STOP THE “DARK ACT” – IT IS YOUR RIGHT TO KNOW WHAT'S IN YOUR FOOD!

Doesn't everyone have the right to know what is in their food?  Whether you chose to purchase food with GMOs (Genetically Modified Organisms) or not, you should still know what is in the food you are buying for you and your family.  The Deny Americans the Right to Know, or DARK, act is expected to be brought before Congress again, any day now.

This awful act, presented by Representatives Mike Pompeo (R-Kan.) and  G. K. Butterfield (D-N.C.) will not only rule out any federal labeling requirement for genetically modified foods, but will also stop states right for enacting labeling.  If the DARK ACT passes it will end the fight for GE labeling.

So, this week I am joining other food activists in the fight to stop this DARK ACT in its tracks.  You can find more precise information and resources HERE

Please sign this petition from Just Label It and let Congress know you won't stand for this!

I deserve the right to know what is in the food I'm feeding my three children, just as every American has the right to know.  Help stop the DARK ACT now!

Food Should Taste Good Chips-Review

The wonderful people from Food Should Taste Good recently sent me four bags of their chips; in a variety of flavors.  They make 20 different tortilla chips; of those 11 are non-GMO; but Food Should Taste Good is in the process of getting all of their products non-GMO verified.  I know lots of people that are very happy about that, and I am one of them.  The flavors I received were Olive, Multigrain, Guacamole, and Chocolate.

The first ones I opened were the Chocolate flavor, mainly because my 6 year old loves chocolate and I was excited to see if she liked them.  She didn't.  In fact, I'm the only one that did.  I truly loved them and ate the bag myself.  They aren't instantly chocolate as soon as you put them in your mouth, the chocolate flavor comes towards the end of the bite.  I suspect the reason my daughter didn't care for them is that they weren't chocolatey enough.   My husband seems to think that chili would be a good companion for them, I will be trying that when I buy them.

Next I opened the Guacamole flavor.  They smell great, exactly like fresh guacamole, and initially I enjoyed the flavor.  However, there is a heat at the end that is a bit much for me.  If you don't mind the spice and like guacamole, then these are for you.

The Multigrain flavor is something we have had before and enjoy.  In fact it is one of our top picked flavors at the store.  The last flavor I opened was the Olive.  The only olives I like are black, so I was worried I wouldn't like these since they contain black, green, kalamata olives.  I don't hate the taste of them, but I don't love it either.  The black olives are over powered by the other two.  My husband, however likes all olives equally, so he enjoyed these.  

A favorite of my family are the Sweet Potato chips.  Since both of my daughters are really picky about eating vegetables, these are great!  Some other flavors I'm excited to try but haven't found locally yet are The Works!, Kettle Corn, and Cantina; plus one that I know my dad would like is Kimchi.  With so many different flavors there really is something for everyone.  

One thing that really stands out to me about Food Should Taste Good chips are the flavors and the fact that they are not overly salty.  I'm very sensitive to salt flavor and in my opinion most chips are overloaded on salt.  These chips have strong flavors with a perfect hint of salt.

Food Should Taste Good is also running a sweepstakes on Instagram.  Find information on that by clicking this link #FSTGSummerSweeps.  Good luck if you enter!  You can sign up for their newsletter, follow on Twitter, like on Facebook, follow on Instagram, and follow them Pinterest.  

Do you have a favorite flavor?  If you haven't tried Food Should Taste Good chips go buy some, you won't be sorry!    


I received these products free of charge in, all thoughts and opinions are mine (and my family's.)

Making Healthier Sweets From Scratch-Cake and Frosting

I'm trying to get more healthy with the sweets we eat by making them myself with healthier ingredients.  I have made brownies from scratch a couple of times before, my family loved them.  So, I thought I would branch out to cake and frosting.  

My oldest daughter's 16th birthday was in January.  I wanted to make her a special cake; since she is obsessed with Dr. Who, I made her a Tardis cake.  I used a boxed cake and my husband made his specialty (cream cheese frosting,) he prefers that to any of the pre-made frostings.  But, he has said that he can't get any other frostings to come out right.  Then I put fondant on it.

  This is the result of about three hours of work, after it was baked.

You might be wondering what the cake above has to do with anything.  Well, after seeing this cake; my 5 year old daughter decided to tell me what type of cake she wants for her birthday-in May.  Not really unusual for her since she starts talking about her next birthday as soon as her current birthday is over.  Anyway, this is what she wants- a six layer chocolate cake, with the bottom layer being red velvet for her big sister.  Then she wants purple frosting with decorations (this detail keeps changing to match whichever theme she is loving at the moment.)  This prompted my desire to make a few frostings and see which one my youngest likes the best.  More difficult than you might think because she is super picky and only recently started liking cake-last year her birthday "cake" was brownies.  

Since I was making frosting from scratch I decided to make cake from scratch as well.  The cake recipe I got from a google search.  It was just a basic butter cake recipe, I added cocoa powder to it but it only has a very slight chocolate flavor.  The frosting recipe I got from one of my friends-it's called Egg Yolk Frosting, I made a few changes though.  Here is the original recipe:

Egg Yolk Frosting
4 Tbs soft shortening (I use half butter) 
1.5 tsp vanilla, 
1 large egg yolk, beat till smooth.. 
Add 1.5 Tablespoons milk and 
About 2 cups powered sugar beat until smooth..

(add extra powered sugar till I get the consistency you like)

Instead of the shortening and butter I used a product called Melt, which I just learned about last week and a tiny bit of coconut oil and I also used a pasteurized egg yolk because I'm worried about consuming raw eggs and getting sick.

Something to keep in mind is to mix everything very well.  The more you mix it the better the texture will be.

The Melt Spread that I used is the Rich and Creamy and it's organic, contains great healthy fats, and GMO free!  A much healthier alternative to butter or shortening.  After my husband tasted the frosting he said it needed a little more fat, that is why I added a tiny bit of coconut oil, probably 1/4 teaspoon.  That did the trick to make the frosting have the "right amount of body" as my husband said.

The recipe above was only enough to frost the 9x13 cake (still in the pan) so when I make it again I will double it.  Why would I need more than just the right amount of frosting?  A couple of reasons.  First my 5 year old loved the frosting, much more than the cake and after eating the top of her piece she wanted me to give her more frosting to eat the rest of her cake.  And two I used foil to cover the cake when I put it in the fridge and some of the frosting stuck to the foil.  Bummed about that.  So, my advice is to have extra.    

I poured the frosting on while the cake was still warm and poked holes in the cake so the frosting would go into them.

This is the finished product.

The family liked it a lot and even though my youngest really liked this frosting I am going to try a couple more.  Just to be sure I use the right one on her 6th birthday cake.

Melt Spread comes in three different flavors, the Rich and Creamy, Honey Melt, and Chocolate Melt. I could only find the Rich and Creamy at my local Whole Foods; but am hopeful that I will be able to find them soon!