My new guilty pleasure
Have you tried this stuff? I tricked myself into thinking it was "healthy". Pfft! I saw it in the peanut butter aisle. And then I remembered a brief flashback of Giada from the Food Network talking about how she ate it as a little girl growing up in Italy. It seems that Nutella is Europe's answer to peanut butter. So I picked up the jar and looked at the label. It says:
Spreadably delicious on whole wheat, mulitigrain and bakery breads.
Now that sounds healthy, right? And it's made with hazelnuts (which are oh, so more sophisticated than a plain ole peanut) skim milk (not whole milk, skim - skinny - healthy milk) and cocoa (not sticky Hershey's chocolate, but a whiff of powder from the cocoa bean that is filled with antioxidants). I even read the label. It had less calories and less fat than it's peanut butter cousin. (and yes I read that it has a zillion more grams of sugar but I was already hooked at that point and chose to ignore that detail)
So into the grocery basket it went! That was Sunday afternoon. Sunday evening I got out a pretzel and tried a little taste. Oh, smooth chocolately yumminess. Mixed ever so gently with the salt of my pretzel. I had another. And another. And another. And I haven't stopped. It's Wednesday night and there is but a sad little spoonful left in the bottom of the container.
I love Nutella. But I'm afraid it will have to go on the "do not buy" list. I can't stop myself. I can stop myself with peanut butter. One little scoop on a piece of toast and I'm good. I've always admired the people who can casually keep goodies laying around their house. Cookies, cokes, chips - just hanging out. They don't hang out at our house - I eat them until they're gone. Just like the Nutella.
4 comments:
I met Nutella during my trip to Urbino, Italy. Dan Lochrie actually introduced it to me and I fell in love with it just as you did! Yeah, it doesn't stay around my house very long either. And it's partner is the pretzel here too. I thought it was an "Italy" thing, bought 3 containers of it and brought them back to find it on the Kroger shelf the very next week. :-) Glad I have a Nutella friend!!!!
you're bringing the spoonful and a few pretzels to girlband tonight, right?
I fell in love with Nutella just days before Jeff proposed to me in Germany, where it was a regular part of breakfast at my host family's home. YUMMY! I left it behind with a tear and came back to the states, telling stories of this wonderful ethnic find. When it emerged on our groceries shelves a few years later, I just couldn't believe it was the same stuff. Probably the cheap, watered-down American version of a European classic. I have never let myself buy it. Your post temps me, though. Maybe I'll have to give it a chance.
So I can't believe I did not introduce you to the yummy treat in High School! I met Nutella when Barbara married my Dad. She had been introduced in Germany when she was 16. It was not terribly easy to find when we were in HS, but now it is everywhere. We would sometimes spread creamy butter over a piece of bread (white of course) and then add a THICK layer of Nutella, and call that breakfast.
I haven't thought of eating that in a while. Maybe I will pick some up and introduce Scott, I am sure he has not ever tried the yummy treat.
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