Homemade Chocolate Syrup

Hi out there! 

I made chocolate syrup/sauce from scratch the other night and it was so easy and delicious I wanted to share the recipe. You can use it the same way you'd use Hershey's chocolate syrup or any similar brand, but it will be a million times better because you'll know it has just 3 simple main ingredients. 😊 

Here they are:

Ingredients: 

-1 cup organic cocoa powder 

-1 cup organic sugar 

-1 cup water 

- a dash of additional flavoring (optional), such as cinnamon, vanilla, or peppermint. (I used a little cinnamon). 

And here are the super easy directions!:

Mix all ingredients in a medium saucepan on medium heat, stirring to remove lumps and thicken, for about 5-10 minutes. Pour into a glass jar and store in the refrigerator. That's it! 

So far I have used this syrup to make chocolate milk and added it to my iced coffee the last 2 mornings. If we had ice cream I would have gladly poured it over that by now. 

Bon Apetite! 

Snack Attack

I would definitely be okay with living off of appetizers.
Everything tastes better when it's mini and made into a dip anyway, right?

Which leads me to the reason for this post: Spinach and Artichoke Dip and Jalapeño Poppers.

Before I get into the recipes, I have a confession to make...
Although I made these for us to enjoy on Superbowl Sunday, we didn't actually watch the Superbowl, per se... whoops. In my defense, the food is the best part anyway and we had a lot of shows on the DVR to catch up on! I know, I know...next year for sure.

Whatever the occasion, both of these recipes are sure to please and easy to make!

For the Jalapeño Poppers, you will need:

- WHOLE jalapeños (as many as you want, I had 6 wish made 12 poppers)
-cream cheese
-bread crumbs

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Wearing gloves, cut the top (stem) off each jalapeño and then cut each in half lengthwise. Next, filled each half with cream cheese and rolled them in breadcrumbs. Place on a baking sheet and bake for about 25 minutes. That's it!

Warning: These turned out too spicy for me to eat more than one :( but the BF loved them! It depends on how spicy the jalapeños you buy are, but you may want to try this with a slightly milder pepper if you're a wuss like me.


For the Spinach and Artichoke Dip, you will need:

-1 8oz. container of cream cheese
-1/2 cup plain greek yogurt
-1/2 block of sharp cheddar cheese (about 4 oz.) + another 1/4 of the block (about 2 oz.)
-1/2 tsp. black pepper
-1 tsp. garlic powder
1 can of artichoke hearts (drained and chopped)
-1 cup of packed frozen spinach (thawed and squeezed dry)

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Mix all ingredients in a bowl (except the extra 2 oz. of cheese - that's for the top). Spread the mixture in a pie pan or other shallow baking dish and sprinkle remaining cheese on top. Bake for about 30 minutes. Serve with tortilla chips, pita chips, or crackers.

Side Note: We basically ate this entire dish of dip in one sitting...it's that good. Also we're gluttons for snack foods. 

Veggie Wrap Delight

Sometimes I open the fridge and groan that there's nothing to eat. However, when we remember to stock the fridge with fresh organic veggies (usually whatever's on sale), I don't get a chance to groan. 

Veggies + tortilla = delicious healthy lunch, every time. 

I made this one today with:

Organic Carrots

Organic Kale

Organic White Onion

Organic Fresh Cilantro and

Leftover homemade steak sauce. 

Of course you can use any veggies and sauce that you like, the point is, a yummy, quick, healthy lunch is easy to make with the right ingredients. And if you buy too many veggies, just freeze extra to use later in soups or stir fry. 

Side note: we just recently realized how awesome buying fresh organic herbs is! The cilantro was about $2 for a huge bunch that we will probably end up freezing part of, and makes everything we cook just a little more special. 

I hope this post reminds a few people that it's not too hard to eat healthy, inexpensively, organically, and quickly. 

Bon appetite! 😊🍴

Sweet Potato Casserole

Here is my recipe for sweet potato casserole. I'm too stuffed with thanksgiving food to write anything else. 

In conclusion, it's delicious but make it next year - it's time for a nap. 

Ingredients:

(For the casserole)

4 large sweet potatoes 

1/2 stick unsalted butter, melted 

1 egg

A pinch of salt 

2 teaspoons vanilla 

2 tablespoons sugar

(For the topping)

1 cup pecans 

3/4 cup brown sugar

1/3 cup flour

1/2 stick unsalted butter 

Directions: 

Scrub the potatoes. Poke each with a fork several times. Bake at 350 on a baking sheet for about an hour or until tender. Let cool slightly. Peel skin off. It should come off easily, but if it doesn't you can scoop out the insides instead. 

Place in food processor, or a bowl if mixing by hand.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. 

Combine potatoes with remaining casserole ingredients. Spread evenly into a baking dish. 

To make the topping, combine all ingredients in food processor, pulsing until crumbs form. Sprinkle over potato mixture. Bake for 35-40 minutes. 

Phenomenal Coconut Brownies

I don't use that word lightly - these brownies are indeed phenomenal. 

If anyone still reads this, they may have noticed that I don't blog quite so often as I had hoped and planned. Alas, they don't pay me to do this so I have to work 8+ hours a day elsewhere. However, I am happy that it has been 8 months and I am still blogging away, whenever I get the chance.

These brownies came out so amazingly perfect that I couldn't not blog about them. 
I found the original recipe on Pinterest, which brought me to this lovely blog: http://simonesmith.hubpages.com/hub/Simple-Homemade-Brownie-Recipe. Her recipe is coconut-free, so if you're into that sort of thing, by all means, use her recipe instead. 
I, on the other hand, am definitely pro coconut. In almost anything really, but especially in desserts with chocolate. 

Here is my adapted recipe: 
Ingredients: 

• 1/2 cup of organic coconut oil
• 1 cup of organic sugar
• 2 large organic eggs 
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup of cocoa powder 
• 1/2 cup whole wheat flour 
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon 
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• Coconut flakes (optional topping)

Directions:

1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Oil brownie pan and dust with cocoa powder. 

2) Mix together the coconut oil (melted)*, sugar, eggs, and vanilla. Then add the cocoa powder, flour, salt, cinnamon, and baking powder.

3) Pour batter into a brownie pan (about 8x8). Top with coconut flakes, if desired. (I did half and half just in case the BF didn't like the idea). Bake for 25 minutes. VOILA! Brownies :) 

*(Mine is always melted because we live in Florida.....)

I didn't pre-plan and take many photos, but here's one of the finished product! Hope you like them as much as we did! 

Autumn Soup

Today is the first day of autumn, and since we are now living in the Sunshine State, I wanted to make something that would make it feel a little more "Fall-y" around here. 

I got the idea for this recipe from this blog: http://www.myrecipes.com/m/recipe/carrot-ginger-soup-50400000123351/

Then I tweaked it a bit to turn it into the wonderful autumn soup you see above. Or as the bf called it, "it tastes like fall in my mouth", (a very accurate description I might add). 

Here is my recipe, which is for the crockpot but I'm sure it can be made on the stove as well. 

SLOWCOOKER AUTUMN SOUP

Ingredients: (all of which are approximate since my best cooking is never measured). 

- 1 1/2 lbs. organic carrots

- 1 organic sweet potato, peeled

- 1 10oz. bag organic frozen butternut squash 

- 1/2 a yellow onion

- 1 heaping tsp. minced garlic

- 2 teaspoons minced ginger 

- 1/2 to 1 tsp. of curry powder 

- a generous dash of nutmeg and black pepper

- 2 tbsp. unsalted butter 

- 3 cups chicken stock

- 4 cups water 

Directions: 

Roughly chop the carrots, potato and onion. Add butter then vegetables to crockpot. Then add spices and stock and water.  Cook on low 8-11 hours. (We have a ridiculously long work day so mine was on almost 12 hours and came out amazing). Blend with an immersion blender stick until smooth. Serve with toast or bread. Enjoy! 

Pistachio Doughnuts

Please forgive me for not updating this blog. I'm literally writing this post on my phone in the car, while I wait for the bf to get out of work. 

Turns out living in Florida does not exclude you from commuting. Who would have thought other cities have commuters too - clearly not us. 

Anyway, between commuting to work, sharing a car, and both working full time, we have on average a 12 hour day, 5 days a week. Not much time for hobbies, especially indoor ones being that it's so beautiful here most days. 

In conclusion, I made doughnuts this weeks and used the recipe from this website: http://www.thelawstudentswife.com/2014/03/baked-pistachio-donuts/

I tweaked it slightly, using several organic ingredients and whole wheat flour, but it's basically the same recipe. 

They came out really good so I hope you try them! Very easy to make too. (I had an hour to figure out what to bake and then bake it and it worked out great.)

Enjoy! 😊🍩