You know you are about to eat some good chocolate when you see the following warnings:

• This chocolate has plenty of texture. It is not slippery smooth like processed chocolate.
• This chocolate is full of complex flavors that explode in your mouth. The flavor profile has not been muted by a commercial process.
• This chocolate has a natural look, of course. It is not shiny.
• Sorry, but our experience is that after indulging in some of our chocolates, you might never be able to fully enjoy a traditional candy bar again.

What chocolate am I talking about? IgnaFire Chocolates are some of the best chocolate you will ever eat.  If you are craving chocolate, one piece of this will solve your craving, because it is that good.  IgnaFire chocolates are made straight from the cacao bean.  There is no commercial processing and no added cacao butter.  They don’t use the extensive heating and industrial processing that a lot of other chocolate placs do.  This keeps all the healthful flavanols and antioxidants that occur naturally in the bean along with all its natural flavor.  I am not kidding when I say one on these pieces of chocolate will curve any sugar you have.  Since I am lactose intolerant, my favorite part of this chocolate is that no dairy products are added!  This also works well for vegans too!  When you first bite into a piece of this chocolate, it does have a different texture.  However, the chocolate really does seem to melt in your mouth.

Besides having awesome chocolates, the company that makes IgnaFire Chocolates is concerned about the environment.  What better gift than one that is environmentally friendly to the planet?  The packaging is completely compostable.  The boxes the chocolate comes in are handmade paper with no glue.  This allows the boxes to be used over and over again.  The boxes also are compostable.  The printed information that is included with your chocolate is printed on dissolvable potato paper.  That literally just washes down your kitchen sink.  Lastly, the cellulose bag that the chocolate is in will compost in 45-60 days.  I have never seen a company so carrying about the environment.

Ignafire Chocolates will be some of the best chocolates you will ever eat.  I highly recommend picking up box for yourself (if not others) and enjoy!  Great chocolate, saving the environment, how can you go wrong?

For those of you who don’t know, I love chocolate.  I often like to post about chocolate.  I recently found out that chocolate is actually good for me.  Did you know . . . .

6 squares of dark organic chocolate taken at one time with a glass of red wine monthly helps with anti wrinkle assistance or

4 squares of organic milk chocolate 4-5 times a week helps with osteoporosis or

4 squares of dark organic chocolate helps with memory loss?

To quote the site:

The Chocolate Therapist also includes a brief history of chocolate, instructions on “how to eat chocolate properly,” chocolate recipes, an appendix with information on the glycemic index and weight loss, websites on where to find healthy chocolate, sugar-free chocolate, Gelt chocolate, international chocolates and much more. By the time you’ve finished reading, you’ll be happier, healthier and eating chocolate guilt free every day.

Now, this makes the perfect Christmas gift for any chocolate lover you know (including yourself), because not only do you get The Chocolate Therapist Book, but you get the chocolate too (and the chocolate is excellent)!  Who can resist that?  I love the next time someone asks why I am eating chocolate, I can show them the studies showing how good it is for me and hopefully whip out some of the chocolate trivia I have learned (like did you know that the higher quality of chocolate, the louder it snaps when you break it?).

I love popcorn.  It actually ranks up there for one of my favorite snacks of all time.  I would have to say that my favorite kind of popcorn has to be caramel corn.  Now, I don’t think I’ve ever given popcorn as a gift, but I have gotten it as a gift.  As long as there is caramel corn in the tin, I am a happy camper.

If you are looking for a great holiday gift for the person who has everything, I recommend checking out The Popcorn Factory.  They have gifts for every occasion — new baby, Sweetest Day, your favorite football team, your favorite baseball team, and snack for students — just to name a few.  The designed tins they have are awesome.  Since Halloween is just a couple weeks away, I thought I’d include a picture of a Halloween tin.  They only use the highest quality ingredients — 100% corn oil, real butter, and genuine cheddar cheese. They have 18 different flavors, so there is definitely something for everyone. If you are not sure what flavor you would like, you can even order a sampler pack!  Also, if you find a flavor you absolutely love, you can order refills too!  If you are feeling especially adventurous, you can even get their flavor of the month.

If you are a popcorn fan or know someone who it is, go check out The Popcorn Family.  I am getting hungry just looking at all this yummy popcorn.

What better way to show the world that you are true foodies than to write notes on your very own foodie stationary?  Blue Egg Photography has some of the best food photography out there.  The paper these cards are made with good heavy card stock.  They scream quality to you!  The pictures are so good and so realistic that my 15 month old son keeps trying to eat the cards.  I will be honest, I almost hate to use these cards, because they are so pretty.

If you want to impress your family and friends, you definitely need to get a pack of these for yourself.  You can order them one by one or just get a 12 pack of them.  The 12 pack has all 8 photos in there randomly (so you will have some repeats.  However, each pack is chosen randomly, so you won’t get the same ones each time!  This stationary also comes with the envelopes and is packaged in a clear gift box.  This is certainly perfect for any foodies out there.

Blue Egg Photography has been so kind that they are giving me the opportunity to give away one of these gift boxes to one of my readers!  I know you all want these, so here is what you have to do:

1. Leave a comment on this post. I want to know which picture you like best.  Click here to see all the designs.
2. Twitter about this contest. Please leave me your username so I can verify.
3. Stumble this post. If you don’t know what Stumble Upon is, please read Lori’s post at Blogging Cents. She explains it extremely well.
4. Add this post to other social media sites like Digg, Kirtsy, Blogging Zoom, Reddit, Propeller, Etc.

For 5 additional entries,

1. Blog about this on your blog. Please give me the URL, so I can verify.
2. Add this to any forums you belong too. Please give me the URL, so I can verify.
3. Subscribe to this blog using either my email or RSS feed
4. Add my badge to your sidebar:

</p> <div><a href=”http://lisascooking.com” mce_href=”http://lisascooking.com”><img src=”http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/kk258/blm03_photos/125ad.png” mce_src=”http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/kk258/blm03_photos/125ad.png” alt=”Lisa Cooking” border=”0″></a></div> <p>

Good luck! This contest will end October 13, 2008 at 8:00 PM CST and is for US and Canadian residents only.

I love when I find a product that we can use on several items and in recipes.  Country Bob’s All Purpose Sauce is one of those products.  Not only can you use it in recipes such at meatloaf (more on that later), but you can use it on steak, hamburgers, pork, and chicken.  Personally, I am a ketchup person, but I may have found my ketchup replacement.

My husband made their meatloaf recipe the first night we had this.  I don’t normally care for meatloaf at all, so I wasn’t thrilled to be trying this sauce on something like that.  However, I was impressed.  The meatloaf was not dry, and it was awesome.  Not once did I feel the need to dip it in ketchup.  My kids even asked for seconds!  My husband wanted to know if there were more recipes we could try!  It is just as good on steaks and hamburgers too.

Country Bob has several other products you can try also:  BBQ Sauce, Seasoning Salt, and Spice All Purpose Sauce.  If they are as good as the All Purpose Sauce, then these are winners too!  Now, their product is good, but how about their site?  I love that too.  It is super easy to navigate.  You can easily find recipes to try and retail locations close to your house besides a ton of other stuff.  I found several local grocery stores by me that carry this besides the one I normally go to.  If you check out their online store, all of their products have free shipping!  If you are looking for a present, they have a cookbook and gift pack that would work out great!

Now, because I liked this product so much, I asked if I would be able to give a couple of my readers a chance to try this.  Of course, they said yes!  So Country Bob’s will be sending 2 lucky readers 2 bottles of their All Purpose Sauce.  What do you have to do to win this?

1.  Leave a comment on this post.  Check out Country Bob’s site and tell me what recipe you would like to try.  One comment please and let me know everything you did on that comment.  If you don’t list a feature, you are not eligible to win.
2. Stumble this post. If you don’t know what Stumble Upon is, please read Lori’s post at Blogging Cents. She explains it extremely well.
3. Vote for this post on other social media sites. One extra entry for each social media site you vote for this on.  (I’ll be adding some links to make this especially easy for you to vote — Digg, Propeller, Reddit, Mixx, Kirtsy, Blogging Zoom, Entreview)
4.  Twitter about this contest.  Please leave me your Twitter name in your comment.

For 5 additional entries,

1.  Blog about this on your blog.  Please give me the URL, so I can verify.
2.  Add this to any forums you belong too. Please give me the URL, so I can verify.
3.  Subscribe to this blog using either my email or RSS feed

This contest will run from now till August 27th at 8 PM CST.  It is for US residents only.  Good luck!