I’m always amazed and overwhelmed by the number of incredible products I see at Natural Products Expo West (put on by Delicious Living’s parent company, New Hope Natural Media), and this year was no exception. Here are a few foods and drinks that particularly caught my eye. (See also our blog on these and other non-food items.) more

More news on the fair-trade chocolate front: Green & Blacks has just become the first subsidiary of a major chocolate company (it’s owned by Cadbury) to decide to go Fair Trade certified with its entire chocolate line worldwide by 2011. (Until now, only one Green & Blacks chocolate bar was Fair Trade certified.) According to the notice from Global Exchange, “This will bring a crucial lifeline of Fair Trade prices, premiums, and standards to cocoa growing communities that grow cocoa for Green & Blacks.  This is a huge victory for Fair Trade farmers, and their supporters! Send Green & Blacks a valentine thank you for this important step; this kind of support will show the company’s owners, board of directors, and staff that there is consumer support to continue their commitment to Fair Trade.”

Global Exchange also notes that chocolate companies Equal Exchange, Divine, Alter Eco, Sweet Earth, and others “have done the right thing, from day one! In ADDITION to thanking Green & Blacks, we encourage you (and your kids/students, if applicable) to send thank you valentines, by either mail or email, to at least one of these companies, too.”

Why should you care if your chocolate is fair trade and/or organic? Because, according to watchdog Global Exchange, chocolate can have a dark side, including environmental degradation and child slave labor, as I note in this month’s Think About It column, “Chocolate: The Raw Truth.” When shopping for your sweetie this Valentine’s Day, be sure to look for eco- and fair-trade chocolates, such as these cute heart-shaped dark or milk chocolate morsels from Divine Chocolate, available at your natural products store. And check out more picks for delectable, organic chocolates.

The latest in Chocolove’s delectable chocolate line: A dark chocolate bar with almonds and sea salt. Aside from having the perfect Valentine’s Day packaging (each Chocolove bar includes a love poem inside the wrapper), this bar features everything I like: a sweet-dark taste and good antioxidants, due to the 55 percent cocoa content, heart-healthy almonds, and a touch of sea salt for a zippy contrast. (Other great Chocolove flavors include Chilies & Cherries and Toffee & Almonds.) You’ll find them nationwide at Whole Foods, Target, and other major stores. Love it.

Certain healthy foods are traditionally considered aphrodisiacs, and what better time than Valentine’s Day to try them out? Add these aphrodisiac foods to your grocery cart, suggests the fortuitously named Melody Hart, ND, PhD, of ChicagoHealers.com.

1. Nuts and sesame seeds. These, says Hart, contain the amino acid L-arginine that enhances blood flow throughout the body. Try our nut-and-seed-laden Coconut Almond Crunch Granola for your Valentine’s Day breakfast in bed.

2. Dark chocolate (70% or more cocoa). Chocolate “releases pleasure-enhancing endorphins in the brain, plus contains the feel-good chemicals phenylethylamine and serotonin, released by the brain when you are happy or feeling loving or passionate,” says Hart. These Chocolate Lava Cakes ought to do the trick.

3. Oysters. The richest food source of zinc, which does good things for sperm, oysters also boost blood health with iron. Try one of my favorite Valentine’s Day recipes, Warm Oysters on the Half Shell with Spicy Ponzu — it’s easy, and a showstopper.

4. Licorice improves circulation, acts as a stress reliever, and has a stimulating smell, especially for women. Anise, an herb often mistaken for licorice because of the similar smell, adds a wonderful scent to these Anise-Orange Rye Rolls, perfect to serve with dinner. And look for Panda all-natural Licorice Chews at your natural foods store.

5. Chile peppers. Capsaicin, the compound that makes peppers hot, increases circulation and releases feel-good endorphins. For a spicy and superhealthy vegetable dish, try Kale with Ginger and Chiles.

Check out even more libido-loving foods … and get cooking!

This luscious recipe for Heart-Shaped Pasta with Proscuitto, Peas, and Arugula is courtesy of Colorado chef Eric S. Lee, author of the new book, Sweeping Her Off Her Feet: The Ultimate Guide to Romance and Seduction in the Kitchen (Dreamworld, 2010). With his simple directions for combining delicious, real food, even a novice cook can make a “wow” dinner for his or her sweetie. Look for heart-shaped pasta at your natural foods store; it’s often carried seasonally. For more great Valentine’s Day menu ideas (including breakfast!), go to deliciousliving.com and search for “valentine.”

Heart-Shaped Pasta with Proscuitto, Peas, and Arugula

6 ounces heart-shaped pasta (or bow-tie noodles)

1/3 cup olive oil

2 cloves garlic, chopped

1/2 cup white wine

Optional: 10 large shrimp, peeled and deveined

1 cup chicken broth (or 1 teaspoon bouillon dissolved in 1 cup warm water)

1/2 teaspoon cornstarch (dissolve it into chicken broth)

6-8 paper-thin slices prosciutto, cut into 1-inch ribbons (ask for it this way at the grocery deli)

3/4 cup frozen peas

2 small Roma tomatoes, seeded and diced (just cut into quarters and scoop out the seeds)

1 tablespoon lemon juice

2 cups roughly chopped arugula or 1/3 cup chopped fresh basil

Salt and freshly cracked pepper

4 tablespoons shredded Parmesan cheese

1. Cook pasta until just barely tender. Drain, reserving 1/4 cup of the cooking water.

2. Preheat a large sauté pan on medium-high heat. Add oil and garlic, and sauté garlic until it begins to soften, approximately 20-30 seconds—do not let it brown. Add white wine and cook until reduced by half. (If using shrimp, add now; stir for 2 minutes, until nearly opaque.)

3. Add broth with dissolved cornstarch and bring to a boil; add reserved 1/4 cup pasta water, prosciutto, peas, and tomato, and cook for about 30 seconds. Stir in lemon juice, remove from heat, and let stand another 30 seconds. Fold in cooked pasta and arugula or basil. Salt and pepper to taste, divide between two dinner plates or pasta bowls, and top with shredded Parmesan.

Suggested wine – Sauvignon Blanc, Vouvray

From our sister publication Natural Foods Merchandiser comes this blog on the recent passage of bills in Washington and Wisconsin, banning bisphenol-A (BPA) from baby bottles and other food-contact applications. They’re the third and fourth states, after Connecticut and Minnesota, to enact a BPA ban, in a flurry of legislation mere days after the FDA issued its new turnaround position on BPA on January 15 that admits “some concern about the potential effects of BPA on the brain, behavior, and prostate gland in fetuses, infants, and young children.” Illinois, California, Maryland, Massachusetts, and Oregon are also considering bans on BPA (which is already banned in Canada). Here’s hoping we’ll start seeing cans labeled “BPA free” nationwide in the near future.

While skiing at Vail recently, I was delighted to find that they now offer labeled gluten-free menu items at all on-mountain dining spots! Making gluten free easy to identify fits in well with Vail’s healthy-food Appetite for Life program, which not only includes gluten-free items but also sustainably produced and organic offerings … AND a budget “Lunch for Less,” which includes an entree, side, and drink, for $9.95 (how often do you find THAT on a ski mountain?). Vail Resorts encompasses Vail Mountain, Breckenridge, Beaver Creek, Keystone, and Heavenly, all of which reportedly now identify gluten-free options on their menus.

Other Vail restaurants that serve gluten-free diners include:

>> Terra Bistro at Vail Mountain Lodge and Spa, with menu notations identifying not just gluten, but also nuts, garlic, sustainable seafood, and vegetarian. Chef Kevin Nelson provided these wonderful “Thousand-Year Breakfast” recipes in our Sept09 issue.

>> Larkspur, a local-fave dining spot at the base of Vail Mountain, with menu notations for gluten and nuts. They also have a kids menu (including lunch, during ski season), and a Market next door where you can buy food to go.

>> Restaurant Avondale, a seasonally driven spot in Beaver Creek. Again, notations for gluten and nuts, and a kids’ menu with fun (but nutritious) “TV dinners,” served in a retro sectioned tray.

The four salad dressings below, which chef Jamie Oliver (left) calls “jam-jar” dressings, are so easy to make, you’ll wonder why you never tried it before — and I guarantee you’ll be inspired to eat more salads and veggies. They’re from his book, Jamie’s Food Revolution (Hyperion, 2009), included in my blog of favorite 2009 cookbooks. It’s Jamie’s worthy mission to get people to eat healthier, simply by teaching them a few basics; he’s “consistently observed the most radical, inspiring and completely emotional changes, simply through showing people how to cook a handful of meals.” This March, ABC will air a new series that follows Jamie to Huntington, West Virginia — called the unhealthiest city in America — to shake things up and get people to cook and eat healthy, for themselves and their kids. Watch the trailer for the show; it’s eye-opening! And sign his petition promoting healthy food for children, which Jamie plans to present to the White House.

Jamie Oliver’s Jam-Jar Dressings

1. French dressing

Peel and finely chop 1/2 of a clove of garlic • Put the garlic, 1 teaspoon of Dijon mustard, 2 tablespoons of white or red wine vinegar, and 6 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil into a jam jar with a pinch of sea salt and freshly ground black pepper • Put the lid on the jar and shake well.

2. Yogurt dressing

Put 1/3 cup of plain yogurt, 2 tablespoons of white or red wine vinegar, and 1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil into a jam jar with a pinch of sea salt and freshly ground black pepper • Put the lid on the jar and shake well.

3. Lemon dressing

Put 6 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil into a jam jar with a pinch of sea salt and freshly ground black pepper • Squeeze in the juice of 1 lemon • Put the lid on the jar and shake well.

4. Balsamic dressing

Put 6 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil and 2 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar into a jam jar with a pinch of sea salt and freshly ground black pepper • Put the lid on the jar and shake well.

MediaPost features this interesting take on top food trends for the year ahead, based on a survey of retailers, restauranteurs, journalists, food producers, and farmers and presented at this week’s Fancy Food Show in San Francisco.

1. Good-for-you foods. Hooray! And I hope that includes the concept that good-for-you foods can and should TASTE good. Obviously, that has always been Delicious Living’s guiding principle for food.

2. Coconut. I’m getting the sense that people are finally understanding that coconut, with its medium-chain fatty acids (as opposed to long-chain, as in animal fat), is a wonderful part of a healthy, satisfying diet. Hey, centuries of healthy, tropical-food-eating peoples can’t be all wrong.

3. Gluten-free. No surprise here. I know it’s called a trend, but I prefer to think of it as a long-overdue awakening for the many, many people that have felt vaguely (or seriously) ill for a long time and are just now realizing it could be gluten. Watch for kids’ gluten-free issues to be the bridge for adults to go off gluten and feel better, too.

4. Exotic citrus. Interesting! I wonder what classifies as “exotic.”

5. Nostalgic foods. Again, how defined? Is this the same as comfort food? And are there international-flavor takes on this, as America’s melting pot looks to the foods and flavors of their ancestors? I could go for some arroz con pollo right now…