Comfort Foods and Indulgences

In the world of taquerias there are potato tacos (tacos de papa) and then there are potato tacos. And if you’ve never had one, it’s exactly what you think: tender chunks of potatoes are cooked with onions and spices and nestled inside a corn tortilla and topped with shredded lettuce and salsa.

Sometimes.

And sometimes they’re mashed and tucked inside a corn or flour tortilla and doused with Mexican crema and again, topped with lettuce, cabbage, salsa or pico de gallo.

And then there’s the Casa de Matt variety: a type that forsakes all pomp and circumstance and distills it down to the bare essentials. And it’s not very pretty.

After finding the best milk chocolates in one of our most popular taste tests, our editors thought it only fair to find the best dark chocolates on the market. Tasting brands that ranged in price from $1.79 to $7.99, we were pleasantly surprised when two of the top five chocolates came from a surprisingly affordable source -- Trader Joe's!

Though dark chocolate is officially defined as having at least 35 percent cocoa solids, we tested a range between 50 and 85 percent in our quest for chocolatey perfection. We tested only solid dark chocolate bars -- that means no nuts, no fillings, and no added flavors.

Over the course of two days, our intrepid editors blind-tasted 56 different brands. Check out the slideshow below to discover the top 20 performers (and see below for a complete list of all brands that were tested). Where does your favorite rank?

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Well folks I hate to admit it, but this is the only type of "green" shake I can get behind. And look, it's not even green, even though it sounds like it should be. 

But really, for those of you who have not experienced the rich and creamy avocado as a substitute for ice cream, it's a must. My family was clueless I had used it in their dessert. They were happily sipping away on their luxuriously thick chocolate shake when I dropped the A-bomb on them. My youngest said, "We're drinking guacamole?" Ummm....no, you're not.

This shake is almost dairy free if that is important for you, but you would have to use non-dairy chocolate chips for it to truly fit that bill. And let's not forget the health benefits of the avocado; lots of potassium, fiber, vitamins C & K, B6 and folate. One whole avocado boasts lots of heart-healthy unsaturated fat, more than a 1/3 of your daily vitamin C needs and more than half of your daily requirement of vitamin K. What more could you ask for in a chocolate shake?

I wanted to satisfy my urge for a Shamrock Shake this month so out came the mint chocolate chips. They were the perfect addition and left behind these cute green specks in the shake after blending with my trusty Blendtec blender.

I haven’t had homemade cookies in the house for a while. My only explanation is…I eat too many of them. I can’t help it. They caaaalllll to me from their tupperware prison. I’m not making this up.

So I wanted to inject a little bit of health into what I know will turn into a feeding frenzy of cookie love. But before I go on, have I told you all that Kashi Go Lean is my absolute favorite cereal (no one is paying me to say that)? I have loved it forever. I don’t like the crunch one, it’s too sweet for me. But the Go Lean…I love. And here’s the thing, it really is a super-healthy cereal. A crazy amount of protein and fiber in every serving with barely any sugar. Now, if i would just stop enjoying it with whole milk it would be perfect.

Funny thing is, I don’t eat cereal for breakfast. I eat eggs. But I often have Kashi Go Lean as an afternoon snack. It’s satisfying. I even use it in my vanilla Greek yogurt instead of granola. It has the perfect crunch and is far less in calories. 

So, I usually use 4 cups of chocolate chips in my chocolate chip cookies. With these I halved my chips and used two cups of Kashi Go Lean instead. My kids said they were one of the best cookies I had ever made. Please know they do not like dark chocolate or healthy cereal. So wow, I certainly surprised them.