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Snack Foods

Cookies to Feed the Homeless and Hungry

By Lorrie Baumann

Mystery novelist Charlotte MacLeod knew that all she had to say to describe a character that she wanted her readers to love was that she looked like a woman who made good cookies and would give you some. Angela Pepe, Owner of CurlyTop Baker, is a woman who makes good cookies and, if you just needed a cookie, she’s also a woman who would give you some.

If you can afford to buy your cookies, though, she’d rather sell them to you, especially if you’re buying for a specialty grocery store. “Twenty percent of our proceeds go back to feeding the homeless. That’s our big why,” said Mark Pepe, her husband and CurlyTop Baker‘s Managing Director. “We also delivered trays of cookies to hospitals last week. We’re always looking for ways to make an impact in our community.”

Angela and Mark Pepe found a commercial kitchen and launched their cookie business three years ago as a for-profit way to fund Angela’s charity project of feeding the homeless. “As word spread on how good a product she had, she wanted to expand feeding the homeless,” Mark said. “We’re working with specialty grocers and resorts in Las Vegas to develop our wholesale business.”
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CurlyTop Baker cookies are made with premium ingredients like pure vanilla, real butter, cage-free eggs and are offered in unique flavors that include Bacon Chocolate Chip, Campfire Cookie (a cookie take on a s’more); Potato Chipper and Raspberry Black and White. “We feel that we don’t want to compromise on quality,” Mark said. “Our signature cookie is our Chocolate Chunk Original. We are very generous with our cookies. You can tell what kind of cookie it is just by looking at it.”

In its three years in business, CurlyTop has expanded its market reach beyond the Las Vegas Valley and extended its wholesale flavor line to 12 varieties, with additional seasonal flavors always in development. While she continues to handle the baking end of the business, her husband is now doing CurlyTop Baker’s sales. “We’re talking to grocery stores all over the country. We ship nationwide,” Mark said. “Some will bake them off in their stores, and some will ask for them pre-packaged – it depends on the stores… A majority of them are selling them as CurlyTop Baker, but we are open to private label.” The cookies retail for $22 to $24 a dozen.

When Angela isn’t busy making cookies in her commercial kitchen for sale to CurlyTop’s wholesale customers, you’re still likely to find her out handing out 300 to 400 cookies a week in Las Vegas’ parks and homeless shelters. “Our goal is really love and joy and a smile on everyone’s face,” Mark said. “They know we come every Wednesday, and they know why we’re there.”

Sonoma Brands Acquires KRAVE Jerky from Hershey

Sonoma Brands, an emerging brands private equity investor and incubator led by Sonoma-based Jon Sebastiani, who is also the founder and creative force behind the acclaimed artisanal jerky brand KRAVE, has completed the acquisition of KRAVE from The Hershey Company for an undisclosed amount.

KRAVE rose to an immediate cult-following from its inception in 2009, resulting in the brand’s acquisition by The Hershey Company in 2015. The diverse portfolio of protein snacks currently features a roster of KRAVE Meat Cuts, KRAVE Pork Rinds and KRAVE Plant-Based Jerky, the brand’s most recent launch. With KRAVE’s homecoming, back under Sebastiani’s guidance, innovation for the brand is expected to be further catapulted.

Sebastiani began his career in the family wine business, where he cultivated a deeply rooted connection to the abundant region of Sonoma. Following the tremendously successful sale of KRAVE, Sebastiani embarked on his next entrepreneurial endeavor to form Sonoma Brands. Sebastiani’s commitment to lead the Sonoma region into further prominence as a hub for food entrepreneurship, has been evident in his development of successful brands including: SMASHMALLOW premium snackable marshmallows, SMASHGUMMY low-sugar gummies and PECKISH perfectly boiled eggs. As a private equity investor, Sonoma Brands has also made strategic investments to-date in high-growth consumer brands including: Christina Tosi’s acclaimed Milk Bar, Hum Nutrition vitamins and supplements, Beekeeper’s Naturals health solutions, Hu Products plant-based chocolate, Guayaki yerba mate, Versed cruelty free skincare, True Botanicals non-toxic personal care and more.
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“KRAVE is a great brand with a loyal fanbase who appreciate its innovative gourmet flavors and culinary roots tracing back to its origins in Sonoma, California,” said Hector de la Barreda, President, Amplify Snack Brands, The Hershey Company. “We look forward to its success with a different go-to-market model under the guidance of founder Jon Sebastiani.”

“I have always had a great relationship with The Hershey Company and watched them grow KRAVE,” said Jon Sebastiani, Founder and Managing Partner of Sonoma Brands. “From expanding KRAVE’s product offerings to dipping into the plant-based category and increasing worldwide distribution, KRAVE is in a great spot to come back home to Sonoma where we can continue the brand’s fantastic momentum as a category leader.”

Luscious Yogurt Desserts from Lavva

By Lorrie Baumann

Yogurt isn’t generally thought of as an indulgent dessert food, but Lavva, a brand of plant-based yogurts, has launched a new line called Molten Lavva that combines rich, creamy decadence and classic dessert flavors with plant-based clean ingredients and no added sugars. The new line is expected to be ready to ship to natural products retailers this month.

The secret to Molten Lavva’s creamy texture is the pili nut, a tropical tree nut that’s native to Southeast Asia, Papua New Guinea and northern Australia. “It’s similar to coconut, in that out of 200 calories, 192 of them come from fat,” said Elizabeth Fisher, Lavva’s Founder and Chief Executive Officer. “I’m now over my fear of fats. It is satisfying. It keeps you full longer. You don’t start craving bad things.” While the pili nut does include some saturated fat, it’s almost entirely in the form of the monounsaturated fats. Unlike coconut, pili nuts don’t have a strong flavor of their own to interfere with the flavors of other ingredients, according to Fisher. “It has a neutral, buttery taste,” she said. “It just tastes like butter, with a neutral, creamy mouthfeel.”

Although pili nuts are plentiful in the areas where they grow, they aren’t widely known elsewhere because the natural fats in the nuts tend to oxidize quickly. “Once you crack the hard shell, you have about 30 days to use it,” Fisher said. “That may be one of the main reasons it’s never been [widely] exported.”

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Lavva makes its plant-based yogurts by adding probiotic cultures to the pili nuts along with plantain, which adds sweetness and prebiotic fiber; cassava; and coconut, which contributes medium chain triglycerides. “This is something that was never planned. But when when the prebiotic fibers met the probiotics, the probiotics just started feasting, and it keeps the probiotics alive in the cup,” Fisher said. “We have found that the plantain are delivering a slow-release food source for the probiotics over the course of the life of the product.”

“We have no added sugars across the entire Lavva line, so even though we have a fruit flavor, it’s just organic fruit, and that’s unique in the yogurt category,” she added. “Plus, it’s clean…. This is how good yogurt gets grown. It’s clean, plant-based, so it hasn’t been done with processing agents and technology. It hasn’t been done with a lot of powders and potions – it’s grown from a tree.”
The new Molten Lavva desserts feature classic dessert flavors: Chocolate, Chocolate Raspberry, Espresso, Key Lime and Vanilla Chai. Like the other Lavva yogurts, they have no added sugar, and a one-serving cup offers 3-4 grams of net carbohydrates and 18 grams of fat as well as prebiotics and probiotics. They’re plant-based and keto approved.

“It lives right next to the Lavva in the regular refrigerator case,” Fisher said. “It’s a refrigerated yogurt but with very different positioning…. This is a fermented food with naturally occurring prebiotics. It’s 100 percent plant-based and so good you can’t imagine.”