Bread's Best Friend

What's your favorite companion for bread? 

To name just a few of mine:

Umm, who doesn't love Nutella? I love it slathered on bread right out of the oven; plus it helps motivate me read my textbook. Sometimes. 

Nutella took a recent blow with a suit filed against the chocolate hazelnut spread for its false promotion as a health food. However - I was never really fooled, and I don't blame Ross for teasing the kids at the Y in the mornings that they actually just melted a candy bar on their toast.

Nutella took a blow in my heart though; it is made with palm oil, and demand for it has risen drastically in the past and is expected to continue to increase, yet palm oil is associated with deforestation in tropical regions, social conflict and increased green house emissions. Additionally, we are seeing the same problems with palm oil that we have seen with corn - the cost is going up due to the dual use of these resources as a biofuel. You can read the full report from the Nation Wildlife Federation: Food, Fuel, or Forests?

So, what to do for all those Nutella lovers out there like me who are torn? Well, when we finish our current supply I'm going to try this: homemade Nutella! Then I'll probably blog about it. You know me.

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Micks Peppourri makes pepper jellies of all kinds and sells them at Pike Place Market in Seattle as well as online. It is always one of my favorite stops at the market since you can have free samples! I like many different flavors, but last trip I ended up with their Hot Roasted Garlic - with NO regrets.

The Trader Joe's Whipped Cream Cheese is pretty basic as far as cream cheeses go, no complaints, but I do like it whipped, especially for mixing with, say, pepper jelly or into a spinach artichoke dip. I LOVE that you can find affordable organics at Trader Joe's, cheap yet decent wine, though I wish the produce was sourced more locally. It also pains me to see the people who shop mainly in the frozen section. Ross and I started meal planning last fall, with that meant more cooking from scratch, and the first thing I noticed was that I didn't go to the frozen section anymore. Cooking from scratch, know the sources of our food - or Kitchen Literacy - is a valuable skill that so many have lost!

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Another one of my favorite combinations! Both from Trader Joe's, good products, but boy oh boy I should have stocked up on the pumpkin butter when it was in season! Trader Joe's has some pretty great seasonal items, and this is definitely one of them. I know I could make homemade pumpkin butter, but since it's out of season, I feel like perhaps I should be content in waiting and anticipation for the next harvest!

So, what's your favorite?