Chocolate Sauce

My kids love chocolate milk for an after school treat, and I love giving it to them without all of that refined sugar! This chocolate sauce makes great chocolate milk added to the milk of your choosing. It's also great on ice-cream. Win win!

Chocolate Sauce

8 ounces (about 1 1/3 cups Ghirardelli chocolate chips) semisweet or bittersweet chocolate
3/4 cup heavy cream plus more for thinning the sauce as needed
5 Tbsp Kerrygold butter
1/4 cup blue agave
2 Tbsp packed brown sugar (optional)
1 1/2 tsp vanilla

1. In a medium saucepan, stir together the chopped chocolate (or chips), heavy cream, butter, agave, and brown sugar (if using). Stir constantly until the chocolate is melted and the mixture is smooth, 3-5 minutes. Be careful not to overheat or scorch the chocolate.

2. Remove from heat and cool for a few minutes before adding the vanilla. If you need to you can add more heavy cream to thin out the sauce. Store extras in the refrigerator for up to a week and heat in the microwave to use again.

Brioche Donut Bites with Chocolate and Raspberry Filling

I kid you not, these will be the best donuts you ever put in your mouth! The raspberry filled are by far my favorites of the two varieties. The Brioche dough is so incredibly tender and soft and buttery. It compliments the bright raspberry flavor perfectly. Expect everyone in the house to start crowding around to snatch up the donuts as soon as they are ready! Thank you Paul Hollywood for the recipe. I added strawberries to his recipe and a couple of small changes.

Brioche Donut Bites with Chocolate Strawberry and Raspberry Filling

Brioche Donut Dough

250 grams flour
4 grams salt
25 grams caster sugar
5 grams Instant yeast
70 mL whole milk
2 large free range eggs
125 g unsalted butter softened
Sunflower or avocado oil for frying

Donut Decorations and filling

9 large raspberries
2 strawberries cubed (about 2 grams each)
50 grams semi sweet or milk chocolate broken into 9 equal pieces
9 strawberry slices 
Caster sugar

1. Put the flower in a freestanding mixer. Add sugar and salt on one side of the bowl, and used on the other. Add the milk and eggs mixing on low speed for two minutes. Then mix on medium speed for an additional 6 to 8 minutes until the dough is soft, glossy, and elastic.

2. Add soft butter and mix for 4 to 5 minutes more, scraping down the sides of the bowl occasionally to get all of the butter mixed in. Door will be very soft.

3. Place the dough in a plastic or glass bowl covered with plastic wrap and store in the fridge overnight or for at least seven hours.

4. Tip dough onto a very lightly floured surface and kneed it a few times.

5. Divide dough into 18 equal portions. Approximately 26-28 g each. Flatten each portion with your fingers and place a piece of chocolate (I use 2 milk chocolate chips) and 1 strawberry cube in the center and then gently fold the dough up and over the chocolate, pinching the dough together at the top. Shape into a ball and set aside on a baking tray to prove for 20 minutes. make sure to keep the chocolate and raspberry donuts separated so that you will know which is which after they have been fried.  Continue flattening the dough and put a raspberry in the center of the remaining 9 portions, folding the dough over each raspberry and pinching at the top. Roll them into a ball and prove for 20 minutes. Don’t be tempted to prove more than 25 minutes or else the donuts will deflate as you transfer them into the fryer. I also think it’s helpful to slightly flatten each ball of dough after you put it on the tray so that the donuts are easier to manage in the frying pan as you flip them on each side.

6. Preheat the oil to 170°C. Lower the chocolate donuts carefully into the fryer cooking each side for about three minutes until they are golden brown. Use a slotted spoon to remove the donuts from the oil instead of side on a paper towel covered cooling rack. Continue this process with the raspberry donuts. After each raspberry donut comes out of the oil it needs to be rolled in caster sugar immediately so that the oil from the frying will help the sugar to stick.

7. To decorate the chocolate donuts, set a strawberry slice on each donut. Microwave the chocolate in small ramekins at 20 second intervals, stopping to stir every 20 seconds. When the chocolate is melted, spoon the white chocolate into a piping or a Ziploc bag with the corner snipped off. Spoon the melted milk chocolate into a separate bag with the corner snipped off and then drizzle first the milk chocolate, and then the white chocolate over the donuts in a zig zag pattern. Leave the chocolate to set, and then serve.

8. To decorate the raspberry donuts, put the caster sugar in a small bowl and roll the fried raspberry donuts into the caster sugar as soon as they come out of the fryer so that the oil helps the sugar stick to the donuts.

Macaroni and Cheese with Butternut Squash

This is surprisingly delicious and such a good replacement for boxed Mac n cheese. I got this recipe from Jessica Seinfeld’s cookbook Deceptively Delicious and made a few small changes.

Macaroni and Cheese with Butternut Squash

3 cups Italy imported macaroni noodles
1 1/4 cups pasture raised milk
1 Tbsp mild flavored extra virgin olive oil
1 Tbsp Tapioca flour or white flour
1/2 cup butternut squash, cooked and puréed
1 3/4 cups shredded pasture raised cheddar
2 ounces pasture raised cream cheese
1 tsp salt
1/8 tsp smoked paprika
1/8 tsp pepper freshly ground

1. Boil the noodles according to package instructions. Drain in a colander.

2. While the macaroni is cooking, heat a medium sauce pan on medium heat. Add oil, then flour, Cook stirring constantly until mixture resembles a thick paste but not browned (1-2 minutes). whisk in the milk and cook, stirring every now and then until the mixture thickens (3-4 minutes). Add the vegetable purée, cheese, cream cheese, and seasonings, and stir until the cheese is melted in the sauce is smooth. Every once in a while the sauce will separate. If it does that you can still save it by putting it in a blender on medium high speed for 30 seconds.

3. For the sauce over your noodles and stir to coat well. Serve immediately.

Deviled Eggs

Deviled Eggs

12 hard boiled eggs, peeled
3 Tbsp mayonnaise
3 Tbsp cauliflower steamed, puréed, and cooled
1-2 tsp Dijon mustard
2 tsp Braggs apple cider vinegar
1/4 tsp sea salt
Paprika to sprinkle on top

1. Placed the hard-boiled eggs in half lengthwise and remove all of the yolks, putting them on a plate.
Mash all the yolks with a fork and then slide them into a small bowl.

2. Whip in the mayonnaise, cauliflower, mustard, vinegar, and sea salt.

3. Put the egg yolk mixture into a piping bag or a Ziploc bag with the corner cut off. Pipe the yolk mixture into the center of the egg whites. Sprinkle paprika over the tops placethe finished eggs on your serving platter. You can just spoon  the egg  yolk mixture into the egg whites if you are pressed for time.

Sweet Potato Waffles or Pancakes

These are no guilt pancakes for a healthy version of breakfast that tastes delicious too! If you’re in a crunch for time you can replace all of the dry ingredients with one and a half +cups pancake mix of your choice. The sweet potatoes can also be cooked and puréed ahead of time and frozen in a Ziploc bag flat in the freezer to be thawed when you’re ready to bake.

Sweet Potato Waffles or Pancakes

1 1/4 cup milk
2/3 cup sweet potato peeled, cubed, steamed, puréed, and cooled
1 egg beaten
1/1/2 tsp vanilla
4 drops pure stevia (optional for a sweeter pancake)
1 tsp cinnamon or pumpkin pie spice
1 1/2 cup whole wheat flour (or Spelt, or Einkorn or . . .)
3 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
3 Tbsp kerrygold butter or coconut oil melted and more for your griddle
Pure Maple syrup for serving

1. In a medium bowl combine cinnamon, flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In a separate bowl whisk together the milk, sweet potato purée, egg, vanilla, stevia, and butter.

2. Make a well in the middle of the flour mixture and pour the wet ingredients into the well and then whisking it together. Add more milk if it is too thick.

3. Heat your lightly oiled griddle or frying pan to medium high heat and pour the pancake batter a 1/4 cup at a time. When the pancake batter starts to bubble after two or three minutes use a metal spatula to flip it until it’s golden brown on the other side. Serve with pure maple syrup.

Honey Pistachio Goat Cheese Appetizer

I have to admit that I have a small obsession with honey. When I travel, the souvenir I always come home with is honey from that region. I think my love for honey began when I first tasted honey in the honey comb that my grandpa Kempton brought his “grand chickens” to taste. Its smooth sweetness had a depth to it that was and still is indescribable. I caught  glimpses of him tending to his bees on his St David, Arizona land. Land he loved deep in his soul. I think amazing honey tastes like love and nurturing, and feels like watching the brilliant colors of a desert sunset on the roof of a barn as the heat of the day mellows into the peace of evening. Remember how much you are loved as you bite into this bit of savory, sweet, crunchy goodness!

Honey Pistachio Goat Cheese Appetizer 

1 log of goat cheese halved lengthwise
1/4 cup raw unfiltered honey (I order mine from Blessed Buy Isreal)
2 Tbsp fig preserves
1/2 cup pistachios roughly chopped
Appetizer crackers for serving

Set the goat cheese on your serving dish. Warm the honey and fig preserves in a glass dish in the microwave for a few seconds. Stir  and drizzle the honey mixture evenly over the goat cheese. Sprinkle with pistachios and serve with crackers.

Ultimate Grilled Chicken Sandwich

This is a perfect summertime sandwich with mouthwatering flavors. We always eat the sandwich with a side of corn on the cob and fresh watermelon cubes. It’s a family favorite!

Ultimate Grilled Chicken Sandwich 

5 chicken breasts
1 cup cilantro chopped
1 red onion sliced
4 cloves garlic minced
1 cup milk
2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp freshly ground pepper
1 loaf French bread or sourdough bread sliced
2 Tbsp Kerrygold butter
Garlic bread sprinkle
1-2 avocados sliced
1-2 tomatoes slices
6 slices Monterey Jack cheese
Ranch dressing (preferably homemade or from your favorite restaurant)

1. Place the chicken breasts in a plastic ziplock bag and use the flat side of a meat mallet or a rolling pin to pound out the chicken to about 1/2 inch thick. Transfer the chicken to a fresh ziplock bag just in case the pounding broke through the other bag. Add the cilantro, red onion, garlic, milk, olive oil, salt, and pepper.  Gently massage the bag to separate the onions and evenly coat the chicken with the marinade. Let it sit in the refrigerator for 4 to 8 hours.

2. Before you start grilling the chicken, slice the avocados and tomatoes and butter one side of each slice of French bread.

2. Once the chicken is marinated preheat your grill to a medium heat and then grill the chicken for about 5 minutes on one side and then flip it over and place 1 slice of Monterey Jack cheese on each piece of chicken. Break up the extra slice of cheese to cover any extra portions of the chicken breast. After the chicken is grilled on the second side and cooked through, put the chicken on a covered plate to rest for 6-10 minutes.

3. While the chicken is resting, toast the bread in the oven at 400° with the buttered side up for about 4 to 5 minutes. Serve the sandwiches either open faced with one piece of bread or closed with two pieces, and top the bread buttered side out with tomato slices, avocado slices, chicken, and ranch.