Kristine Cocchiarella
Classically trained Cordon Bleu chef turned anti-GMO, pro-organic, food hippie blogger with a passion for REAL food.
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Real Food Pork Fried Rice
I had a strange day today schedule wise. Because of that, I had dinner at 2:00 in the afternoon, so at about 9:00 pm tonight, I heard my tummy growl a bit. I made a huge pork roast on Tuesday night and The Stud Muffin and I have been eating that for the last 4 nights. You can get several meals per roast which makes large roasts one of my more favorite things to buy, despite the initial sticker shock. I live about 4 miles from a quaint little red farmhouse that serves as the retail store for a local pig farm. So when I have a hankering for a nice roast, I…
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A Trip to Trader Joe’s
We shop at Trader Joe’s. I almost feel like I need to duck and take cover from the barrage of rotten fruit that will no doubt be thrown at me for admitting that. Why? Well, Trader Joe’s has been getting some rough press amongst some of the Real Food Blogging Elite recently. I have to say I’m a little tired of all the bashing. There isn’t ONE perfect grocery store out there, yet because a grocer carries a wide selection of organic and Non-GMO foods, suddenly they’re expected to be perfect. Who came up with that rule? Don’t get me wrong, I’d love a *perfect* grocery store, but until then, I’ll make due…
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Real Food Realities
Hello Food Hippies! Today I want to share with you, two posts written by two different bloggers. The first post is titled Dear Mom Who Can’t Afford Organic Food. This article was written by Erin over at The Humbled Homemaker. If you read this post and still manage to walk away with your Judgey McJudgey pants on, then you don’t ‘get it’. You simply don’t ‘get it’. The second post, authored by blogger Beth over at Red and Honey is titled Dear Middle Class America: I Have a Bone to Pick With You. This post hit me harder than the first only because after reflecting on some of the things I have shared…
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Caramel Apple Nighttime Snack
I’ve been working on snacks and drinks that help induce sleep for the past couple of weeks. I’ve mentioned before I suffer from insomnia. I used to take Ambien. After about 2 years on that medication I was having trouble sleeping. Huh, imagine that. So I hoped online and asked the Great and Powerful Wizard of Google if Ambien could cause insomnia. Whoa- talk about opening a Pandora’s Box! I was flooded with information and online Ambien forums and I spent the next 6 hours reading page after page, website after website and testimonial after testimonial of what that medication had done to people, could do to people, and was possibly doing to…
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Hot Chocolate Truffle Balls
I LOVE hot chocolate. My infatuation with high end sipping/drinking chocolate started with a gift from my hubby when he bought me some chocolate shavings and homemade marshmallows from Williams Sonoma. Did you know that there is a difference between hot cocoa and hot chocolate? True to my love of dropping a knowledge bomb on you, I’m here to tell you there is and they are two very different beverages. Hot cocoa comes from a powder, while hot chocolate, also known as “drinking chocolate” or “sipping chocolate” is made from small shavings or chopped bits of chocolate or tiny chocolate “chips” that are melted (slowly and lovingly) and then blended with milk or…
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Balsamic Strawberries
One of my favorite things about summer is that berries are everywhere. Before I switched to Real Food, I suffered a raw fruit and raw veggie allergy. Almost all fruits and veggies, if consumed raw, gave me hives in my mouth, and tongue and down my throat. My throat would start to feel tight and I’d have to run for the Benadryl. Not an enjoyable way to live. I learned that most of my problem was from the pesticides because I can consume organic varieties of those fruits without problems…except watermelon. That one still remains a mystery. I love almost every berry out there. My favorite is a tie between strawberries and raspberries. …
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Liquid Lullaby Sleep Tonic
I suffer from insomnia- I have since as long as I can remember. Many a night I will be awake until 4:00 am, 5:00 am, 6:00 am, sometimes even 7:00 am. It’s maddening. And so that I don’t waste my entire day, I force myself to get up after only about 5 hours of fitful sleep which just compounds my fatigue and sleepiness, making it beyond difficult to fall asleep the following evening. It’s a vicious cycle. I’ve been on Bio-Identical Hormone Replacement Therapy going on 18 months and it has helped to a large degree, but if I don’t have enough to keep me busy during the week, I find myself laying…
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Spectacular Blueberry Scones
I would love to live in England. I love the accents, the tea, and scones. Granted I wouldn’t enjoy living under monarchy rule, I would enjoy being so close to all the places I’ve ever wanted to visit. Maybe my desire to live in England is sorta like my desire to have a purple kitchen. The desire is one thing and the reality is something else entirely. Regardless, The Stud Muffin and I enjoy a good scone. There are plenty of nasty ones out there. There is nothing more painful than a bland, dry, crumbly scone. We’ve tried many different scones over the years and I think we’re sort of becoming scone aficionados. …
