns truth in on itself AND satirizes (albeit politely) the cruel entrepreneurial financing landscape of the day.  Turned out to be not so funny a joke though- the UN actually HAS an incubator for incubators.  Egad.

I've got a non-April-Fools joke for you, one that plays from April 2nd through till March 31st; it's a simple joke, just 2 words, and really worth a belly laugh: Fruit Snack.  I won't mention brands for fear of ticking anyone off, but there are companies out there who sell "Fruit Snacks" that contain little or no actual fruit.  Fruit leathers, fruit chews, or fruit gummies usually contain less than 20% fruit, and mostly contain cow hoof (i.e. gelatin).  And yet the companies that make them call them "Fruit" something.

Joke's on us, I guess, but I personally am not amused.  What actually classifies as "fruit"?  How about, er, um, say, FRUIT (no parenthesis please).  If a product has "fruit" on the label, then it should be what it says.  Okay, for the benefit of the modern era of processing food to death, how about a standard of a "Fruit Snack" being at least 50% fruit.  Does that seem so absurd?

And is "Fruit Juice" really fruit?  When you take all the good bits out, can what's left really go to make a "Fruit Snack"?  I am doubtful.

Luckily, Peeled Snacks does NOT participate in this joke, because our "Fruit Snacks" are actually fruit "snacks".  That is to say, they are FRUIT, that we dry in a certain way but otherwise add NOTHING to, and that we package and present as a "Snack".  Nothing funny about that, is there?  Well, it's funny how yummy they are, but there's nothing else to laugh at.

Except our snack names.  Feel free to laugh your head off at "Raisin Expectations" or "Go-Figure".  Go ahead, I'll wait.

Happy April.  May your days be bright and warm, or at least wet and warm (and bring May flowers).  Keep snacking,

Peeled Skinny

Posted by iankusc at 12:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)