CHOCOLATE COVERED STRAWBERRIES

Chocolate covered strawberries are a great dessert to have at your party or event. There are so many cool designs techniques that make them versatile for different occasions and really fun to make. I made mine using dark chocolate and white chocolate but you can easily interchange those with milk chocolate or ground walnuts! Just have fun with it :)

INGREDIENTS:

15 Large Strawberries
170 Grams of Dark Baking Chocolate (you an also use milk chocolate)
1/2 a bag of White Chocolate (I used Hersey's mini chocolate chips)

**You will also need toothpicks, Styrofoam and a zip-lock bag!

DIRECTIONS:

Wash your strawberries and place them on a drying rack. It is important for them to be free of moisture before you coat them so leave them to dry for at least an hour. Stick a toothpick in the fat end of the strawberry to help you grip them better.

If your dark chocolate comes in a bar break it up into smaller chunks so it melts faster and evenly. I used a food processor to do this quickly.

The best way to melt chocolate is to use a method called "double boiling" on low heat. This is done by filling up a small pot with water and bringing it to a light simmer. One the water starts to simmer reduce heat to low.

Next place your chopped up chocolate into a glass bowl slightly bigger then the pot so that the bottom of the glass bowl does not hit the bottom of the pot but is still submerged in the water (see photos)

You will slowly start to see the chocolate melt. Using a spatula move the chocolate around so that it evenly melts. Stir often with spatula in order to get the best consistency. Make sure no water gets into the chocolate!

Repeat the double boil process in a new glass bowl with your white chocolate.

Dip your strawberries in the dark chocolate. Use the toothpick to help you rotate the strawberry so it is evenly covered in chocolate on all sides. Allow access chocolate to drip off before placing it upside down to dry so the toothpick is in the Styrofoam.

Continue until all the strawberries are covered and place upside down on the Styrofoam to dry.

Next put the white chocolate in a zip lock bag and push it to one corner. Cut a small hole in that corner so that the white chocolate can come out slowly. Pick up a strawberry and quickly move across it (side to side or back and forth) while squeezing the white chocolate bag to create your design. Place it back upside down on the Styrofoam. Repeat with remaining strawberries.

Once finished place strawberries and Styrofoam in the freezer for 30min to 1 hour to harden. Once harden you can serve them to your guest.

 

 

I hope you enjoyed this recipe. I would love to know your thoughts! If you have and suggestions or question please feel free to leave them in the comments below!

SUPER BOWL 50 - HONEY CHIPOTLE CHICKEN TENDERS - SPICY

I originally found this recipe on http://lecremedelacrumb.com a couple months back and thought what a great snack finger food. Its not overly complicated and doesn't take that long to prepare but its not something that mixes well with other cuisines or rich flavored foods. This dish is the center piece. You can add a side of rice but I wouldn't recommend straying from the Asian/Latin influence of this dish - it just doesn't work (believe me I tried). When it comes to Asian food and sauces I also tend to feel like they are made up of unnatural ingredients - if I cant pronounce it I probably don't want it in my food. This is a healthy alternative to that and one that guys will love and be drawn to during their Superbowl party. If you want to try this recipe the ingredients and directions are listed below. I didn't really change anything from the original recipe I found except for using gluten free rice flower and gluten free rice bread crumbs,  so full credit goes to Le creme De la crumb for this one.

Serves 3 people as a main

INGREDIENTS:

2 Large Skinless and Boneless Chicken Breast
1 Cup All purpose Flour (or rice flour substitute to make it gluten free)
2 Cup Panko Bread Crumbs (or rice/gluten free bread crumbs)
3 Eggs (whisked)
1 TSP each of salt and pepper
8 TBSP butter (melted)

Sauce
⅓ Cup Honey
½ Cup Sugar
2 TSP chipotle adobo sauce (the sauce that chipotle peppers are packed in inside the can! These can be found in the Latino section at the market.)
1 TBSP Franks Hot Sauce
½ TSP salt
½ TSP garlic powder
¼ Cup Ketchup
1 TBSP white vinegar
⅓ Cup water (COLD)
2 TBSP Corn Starch
Ranch Dressing, Chives, or Green Onion (all optional garnishes)
 

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Pour the melted butter all over a baking sheet and spread out evenly with a spatula.

Get three bowls. In the first bowl mix the flour and salt and pepper together. In the second bowl put the whisked eggs. In the third bowl put the bread crumbs.

Dip the chicken into the flour bowl coating it completely, next dip it into the egg until it is covered, let excess egg drip off, finally dip the flour and egg covered chicken into the bread crumbs. Mix the chicken well into the bread crumbs till it is completely covered and place on the banking sheet.

Put in the oven for for 8-10 minutes, flip the chicken stripped and bake for another 8-10 minutes until golden.

While the chicken is baking combine all the sauce ingredients except the water and corn starch into a medium sauce pan. Stir and bring to a light boil then reduce the heat. In a separate bowl combine the water and corn starch and mix until there is no lumps. Add into the sauce pan to thicken the sauce. Whisk until it evens out.

When the chicken is done baking dip it into the sauce and garnish with any of the suggested ingredients. You are now ready to serve the honey chipotle chicken tenders.

I hope you enjoyed this recipe. I would love to know your thoughts! If you have and suggestions or question please feel free to leave them in the comments below! Hope your team wins! xx

FOOTBALL PEPPERONI PIZZA PIES

Now that's a real pizza pie. Note that I only did this with pie crust because that's what I had in the fridge. They tasted great but personally as a pizza connoisseur I would have preferred to use pizza dough! I just like that texture better but that's just me. They still taste great it just depends on what you like. You do you! Anyways for Superbowl 50 I would totally add these to my menu. They are easy and filling and dont take to much time or effort to make. Your guest will definitely enjoy these little pizza pies and how they look like little footballs!!!

Yields: 3 Pie's

INGREDIENTS:

200 Grams of Pillsbury Pie Crust (you can also use pizza dough)
Tomato Sauce
Pepperoni Slices
Mozzarella Cheese
Garlic Powder *forgot to add this to ingredients photo

Ingredients for Egg Wash (Optional)
1 Egg (beaten)
1 TBSP of Milk
1 TSP of Salt

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat over to 375 degrees.

Roll out your pie crust and using a bowl imprint your football shape or use it as a guide. Cut out your football shapes - you can get about 6 of them out of 200 grams of dough. (If you need to roll up the dough in a ball and roll it out again to get another piece, do so.

Next add your toppings starting with tomato sauce. I did pepperoni and mozzarella cheese. I also sprinkled the pizza with garlic powder at the end for extra flavor. Using a clean brush use the egg wash along the edge of the football. Place another layer of dough on top and with a fork press down the sides to seal the football.

Egg wash the top of the football before cutting your football laces into the top of the football.

Bake in the oven for 20 minutes before removing and allowing to cool slightly.

Serve with a side of tomato sauce for dipping.

 

I hope you enjoyed this recipe as much as I do. If you have any comments please leave them below and I'll be happy to answer them as soon as I can! Happy cooking!!!

MINI ROSE APPLE PIE

Recently I've been searching for new recipes to try and add to my Superbowl Sunday menu. Next weekend is the Super Bowl which means a lot of friends across the nation will gathered around together and spend their entire Sunday eating and cheering for their favorite team! Even though I'm not a big football fan I still do enjoy participating in this event and getting together with friends to watch the game, drink and eat food. Since most of the time these gatherings don't involve an actual sit down meal finger foods and bite-size food are always a good choice. This way as people get hungry they can just grab a little bite and don't even need a plate necessarily. That is why I decided to try these mini rose apple pies. They are small enough to fit into your palm and take about two's bites to devour. Just enough of the dessert to satisfy you without having to commit to filling up on this one dessert choice. It also helps that they are super pretty! hehe

Servings: One 200Gr Pie Crust makes about 6 mini pies roses.

INGREDIENTS:

3 Apples (Washed and cut into quarters, remove seeds than slice thinly)
6 TBSP of White Granulated Sugar
1/4 -1/2 of a Lemon (juiced)
400Gr PiIlsberry Pre-made Pie Crust
Cinnamon Spice (as desired)
Icing sugar for garnish (as desired)

*You will also need toothpicks and a baking tray covered in wax paper/ nonstick baking sheet.
 

DIRECTIONS:

In a sauce pan add in your thinly sliced apples, 2 TBSP of sugar and lemon juice. Fill sauce pan with water to submerge your apples and place on stove on High heat. Bring your water to a boil, then reduce heat letting it simmer for an additional two minutes before draining the water.

Lay the apples out on a absorbent cloth to suck up any access water.

Preheat over to 350 Degrees.

Next lay out one of your pie crust. Sprinkle it with the remaining sugar (more or less as you please) and cinnamon.

Cut the dough into 3/4 to 1 inch strips and place your apple slices slightly overlapping along the strip. Roll the strip and tie off the end using a toothpick to hold it in place. 

Place strip on baking tray (previously covered with wax paper)

 Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until golden.

 Remove from oven and allow to cool before sprinkling icing sugar on top. Enjoy!!!

 

 

I hope you enjoyed this recipe as much as I do. If you have any comments please leave them below and I'll be happy to answer them as soon as I can! Happy cooking!!!

CHORIZO AND POTATO TACOS

My sister was the first person to introduce me to chorizo and potato tacos. She made them for a big family gathering and they were an instant hit. Every time I have made these since there hasn't been a single spec of left overs. They are so yummy they are the epitome of "I bet you can't just have one." and will have you saying, "Are you going to finish that? cause I will!" I also find tacos are great for entertaining large groups of people because they have this make you own/style it to your liking that gets other people involved in the meal process. Plus they're super easy to make! BONUS! ...but your guest don't need to know that ;)

Makes 12-14 Tacos

INGREDIENTS:

4-5 Yukon Potato (cubed)
1 TBSP of Lemon Juice
1 TBSP of Olive Oil
1 Sweet or Yellow Onion (chopped)
1-2 LBS of Uncooked Chorizo Sausage (remove chorizo from casing by cutting open the casing)
1-2 Jalapeno Chile (remove seed and chop finely)
Salt and Pepper (as desired)
Tortillas
Suggested Taco Fixings - Salsa, Guacamole, Hot Sauce (I love Valentina's), Bean paste. There is also sour cream, cheese and lettuce but these are not typical Mexican toppings.

*Place your cubed potatoes in a large bowl and cover in water. Add in your lemon juice - this will stop your potatoes from browning while you are prepping everything else.

DIRECTIONS:

Okay so the first thing we are going to do is boil the potatoes (first we boil them then we fry them). So when you're ready get a pot, drain the potatoes existing water and fill it with fresh water. Place the pot on the stove and bring it to a boil on high heat.

Once boiling lower heat and let it continue to cook for 4-6 minutes, drain and set aside.

While the potatoes are cooking, in a large skillet add in the olive oil over medium. Once the oil is warm throw in your onions and lower heat to medium and let your onions start to sweat and release their juices.

When the onions start to soften and become clear throw in your chorizo stirring well to help break up the meat. Cook the chorizo on medium to high for 6-8 minutes.

Next add in the cooked potatoes and jalapenos. You will notice that the potatoes will start to absorb the flavors and oils of the chorizo and turn orange - this is good!!! Continue to cook for about 10-15 minutes stirring occasionally to avoid burning, but it is also great to let the meat and potatoes to get crisp too! You can add salt and pepper to your liking.

 

I hope you enjoyed this recipe as much as I do. If you have any comments please leave them below and I'll be happy to answer them as soon as I can! Happy cooking!!!