Hot chocolate with an orange minty twist!

There are very few instant hot chocolate mixes I enjoy. l usually find them way too sweet and making hot chocolate without a mix really does not take that much longer. I felt like adding a fun twist to my usual hot chocolate and it was surprisingly amazing! It is like an orange chocolate bar in liquid form! Cheers to a yummy new creation and hopefully the last of winter! 

Serves 4 fans 

The Players:

3 cups of milk

1/2 cup of semi-sweet and bitter sweet chocolate*

A splash or two of cream (optional)

4-5 orange rinds

15-20 chocolate mint leaves**

The Game Plan:

Heat milk, cream, and orange rinds on medium high heat.

Bring it to almost a boil. Meanwhile place mint leaves in each mug and set a few aside for garnishing. 

 

Take off heat and add chocolate in.  Stir chocolate until mixed in well.

Remove orange rinds. Taste and adjust to your liking. Divide the hot chocolate between the four cups. 

Garnish with chocolate mint and enjoy :) 

 

* Use a good high quality chocolate, ex: ghiradelli. It will really make a difference in taste. 

** If you do not have chocolate mint or cannot find it, eliminate it. It is not an absolute necessity.

Toasted marshmallow butternut squash soup!

It was another cold and rainy day, and something warm and comforting seemed perfect. I had a bunch of leftover butternut squash that I had frozen from the holidays, so I figured making soup with it would be a great idea!  I have made butternut squash soup before, but after eating an amazing bowl of it at Herons, (local restaurant in Cary, NC) I was inspired to recreate my own version!

Serves 8 fans

The Players:

• 1 tbs olive oil
• 1 small onion diced
• 2-3 celery stalks diced
• 2 carrots diced
• 3 garlic cloves diced
• 2 small potatoes diced
• 6 cups butternut squash cubed
• 1 cup dry white wine
• 4 cups vegetable broth
• 2 tps salt
• Pepper to taste
• 1/4 tsp dried thyme or a few sprigs of fresh thyme leaves 
• 1 tbs bouillon or better than bouillon
• Pinch of cinnamon
• 8 marshmallows (1 per bowl)
• 1/4 cup pumpkin seeds for garnish

The Game Plan:

 



In a dutch oven heat olive oil on medium heat. Add onion, celery, and carrots and let cook for 8-10 minutes, stirring occasionally. 

 

Add garlic, potato, and butternut squash and let cook for 3 minutes. Season with salt, pepper, thyme and cinnamon.

Add white wine and deglaze. Let cook for about 2 minutes. Then add broth to the pot and bring to a boil. Bring down to a simmer and cover for about 30 minutes. Check to see if the squash and potatoes are cooked through. 

    

Turn off the heat and depending on how you do it you may have to slowly scoop the soup out. Use an immersion blender or food processor to blend up the soup to a smooth consistency.  Add bouillon and check seasoning. Bring it back almost boiling and cover.

    

Meanwhile heat a gas stove and place a marshmallow on a skewer stick. Place it close to the stove and let it slightly char. Once the marshmallows are done, either place them at the bottom of the bowl or place soup in bowl and add to top.* Garnish with pumpkin seeds!

 

*The marshmallow will melt easier if you pour the very hot soup onto the marshmallow and cover it.

Grilled Veggie Ciabatta Goodness!

It was 70 degrees this past weekend, which made for a perfect day to walk around the farmers market. The first vendor we visited was selling a variety of bread that all looked delicious. I grabbed the ciabatta and a bunch of veggies and thought grilled sandwiches would be perfect!

Serves: 2-3 fans

The Players:

• 1 loaf of ciabatta bread
• 1 red bell pepper
• 1 medium sized zucchini sliced 1/8 inch thickness, lengthwise
• 1/2 medium sized eggplant sliced into 1/8 inch rounds
• 1 mozzarella ball or burrata ball sliced
• 8 large basil leaves
• Olive oil
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Handful of arugula and spinach

Aioli Spread:

• 5 tbs mayonnaise
• 1.5 tps minced garlic
• 1 tps of garlic aioli mustard*

Special Tools:
Grill (We have a gas grill, adjust the grill time according to your grill)
Basting Brush

The Game Plan:

Make sure the grill is off and brush the grates with olive oil. Place heat on low and cover. Meanwhile cut the ciabatta in half length wise and brush the inside with olive oil.

Brush with olive oil. Place face down on grill and cover. Let the bread grill for about 8-10 minutes until slightly charred and crisp on edges.  Keep an eye on the bread so it doesn't burn.

While the bread is grilling. Prep aioli spread. Mix mayo, garlic, and garlic aioli mustard together.
Set aside.

Brush all veggies with olive oil.

Once bread is done set aside and let cool.  Add all veggies onto grill and let cook for about 10-15 minutes. While vegetables are grilling, spread the aioli sauce on the cooled bread.

You will see grill marks on all the veggies after 3-4 minutes.  Flip and allow the veggies to cooked through for another 3-4 minutes or so, then take and place the zuchinni and eggplant aside on a clean plate. 

Season with salt and pepper. Layer them on the bottom half of the ciabatta.

Once the red bell pepper is grilled and ready to come off. Place on a cutting board and slice up and season with salt and pepper. (The pepper will be hot so be careful or let cool slightly before handling). Place the slices on the bread. Top with basil, arugula, and spinach.

Take the empty half of the ciabatta and layer with the mozzarella. Place in foil and place on grill until the mozzarella starts to melt and becomes gooey.

Place on other half. Cut into fours and enjoy! 

* If you cannot find an aioli mustard, eliminate or substitute Dijon mustard and it will still be delicious!

Smoothie Verde

Happy St. Patricks Day!

We make different versions of smoothies often as a snack or to compliment breakfast. We first became addicted to this healthy idea a few years back.  My brother in law blended one up and served it with breakfast. We were all very impressed because the bitterness of the kale was masked by the sweet fruit. After just one taste and a demo at Sams we ditched our old blender for a high end one in order to make this good for you deliciousness. FYI: this is only one of the impressive things the Blendtec can make!

Servings: 4

The Players:

• 1 Fuji apple (any kind is fine, except something super sour) cut into pieces and seeded
• 1 banana peeled
• 1 clementine peeled
• 1 handful of spinach
• 2 handfuls of frozen peach, strawberry, mango, pineapple mix
• 2 handfuls of kale or 1 long leafy stem (stems removed)
• 1 cup of low fat or non-fat milk
• 1/2 cup of water
• Ice (optional) 

Special Equipment:

• Blendtec, Vitamix, Ninja or any super high voltage blender

The Game Plan:

Place all fruit in the blender and pour milk and water in also. Put the cover on.

If using a Blendtec press smoothie and watch the ingredients transform into a smoothie.

 

If using another type of blender use appropriate setting or blend till smooth.

Pour into a glass and enjoy :)

Paris, France - Choo's Recommendations

My best friend is vegetarian and he is going to Paris next week. He asked me for food recommendations so I thought why not answer his question with a new blog post! When I visited Paris, all the places that we ate at were veggie friendly because my husband is vegetarian as well. Since French cuisine tends to include a lot of meat, we did not only stick to traditional French food.  And the variety of food we tried did not disappoint! Of all the places we ate at, these were my favorite (ones I would go back to if we revisit Paris).

 

Best chocolate almond croissants ever! We tried several croissants at boulangeries, but these from Artisan Boulanger Patissier were our all time favorite! I've included a picture of the place below.  It's located in the 7th Arr at 112 Rue Saint Dominique.  We discovered it while walking from the train to the Eiffel Tower, so make sure you leave some room for an extra snack when visiting this site!

 

Godjo - Best Ethiopian food I have ever had. Get the veggie platter and if you eat egg, ask for the egg dish to be added to the platter as well. It was my all time favorite meal we had on our trip!  

Veggie Platter!

Holy Crepes!
We had crepes for brunch and dinner at Little Breizh. Yup, it was so good that we had to eat there twice! I have a sweet tooth so my favorite was the crepe with salted caramel and chocolate topping.  It was so good!  The savory ones were delish as well! I don't know how the crepes got away without pictures, but they did.

L'As du Fallafel

Afternoon or late night snack. Eat yummy falafel. Get extra of the spicy red sauce. You won't be disappointed :)

Lastly, if you need a quick to go sandwich, try a place called Paul. There are multiple locations in the city. We got the mozzarella, basil, tomato sandwich while waiting at the train station. It was quick, yummy and refreshing!

Grilled pizza

It was a sunny, beautiful, and perfect day for grilling! And we were craving pizza! We love eating wood fired pizza but obviously can never get the same consistency or flavor when making it in the oven. My sister and her family had grilled pizza at a friends house and she was raving about it. So of course we had to try it! And it was truly amazing! Perfectly crisp and heavenly! Ever since then if it is a nice day out and we are hungry for pizza, we choose to grill it.

 

Yields: Two medium pizzas (serves 2-3 fans)

The Players:

• 1 ball of pizza dough, halved
• All purpose flour
• Olive oil
• Toppings of your choice
• Pizza Sauce* (Check out my homemade pizza sauce recipe)

Special equipment:

• Basting brush
• Grill*

The Game Plan:

While the grill is off, brush olive oil over the grill grates using a basting brush. Turn the grill on low heat and cover. Meanwhile, place one of the doughs on a clean and floured surface. Use a rolling pin or hands to flatten dough out.

Do not make it too thin when grilling because then the pizza will burn. We like our pizza on the thinner side. We tend to work with it a little longer till it is thin but not too thin. Note the sheep looking shape in the next few pictures. My husband likes to get creative .:)

 

Place the flattened pizza dough onto the grill and cover. Let cook for about 6-8 minutes (depends on your grill) and check periodically to make sure it is not burning.  You will start seeing beautiful grill marks on one side. Check to make sure the dough is cooked through and it is to the level of crispiness you like.

 

 Then take it off the grill and place it grilled side up onto a clean surface.

 

Sprinkle olive oil on the pizza dough. Then spread sauce on dough, and top with your favorite stuff!

 

Carefully place the pizza back onto the grill for about 6-8 minutes or until it is done to your liking. Enjoy!!!

* A common mistake is using too much sauce on pizza. It makes it soggy, so if you like crispy pizza like us, then put less. Put just enough to slightly cover the pizza like the picture below, it does not have to be a thick layer.

*We use a gas grill, but if you are lucky enough to have a charcoal grill you may have to use your best judgement on the amount of cook time for the pizza.

Simple homemade pizza sauce

I love pizza! And I truly believe pizza tastes so much better when you take the time to make the sauce from scratch. Now just because it is homemade, does not mean it is going to take a lot of your time or that you will even need a ton of ingredients. It is so simple and delicious that you will never use that jarred stuff again!

San Marzano tomatoes are sweet and delicious and honestly, you don't really even have to add anything to them, so do yourself a favor and only use these for this recipe!

Yields: Sauce for 4 medium pizzas

The Players:

• 1/2 can San Marzano canned tomatoes including sauce (Imported from Italy)
• 2 tps of olive oil
• 1 clove garlic minced
• Pinch of salt

Place a saucepan on medium heat. Add olive oil and garlic. Let cook for a few minutes. Be careful to not let it burn.



Then take out half of the contents including the sauce from the can and place it into the pot. Smash up with a fork until the tomatoes are broken up into small pieces. Add salt and let simmer on medium low for 15 minutes. Let cool. Yeah I know, that is it!















Now what to do with the left over canned tomatoes? If I am not going to use it anytime soon, I never let them go to waste, I just freeze it. This way the next time I need it I have it right there in my freezer to make homemade pasta or pizza sauce.