Chocolate Torte – Baked – Super easy!

This is the second of the two chocolate tortes I made over the holidays.  I made this one for my Mom’s birthday.

Torte Ingredients:

4 oz semisweet chocolate, chopped

4 oz bittersweet chocolate, chopped

1/2 cup cocoa powder

1/2 cup coconut oil

1/8 tsp salt

2 tbsp strongly brewed coffee

3 large eggs (or 1 cup egg substitute)

1/2 tsp allspice

Ganache Ingredients:

1 1/4 cups heavy cream

8 oz semisweet chocolate, chopped

8 oz bittersweet chocolate, chopped

1/2 tsp allspice

Supplies Needed:

Measuring cups and spoons

Double boiler or equivalent

Rubber spatula

Whisk

Pan to heat cream in

Prepared pan for torte

Instructions for Torte:

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.  Prepare your baking pan by greasing it with butter or oil.  I used coconut oil.

In your double boiler melt the coconut oil and chocolate together.  Once melted, transfer to mixing bowl.

Melt chocolate & oil

Add salt, coffee and eggs.  Beating until smooth.

Add the cocoa powder and mix until combined.

Spoon the batter into the prepared pan.

Bake for 25 minutes or until done (passes knife test).

Bake

Cool it in the pan for 5 minutes.  Loosen edges and turn out onto serving plate.  Allow cake to cool completely.

Ganache Instructions:

Heat the cream over gentle heat stirring constantly.  Heat until it is hot to the touch.  Remove from heat and add allspice and chocolates.  Stir until smooth.

Mix until smooth

Allow the ganache to cool to room temperature.

Pour over cake. I put the left over chopped nuts from the No Bake Torte I made on top.  Chill for at least one hour.

Chillin

Chocolate Torte – No bake

Over the holidays I made two chocolate tortes.  Today I am going to show you the no bake one I made.

Ingredients:

8 oz 70% bittersweet chocolate, chopped ( I used Ghiradelli 70 % Extra bittersweet)

8 oz heavy cream

1/2 teaspoon allspice

2 tbsp strongly brewed coffee

1/4 tsp salt

one cup toasted, finely chopped almonds

Supplies:

skillet to toast almonds

food processor to chop almonds

double boiler or equivalent

rubber spatula

whisk

measuring spoons and cups

knife

cutting surface

baking pan

pan for heating cream

Oil or butter to grease pan

The first thing I did was toast some almonds then chop them in the food processor.  I wanted them finely chopped.  I toasted them in a dry skillet over medium high heat.

Toast almonds in a dry skillet

Chop in food processor

Toast and chop almonds

Chop the chocolate

chop chocolate

I melted the chocolate in my “homemade double broiler” (a glass measuring cup over a pot of boiling water).  Worked like a charm.

Melt chocolate

Melting chocolate

Heat cream over gentle heat and stir in allspice, coffee, salt and orange extract.

Add allspice, coffee, salt and orange extract

Heat cream over gentle heat

Stir it constantly so it doesn’t stick to the pan.  When the cream is hot to the touch, remove from the heat and add the melted chocolate and stir to mix.

Add chocolate

Stir to mix

Ganache

Pour into prepared (grease with butter or oil – I used coconut oil) pan and cover with nuts.

Pour chocolate into pan

Cover with nuts

Chill a few hours to overnight.  When ready to serve, remove from the pan, let it come to room temperature (ten minutes or so) slice and serve.

Please note, if you aren’t fond of bittersweet chocolate, exchange half of it for a sweeter chocolate.

Special Brownies

I made some special brownies last night.  They were DELICIOUS!  I modified my My Flaming Lips Whole Wheat Brownies.  Hope you try them!  Here’s what you’ll need:

1/2 cup flax seed meal

6 tbsp cocoa

1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

1/2 cup honey

1/2 coconut oil (actually I used a little less than 1/2 cup)

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 tbsp strong coffee

2 egg whites or 1/2 cup egg substitute

Mix your dry ingredients in a bowl.

Mix your wet ingredients in a separate bowl.

Combine your dry ingredients and wet ingredients.  Mix well.  Don’t worry about it looking grainy.  It will turn out fine.

Pour into a prepared baking dish. I lined mine with parchment paper.

Bake in a 325 degree oven for 25 to 30 minutes.  Check with knife.  If it comes out clean it is done.

Enjoy!

Special Brownies

Special Brownie Plated

 

Coconut Curried Chicken

I made some more curried chicken. This time with coconut oil so it would have a coconut flavor without having to use coconut milk (which I do not have in my pantry).

I used a tablespoon of coconut oil.

Coconut Oil

I grabbed a variety of veggies and chopped them up as well.

• Carrots
• Sweet Potatoes
• Sweet Peppers
• Cayenne Pepper
• Mushrooms
• Garlic

Veggies

Added some chopped chicken.

Added Chicken

Put in some curry powder and tumeric.  Grabbed some basil from the garden and tossed it in. And added a little chicken stock.  Cooked it…

Cook it (man, that turned out blurry)

I added a little arrow root when it was done cooking to thicken the sauce and voila, it is ready!

Served it with some quinoa and more importantly an Octoberfest beer from Harpoon.

Plated Curried Chicken

This dish was super easy to put together.  I’d say it took only 30 minutes start to finish.  It had a light coconut flavor, which is what I was shooting for.

It Puts The Lotion On Its Skin… Or else…

It puts the lotion on its skin!  HA HA! Oh my, you have no idea how long I’ve wanted an opening like that!

I’ve been suffering from dry skin lately and it will only get worse as the weather gets colder.  Not that here in Texas we have a real winter, but if you are from here then it is all we know so it is winter to us.

I used up the store bought lotion I had so I didn’t waste any money, but I am finished buying lotions.  They have so many chemicals in them.  It seems each day I am reading that yet another ingredient in my lotion is a carcinogen.  I have decided to use coconut oil to moisturize.  I bought this huge jar of it at Costco this weekend and have been feeling fully moisturized since.

Coconut Oil

At first I was getting a spoon and scraping some out of the jar and letting it melt in my hands then spreading it on the desired body part (sound kind of dirty doesn’t it – snicker, snicker).  Then I decided that was too much trouble so I spooned some into an old lotion container.  That too was too much trouble for me because I had to wait for it to melt in my hands to spread it.  Those precious seconds are like an eternity when you are fresh out of the shower and losing precious moisture with each passing second.  At least to me it is.  What was my solution you ask?  Oh, you didn’t ask. Well I’m going to tell you anyway…

I put it in my handy-dandy Kitchen Aid mixer and whipped it.  Now it is ever so fluffy and easy to spread on the desired body part (heh heh heh).  Each time I put it on I say out loud:  It puts the lotion on its skin or else it gets the hose again.  It is sad, I know, but some things stick with you.

Solid Coconut Oil – no need to melt it

There is no need to melt the coconut oil, just scrape some out of the jar and put it in the bowl as is.

Whip it (I hear DEVO, what about you?)

Whip it (and sing the song while you do it).  It only takes a few minutes. It took me less than 5.

Put it in a container – Look how soft and fluffy it is!

I used a spatula to put it in an old (clean) lotion container.  It is lovely, let me tell you.  You are going to love it.  A little goes a long way.  You may feel like you will be a grease slick, but it will soak in quickly.

So the moral of the story is: there isn’t really a moral, but go buy some coconut oil, put it in your mixer, whip it up and moisturize without all those nasty chemicals.  Your skin will be soft and silky with one ingredient: 100% coconut oil.  Oh and bonus, you will smell good too.  Remember, it puts the lotion on its skin…

Roasted Spring Vegetables

Dinner was meatless, but far from boring.  It lacked nothing as far as I can tell.

One of the girls at work (and a guest blogger here), Allyson, brought me some home-grown squash. Of course I had to eat it immediately.  I added some of the veggies I had at home at put together a fabulous meal!

Super easy!  Cut up your veggies, add your herbs and seasonings, toss them in a little oil and put them in a 400 degree oven for about 20 minutes.  Keep in mind the smaller you cut them the more well done they will be.  Here’s my combo this go round:

Squash

Red bell pepper

Onion

Jalapeno (I must have that spice!)

Carrots

Thai Basil (fresh out of the garden)

Orgeano (fresh out of the garden)

Rosemary (fresh out of the garden)

Coconut Oil (I used about 2 tbsp)

I tossed it all together and put it in a 13×9 pan and in a 400 degree oven it went for 20 minutes.

I paired it with some edamame for our protein and some blackberries (fresh out of the garden) for dessert.

Raw Veggies

roasted veggies

Amazing Chicken and Brown Rice

By:  Michelle Williford

I threw together an amazing meal tonight on the fly.  Lucky for me I can raid the garden to get my veggies… and raid it I did!

I made enough to feed four or in our case two for dinner tonight and two for lunch tomorrow.  Hello brown bag!

Ingredients:

Brown rice (2 cups cooked)  I cooked mine with rosemary because I can’t cook anything without a little something.

3 Chicken breasts (chopped into bite size pieces)

3 cups chopped cabbage ( I used what I had left over from making cabbage rolls the other day)

Jalapeno peppers (I used 3 because the ones I got aren’t that spicy)

2 cups chopped mushrooms

2 cloves garlic (chopped)

A handful of Cilantro (that is a unit of measurement in my kitchen)

Greens of choice ( I used collard greens, spinach, kale, and swiss chard)

A few radishes and their leaves

A sprig of fresh thyme

A couple sage leaves

A couple Thai basil leaves

About a tablespoon of fresh oregano

1 tbsp arrowroot

1 tbsp ground ginger root (man how I wish I had some fresh on hand)

A splash of lemon juice

1 tbsp coconut oil

Directions:

Please start your brown rice first as it will take approximately 45 minutes to cook.

Chicken breast

Saute chicken in coconut oil

Put coconut oil in pan on med-high.  Once oil has melted, add chicken and let cook for a couple of minutes.

Add cabbage, stir and let cook for a couple minutes

Cabbage

Add jalapenos, stir and let cook for a couple minutes

Add Jalapenos

Add mushrooms,stir and let cook for 1 minute

Add mushrooms

Add radishes, stir

Add cilantro, sage, thyme and greens and stir. (I ran a knife through mine so they would be bite size)

A handful of cilantro and some oregano

Greens & Herbs

Your pan will seem overly full, don’t worry, it will cook down shortly.

Add greens

Add a splash of lemon and stir to spread.

Add ground ginger and stir.

Take notice of all the juicy goodness in the bottom of the pan… it is the base for your sauce.

Dissolve the arrowroot in a little water and pour into pan.  It will thicken quickly, so stir until it does. Once thickened, remove from heat.  Your sauce should have completely coated your dish.  Your meal is ready to serve!

Stir in arrowroot until thickens

Serve warm with brown rice and enjoy!

Serve with brown rice

Sesame Spinach From Garden to Plate

We raided the garden and came up with some yummy goodness!  I threw it together making my version of Sesame Spinach (mind you that version changes each time with what ingredients I have on hand)

Ingredients:

Fresh spinach, about 4 cups (I ran a knife through them so they would be bite size)

Radishes (sliced, I used the leaves as well)

Onion (sliced and I used the green tops as well – waste not, want not)

Sesame seeds (toasted)

Coconut oil (a little less than a tablespoon)

Salt and pepper to taste (I used maybe a 1/4 tsp of salt and 1/2 tsp black pepper)

Directions:

Toast your sesame seeds in a dry pan.  Set them aside once toasted.  I put them on one of the plates I was going to serve dinner on.  No one will know and anyway who wants to wash an extra dish? Not me!

raw sesame seeds

Toasting sesame seeds

Put your coconut oil in the pan to melt (it is solid at room temperature, unless you are in our house in August)

Saute the onions and radish slices for a couple of minutes.

saute onions and radishes

Add the radish leaves and saute them for a minute or two. (long enough for you to run a knife through your spinach a couple of times to make them bite size)

Add radish leaves

Add your spinach and cover.  Let it cook for a couple of minutes.

Add spinach

Once it has wilted to half the volume add the sesame seeds, salt and pepper (or spices of choice).

Add seeds and spices

Cook about two minutes more.

Serve warm and enjoy!

Sesame spinach with leftover baked chicken

You can add garlic if you like.

If you don’t want the sesame seeds, you can add a few drops of sesame oil instead.  You’ll get the flavor and no seeds to pick from your teeth.

You can omit the salt and add soy sauce if you like.  The options are endless…  It is your meal, you can add or leave out whatever you want!

Baked Chicken

Baking a chicken is not an art form.  It is one of the easiest things to do.  To me the most important part is cleaning the chicken.  I wash it thoroughly before baking it.  Inside and out. I even lift the skin to clean under it.  Once you are satisfied that it is clean… Decide what the overall flavor you want for the meal and dress up your chicken!

I put all the herbs under the skin and in the cavity.  I give my chicken a rub down of oil…  It puts the lotion on its skin or else it gets the hose again…  Back to reality… then put it in the roasting pan and bake in a 350 degree oven.  The bake time will vary with the size of your bird.  Bake it for 20 to 25 minutes for every pound.  I usually split the difference when I set the timer and go for 23 minutes per pound.  Make sure the juices run clear and your bird is ready for your belly!

Baked Chicken

the chicken in the above pic was baked with Rosemary and Thyme under the skin and in the cavity.  I rubbed it down with coconut oil (it puts the lotion on its skin…) I didn’t have any lemons or limes on hand so when I plated the chicken I splashed a little lemon juice (I try to always have a bottle on hand).  It was delicious!

Roasted Brussel Sprouts

Brussel sprouts make me happy.  I want them to make you happy to.  I know there are a lot of brussel sprout haters out there.  I hope this recipe changes your mind!

Ingredients:

Brussel Sprouts, halved

Onion, sliced

Pepper, sliced (pepper of choice.  I used an Anaheim because that’s what I had on hand today.)

Oregano

Thyme

Radishes and radish leaves (optional) – the leaves are quite yummy on young radishes.

Coconut oil (enough to coat everything)

Spices of choice (I used black pepper and salt)

Ingredients

Put all your veggies into a bowl and toss in the herbs and spices.

Add coconut oil and toss (I find it easiest to do this with my hands) to coat.

Toss with coconut oil

Once everything is coated, put in a 350 degree oven for 30 minutes.

I put mine on the bottom shelf because I was baking a chicken too (see recipe for baked chicken). I put it in for the last 30 minutes of the chicken bake time.  It turned out wonderful!

Baked chicken (See recipe for Baked Chicken)

Just out of oven

Plated meal