Chocolate Kale Chips

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I believe I have blogged about Kale Chips before – which we all LOVE!!. However I have found a new way to eat Kale Chips that adds the benefits of antioxidants from cocoa and taste AMAZING!!

Chocolate Kale Chips

• bunch of kale chips, washed, deveined and torn into pieces
• 1 TSP of olive oil
• 1 tsp of baking cocoa
• 1/4 tsp or so of salt
• cinnamon – optional

Preheat oven to 170 or the lowest setting you oven allows. Wash and devein the kale, tear in to smaller pieces. Blot dry with towel, then put in bowl, pour olive oil over it and toss. Making sure to well coat the kale. Please kale on cooking sheet, preferably one with edges on it. The using a small strainer lightly dust cocoa powder and salt over the kale. If so desired lightly shake cinnamon . Toss kale and repeat. Then place in oven for about 10+ hours. I find this works best over night. Also when storing leave in an open bowl. Closing it up cause the kale chips to get soggy.

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Birds Nest

This is a great Spring treat, that I stumbled upon while sorting through mountains of paperwork. It’s been awhile since I have made these but I am going to put them on my to do list soon.

 

1/4 C  butter

1  10 oz package of marshmallows (big)

12  pack of Shredded Wheat Biscuits (crumbled)

1  tsp of ground cinnamon

 

Melt butter and add marshmallows. When melted stir in shredded wheat. Form into nest shapes and add jelly bead eggs or chocolate covered eggs.

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PECAN pie ~ Chocolate Pecan Pie

This is my all time favorite pie to make. It was my mother’s favorite pecan pie. No other pecan pie could hold a candle to my pecan pie. However this year I am making two pecan pies, a chocolate pecan pie for my sister-in-law and the standard pecan pie. I am excited to try the chocolate one.

Use a 9 inch pie pan. Preheat the oven to 450

• 3 eggs
• 1 Cup of sugar
• 1/2 tsp of salt
• 1/2 Cup of melted butter
• 1 C of pure cane sugar syrup or 1 maple syrup

Stir in:

• 1 Cup to 1 1/2 pecan halves (black walnuts make a great substitution)
• 1 tsp vanilla or 1 Tbsp Rum

Preheat the oven to 450, line a pan with pie dough and bake it only partially for about 5-7 minutes.  Reduce heat to 375.  The combine eggs, sugar, salt, butter and cane sugar syrup. Stir well.  Next add the pecans and vanilla or rum if you are using that. Fill the shell, bake for 40-50 minutes at 375 until a knife inserted in the filling comes out clean.  Serve warm or cold. Top with either ice cream, home -made whip cream or cashew cream.

To make the chocolate pecan pie, line the bottom of the pan with 1/2 Cup of chocolate pieces, I used dark chocolate pieces from Whole Foods.

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Zucchini Chocolate Chip Cookies

It’s Zucchini season, here is another tasty way to eat them.

ZUCCHINI CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES (makes about 30 cookies)

1 egg, well beaten

1 stick unslated butter, melted (about 1/2 cup)

1/2 cup brown sugar1/3 cup honey

1 1/2 Tbsp. vanilla extract

1 snack size container of unsweetened applesauce

Combine in large bowl. 1 cup white flour 1 cup whole wheat flour 1/2 tsp baking soda 1/4 tsp cinnamon 1/4 tsp salt 1/4 tsp nutmeg Combine in a separate, small bowl and blend into liquid mixture. 1 finely shredded zucchini 1 pkg (12 oz-ish) chocolate chunks 1/2 cup chopped walnuts Stir these into other ingredients, mix well. Drop by spoonful onto greased baking sheet, and flatten with the back of a spoon. Bake at 350 for 17 minutes.

Source: Animal Vegetable Miracle

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Chocolate Avocado Pudding

OMG – I made this yesterday for my mom to help put weight back on her. It is FANTASTIC!!! I love it, my daughter loves it. I am going to make a chocolate pie with this too. The things you can use avocado’s for and not know it!!!

Avocados
cocoa or raw cacao powder
sweetener (honey, maple syrup etc)
dash sea salt
Vanilla to taste (I use the liquid kind without alcohol)
For every ripe avocado, put in 1 TBSP of cocoa etc powder and maybe 1 1/4 TBSP of sweetener.

Easy.

Make it in your food processor.

Aha, but if you have a Vita-Mix (I swear, I should sell these
things!), add fresh greens and the chocolate will overpower it, and
no one will be the wiser.

choc cream pie:

grind up some nuts (I like truly raw cashews and almonds, but I'[ll
use whatever — sesame seeds, pumpkin seeds etc.
If you add a couple tsp of powdered sugar to it, it gets even more
powdery.

put into a pie dish.

Mix in some butter, coconut oil and a tiny bit of sweetener, with a
dash of sea salt, and make into a thick dough consistency. Mush onto
bottom.

Top with choc pudding.

Top with whipped cream.

Courtesy of my Farm to Table List serv.

….

Not going to retype… but if all you have is a food processor, it
works best to do the nuts, wipe out the bowl, then do the whipped
cream. Then do the choc pudding. Because if some of the whipped
cream is still in there, it’ll blend nicely with the choc pudding.
But if done the opposite, the choc pudding will make the whipped
cream look yucky.

HTH. Takes no time at all.

If you want to be even healthier, use soaked dates, or date paste
instead of sweetener. (I buy date paste in bulk and share with
friends, but you must buy 40 lbs -organic date paste- Shields 1-800-
414-2555,,,approx $1.40/lb!!!)

truly raw cashews – rawguru.com
truly raw almonds livingnutz.com

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Beet Chocolate Cupcakes

Last year on a momma board I hang around alot on – someone posted this recipe as a beet chocolate cake. At first I was like – eeew – but then thinking about it – I like zucchini cake and bread, carrot cake and bread so why not beet.  Since we have been getting alot of beets from our city fresh shares – I finally decided to try it tonight for a party we were attending. I made it as cupcakes because there would be lot’s of kids there.  Needless to say anything made with chocolate is usually a hit with kids. And yes this was a hit with kids and adults.  What everyone like the most it could count as a dessert and a vegetable.

Beet Chocolate Cake

1 large beet (I used about 4/5 small to medium beets)
water
unsweetened apple sauce
2 tbsp. water
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 tsp. apple cider vinegar
1 cup whole wheat flour (I substituted spelt flour for wheat)
1/2 cup unbleached white flour (I substituted wheat flour for white)
1/2 cup cocoa
1 cup sugar
1 tbsp. cornstarch
2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. cinnamon

Peel and dice one large beet. Place the pieces in a saucepan with water to cover and boil until soft. (I’ve heard that you can buy canned beets, so you may want to skip this step–and the resulting red hands–by using pre-cookedbeets.) Allow the beets to cool, and then drain them, reserving the red water for another purpose. Put the drained beets into the food processor with ¼ cup (clear) water, and process until pureed. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Oil or spray your cooking pan(s). Put the pureed beets into a 2-cup measure. Add enough apple sauce to reach the 2-cup line. Add the 2 tablespoons water, vanilla extract, and apple cider to the beets and mix well.

Mix the dry ingredients together; then add the beet mixture and stir until well-combined. Bake for 35-60 minutes, depending on the size of pan you use: more for small, deep pans and less for a 9X13 pan, 35 minutes. (I used a cupcake pan, and it took 20 minutes.) Test by inserting a toothpick into the center; it’s donewhen the toothpick comes out clean. Allow to cool completely before cutting and serving

The frosting was a regular cream frosting but vegan friendly. Just powder sugar, earth’s balance margarine, rice milk and vanilla.

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