We don't usually end up covering two holidays in one month here in the magazine, but this year, Easter falls in March, and we want you to be prepared for making all those eggs and enjoying the holiday. On the otherhand, it's been our tradition to offer some St. Patrick's Day recipes and such, so we're including those as well. Cook well; eat well; enjoy life!

                            

Irish Abroad's Irish Quiz Feeling like you know a little something about shamrocks and leprechauns? Test your general knowledge of Ireland and the Irish people in this memorable quiz brought to you by Irish Abroad. While you're there, you might also want to check out their Global Irish Pubs Directory. (There are 1275 of them in the USA.)

Our product review team features a "Product Of The Month" in each issue of our magazine. These products are a group consensus of those we find to be the most innovative, healthy, tasty, and/or helpful to the low-carber's daily dietary regime.

From previous reviews, you've probably gathered that like most people, we, as a group, are chocolate-lovers. And in the cold months, it's pretty hard to beat a great cup of hot chocolate. Sometimes "great" was a little too much to ask of a sugar free / low carb hot chocolate. But after attending the Fancy Food Show in San Francisco this year, and trying the new Schokinag No Sugar Added European Drinking Chocolate, we've decided it's now possible to achieve an exceptional hot chocolate drink and stay true to your diet.

If you haven't heard of Schokinag (pronounced "show-ca-nog") Chocolate, let us give you a little background. They've been manufacturing some of the world's best chocolate in their factory in Southern Germany for more than 80 years. They are the second largest supplier of pure chocolate to the trade in Europe, the United States, and Canada, and their products are available in 60 markets around the world. This is a company that understands chocolate. It's their passion. And once you taste it, their passion might become yours too.

Schokinag No Sugar Added European Drinking Chocolate comes in generous 12-oz tins. But when you open it, don't expect to find "powdered" cocoa waiting to be reconstituted. Instead, you'll find tiny chips (they call them "microchips") of milk and dark chocolate dusted with cocoa powder (hence the Triple Chocolate flavor.) To make basic hot chocolate, you place 5 Tablespoons of the tiny chips into a mug with 1 Tablespoon of milk. You'll microwave that for about a minute to melt the chocolate into a dreamy consistency. Then add either more milk (about 7 oz), a cream/water mix, half-n-half, or a low carb milk like Carb Countdown, and microwave again to heat.

This amazing drinking chocolate is just as good when cold. Follow the same procedure to melt chips, then add ice cold milk and drink. But don't stop there. This is versatile stuff. Flavor your hot chocolate with a bit of sugarfree peppermint or vanilla syrup, or add a mix of cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg, and cloves. For a richer hot cocoa, add to a well-beaten egg, and of course you'll want to top it off with whipped cream.

You can make a superb Ganache or Fondue with it also. Just mix 8oz of No Sugar Added Schokinag Chocolate to 6 oz of heavy cream and an ounce of unsalted butter. (Simmer the cream. Remove cream from heat and add chocolate; stir until smooth. Add butter and stir until smooth. Use ganache for any traditional application or serve warm as fondue.) In fact, anywhere you'd use chocolate in your low carb baking, you can pretty much use Schokinag chocolate.

Schokinag No Sugar Added European Drinking Chocolate comes in at 2 grams of net carbs per 1.5 oz serving. If you can't locate Schokinag in your area, you can order directly from their website. They also have a Dutch Processed Cocoa Powder (that's 22/24% Cocoa Butter) that you might also want to check out while you're there.


   

Neil's Photo of The Month:
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Copyright © March 2005  Low Carb Luxury.     Photography Copyright © 2005  Neil Beaty.