Afternoon drinks

I made myself my standard hot matcha latte... 4 ounces skim milk, 4 ounces hot water, about a teaspoon of honey and a tablespoon of matcha powder. Whisk.

I asked my ten year old if she wanted something and she said to surprise her.

So I made her a decaf coconut chai/chocolate latte. I heated the skim milk (4 ounces), mixed in about 1 1/4 teaspoons honey. I dropped the tea bag in (Celestial Seasonings Decaf Coconut Chai) and added 4 ounces almost boiling water. Next I added about a tablespoon of mini chocolate chips and stirred until they melted. I topped with whipped cream & fresh ground cinnamon.

No Bake Crispy Peanut Butter Balls

I want to sign up for the cookie exchange at work but it stresses me to make dozens and dozens of cookies. My mother-in-law recommended peanut butter crispy balls-- a 1:1 ratio of rice cereal, peanut butter and powdered sugar rolled into a ball. 

Now I mixed in some Nutella and ended up with 2 parts rice to 1 part peanut butter and 1 part sugar.

And I rolled them lightly in powdered sugar.

And dipped them in chocolate.

Easy. Vegan if you dip in dark chocolate. And gluten-free.

Chocolate PB banana smoothie

My daughter was cleaning her room this morning and I offered her a banana as a snack. She asked if she could have a smoothie instead.

We came up with this delicious concoction.

- two ripe bananas 

- two and a half tablespoons plain yogurt

- about two tablespoons peanut butter

- about 1 cup chocolate soy milk

- about two tablespoons dark chocolate chips

Into the blender it went...

Peanut butter protein snack

I started this morning with almost two cups of coffee, two blueberry pancakes and maple syrup. I cleaned the kitchen, fed and cleaned up after the cats, weeded the jungle... I mean garden... and then I carted clothes up and down from the attic.

I started to get shaky, even though I wasn't remotely hungry. I hopped in the shower while husband made huge salads of iceberg lettuce, shredded cabbage, carrots, a pinch of Parmesan cheese, sliced almonds, whole almonds, a couple of cranberries, and Annie's Goddess dressing. Beverage was a few ounces of Welch's white grape peach something 100% juice diluted with carbonated water  made in our SodaStream.

It was delicious.

But about 45 minutes later I didn't feel better. I needed more protein. I wanted to keep it healthy. So I asked husband to get a square of ghirardelli 60% dark chocolate, layer some commercial peanut butter on it, and then he sprinkled our thick and somewhat dry homemade peanut butter on it.

Scrumptious.

S'mores

So, the meal with the layered basket of chopped potatoes, then red and green peppers, then black olives, and finally pineapple turned out awesome on the side of the grill that actually lit on this windy, rainy afternoon.

Gayle came over to burn economics books and make s'mores. That worked out deliciously. We had regular AND chocolate mint marshmallows, graham crackers and get this-- chocolate Ghiradelli squares filled with caramel.

Evening wine

I snapped. Had to have wine. Sent Husband to the liquor store and he came home with a cheap bottle of La Vieille Ferme 2010.

Served with Snack Factory Everything pretzel chips, and cheese-- the cheese was a birthday present, aged cheddar and Monterey jack. And sweet Lebanon bologna. And the last of the dates. (Another birthday present)

And for "dessert," 61% cacao chocolate with almonds. My PMS impulse buy.

Life is good.

By the way, the wine was $9.99

Sunday hot chocolate

This still tastes a tad soymilky but here's our recipe:

- 2 cups silk unsweetened soy milk
- 1/2 cup half and half
- handful of chocolate chips
- 1/3 cup Hershey's cocoa
- 1/4 teaspoon vanilla
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 2 peppermints

Daughter Cup Cakes

This is my daughter's attempt at the five minute microwave chocolate cake in coffee mug:

Mix in a mug and cook for 4 minutes in the microwave:
- 4 tablespoons flour
- 4 tablespoons sugar
- 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa
- 2 tablespoons whisked egg
- 3 tablespoons vanilla almond milk
- 3 tablespoons canola oil
- splash vanilla
- handful of chocolate chips

Hot Chocolate

My daughter had to write "steps in a process" in her second grade class. She's only seven, but of course her selection for the assignment was a recipe! (beaming here!)

In case the photo doesn't capture it:

Making Hot Chocolate
1. First you get hot chocolate miks and milk, a ovon (ummm... Microwave oven, love Mom) and a cup

2. Then you put the milk in a cup.

3. Next you heat it up.

4. Next you put the chocolate micks in the oven (in the cup, dear, with the milk, love Mom)

5. Finally you ster it and injoy it

Jessica's Feast

My dear friend Jessica's feast. She came over and made me (and my family) lunch.

- Romaine Lettuce, straight up, French style
- Incredible chicken salad made with organic chicken, coconut, mandarin oranges, craisins, blueberries and cucumber. YUM.
- a soft baguette. She likes them soft. I like them crusty. Almost sounds like we're talking about men, doesn't it?
- Brie

I provided:
- Beaujolais
- Rose iced tea
- Squares of Ghiradelli chocolate for dessert, some 60% dark, some expresso escape.

On chocolate

I regularly (every couple months) splurge on some good dark bittersweet chocolate from Wegmans or Target. I'd love to splurge on Godiva or Chaudun, but we deal.

Last week, I opened the Lindt Black Currant bar (pictured). Delectably sweet from the fruit and crunchy from the almonds, but still maintaining the dark, bittersweet flavor.

Tonight, I opened the Ghirardelli Expresso Escape. They got the coffee blended so smooth into the chocolate...

But yeah, I pay $3 a pop for some of these, but they last for about four servings (2 for me and 2 for my hubby) and they satiate me much quicker than a Snickers. And I love exploring flavors... Another favorite is the vegan dark chocolate with candied dried ginger... but I can't remember the name.

For me, buying the splurge items is cost effective because when I don't get the flavor I am after, I eat other things trying to find it. So, one square of quality bittersweet chocolate versus...

Well, I'll be honest. I resisted opening the chocolate, and first I ate two slices of lunchmeat ham that my mother-in-law brought for lunch. When salt didn't do it, I ate the last croissant (also from my mother-in-law). Then I finally relented and opened the chocolate.

Which is better for my budget and my waistline?

Had I opened the chocolate in the first place...

Five minute chocolate cake

From Instructables.com


o coffee mug
o 4 tablespoons flour - make sure you measure it right - or the cake is a lie!
o 4 tablespoons sugar
o 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa
o 2 tablespoons whisked egg - 1 egg is too much, 1 egg white is too eggy, 1 yolk is too dense, but 2 tblsp is just right!
o 3 tablespoons milk
o 3 tablespoons oil
o 3 tablespoons chocolate chips
o splash vanilla or other flavoring - try peppermint or cinnamon

For a fudgier version, omit egg!

Cake Wrecks posted this to Facebook. It cooks in 2.5-4 minutes in the microwave.

We made ours with chocolate soy milk instead of milk.

We also discovered one of our eggs made two cakes.

I made mine with chocolate chips, pecans and chopped caramel candies to make a turtle cake.

Must Try: Silk Truffles

I'll let everyone know when I try this:

http://www.silksoymilk.com/recipes/silk-chocolate-truffles

On Chocolate

Now, I'm a fan of good chocolate and for the most part I can refuse everyday chocolate. I love a dark chocolate Godiva truffle with a fruity filling of one of those candies from Antoinette Chocolatier in Phillipsburg.

But for cheap luxury, and holiday tradition, nothing beats Palmer Double Crisp. Their bunnies and "Crisp Kringles" are the best! And three little Santas about four or five inches tall is $1 at the dollar store.

Chocolate crunch brioche

Cross your fingers. I found a chunk of brioche dough in the freezer. Freezing brioche dough does not seem to work for me. Patricia Wells, author of the Paris Cookbook, a cookbook I depend on for my brioche recipe, says you can freeze the dough for a month. My response is sure, you can freeze it, but don't expect it to rise.

Freezing finished brioche works much better.

But I regress... This brioche dough was from July. One of my best batches ever. Wells claims the dough can be frozen a month. It's been two. So I thawed the dough in the fridge, as directed, and plopped it in large balls in my pyrex dish (totally expecting them not to rise).

Now, I had my daughter slice some butter, about a pat for each ball. I took my chocolate crumb topping leftover from the chocolate almond streusel muffins and rolled each brioche ball in the topping and set it on top of the pat of butter.

My hope is that the very sticky brioche dough will keep hold of those crumbs that refused to stick to my muffins last week.

The problem is: I have no idea if bread and crumb topping *go.* We'll see.

That's why I say fingers crossed.

Recipe for the muffins and the original brioche can be found via the links.

Note: Hub and I loved them. Child preferred without crunchies.

Chocolate almond streusel muffins

I wanted to make something this morning, yummy yet suitable for the freezer. So, I took my coffee cake streusel recipe and adapted it into muffins with chocolate almond topping. The topping did not stick to the muffins as well as I'd expected so I shook it off onto a plate and plan to freeze them for a future project.

The topping
About one cup Emerald dark chocolate roasted almonds, chopped in the food processor
About one cup flour
1/4 cup brown sugar
4 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup Hershey's cocoa powder

The muffin/coffee cake
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
(equal amount lemon extract if you have it, I didn't)
1 cup white flour
1/2 cup wheat flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons soymilk

Preheat oven to 350. Cream sugar and butter. Beat in egg and extract(s). Combine the flour, baking powder and salt. Add alternatively with the milk. Pour into muffin tins. Top with topping, bake 25 minutes.

Yield: eleven muffins and tons of crumbs

Naughty. lazy mommy!

I should go into the kitchen and make myself a nice scrambled egg with some sort of toast. I have about an hour before I leave for class. I vacuumed. I did the dishes and even made some iced tea.

But I don't want to make a nice breakfast with real food. I want one of those special K protein bars that I bought at the warehouse club. I mentioned last week that they taste like rice krispie treats covered with chocolate. And I'll wash it down with very vanilla Silk soy milk.

Now I believe the per unit cost of these bars were 43 cents each. Each one has 180 calories, 6 grams fat (3.5 saturated, which is a lot), no cholesterol, 230 mg sodium (again, a lot in my mind), 5 gram fiber (that's good), 15 gram sugar (lower than I expected), 10 grams protein, vitamin A, vitamin C, calcium, iron, vitamin D (4%), Vitamin E, Thiamin, riboflavin, niacin, vitamin B6, folic acid, Vitamin B12, and zinc.

Tracy's Yellow Cake

My friend Tracy said yellow cake is her favorite. So, I tried to hook her up.

From:
http://bakingbites.com/2005/10/happy-birthday-to-me/

Yellow Sheet Cake

2 ½ cups cake flour
2 tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
1 ½ cups sugar
½ cup butter, softened
3 eggs
1 cup milk
2 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350F. Line a 9×13 inch sheet pan with parchment paper, or lightly grease it with shortening or oil (butter will produce a harder “crust”).
Sift cake flour, baking powder and salt into the bowl of an electric mixer. Add sugar and, using the paddle attachment, mix on low speed to blend. Cut butter into 4 or 5 chunks and drop into the bowl with the flour. Blend on low speed until mixture looks sandy and no large chunks of butter remain, 1-2 minutes.
In a large measuring cup, combine eggs, milk and vanilla. Beat lightly with a fork until combined. With the mixer on low, pour 1 cup of the egg mixture into the bowl. Turn speed up to medium and beat for 1 ½ minutes. Reduce speed back to low and pour in the rest of the egg mixture. Continue to beat at low speed for an additional 30 seconds, until liquid is fully incorporated. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and beat for a few more seconds, if necessary.
Pour into prepared 9×13 pan and spread batter evenly with a spatula. Tap gently a few times to eliminate any bubbles.
Bake at 350F for 30-35 minutes, until a tooth pick inserted into the center comes out clean.
Let cool for 30 minutes in the pan before turning out onto a rack to cool completely. You can leave it in the pan if you’re serving it casually.
Serves 16 (or 12 birthday-sized pieces)

I really followed this one and made Betty Crocker's chocolate icing.

That I deviated from the recipe...
Chocolate Frosting (from Betty Crocker)
1/3 cup butter, softened
2 ounces unsweetened chocolate, melted and cooled
(I didn't have unsweetened so I used semisweet)
2 cups powdered sugar (I reduced to 1 and 1/3 cups because of the semisweet chocolate)
1.5 teaspoons vanilla
2 tablespoons milk

Combine butter and chocolate until well mixed. Not when hot. Stir in sugar. Beat in milk and vanilla. Use enough milk to make desired consistency.

I also gave Tracy some Heath baking bits to sprinkle on top. Turns out Heath is her favorite candy.

The cake didn't cool before she had to leave so I sent her on her way, with the cake in the pan, icing in a separate container and the Heath bits.

Petit Écolier cookies

I mentioned that I bought the Petit Écolier cookies, which at $4 for a box of 12 cookies is total splurge... But in the midst of my "the salad greens all look yucky at Wegmans" panic, I added extra items in case the salad course failed. We never served the cookies, but after everything was cleaned up last night I sat down with one and had a cup of decaf.

I had a terrible case of dejà vu (I'm probably spelling that wrong, but it's too early in the morning for my French brain to function). And I swear, I've eaten these before.

Bottom line was: Despite the expensive price, they were good cookies. And I did not feel compelled to eat half the box. Cookies with real chocolate on top. Yum.

My daughter made a good choice.

Easter Dinner Leftovers

Holidays at the in-laws are usually hit or miss. Usually it's a hit, but sometimes it's a big old miss. This year was a hit. For the traditional favorites we had ham and dandelion and hot bacon dressing. We also had my mother-in-law's corn bake, which is a recipe she got in high school I believe and it's a cross between corn bread and corn pudding. But I filled up on the "fried" chicken and the broccoli slaw. The broccoli slaw is very similar to the bok choy salad recipe with ramen noodles that Terri gave us when we all worked in the public information office at Lafayette College. My mother-in-law uses boneless, skinless chicken and cooks it before she breads and fries it. It's very yummy.And Lee's beans in a big, old crockpot. I don't eat those. It's a very meaty variation of baked beans.

But of course, Easter wouldn't be easter with Esther's homemade chocolate. She makes strawberry creams, coconut creams, peanut butter eggs, white chocolate/krispie "deviled eggs," chocolate covered marshmellows, and this year, funky bird's nests and a lamb cake. And there was Memmy's fabulous pumpkin custard and a lemon pie.

I'll have to post some recipes. I have the one for corn bake.