• Coconut Oil Almond Granola @ bestwithchocolate.com

    coconut oil honey almond granola;

    February 28, 2016bestwithchocolate@gmail.com

    Granola is one of those things that I thought for the longest time I didn’t like.  And then I tried this recipe!  It’s a little like crack.  When I first made this recipe, I think I made it every week because I went through it so fast–I ate it for breakfast every day.  It’s the perfect balance of sweetness and just a touch of salt. It goes with just about everything since it’s really just oats and almonds with a little extra almond enhancer (almond extract).  My favorite is actually just plain vanilla yogurt.  I keep a jar at my desk…

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  • Melting Potatoes @ bestwithchocolate.com

    melting potatoes;

    February 25, 2016bestwithchocolate@gmail.com

    This is an awesome sidekick to a meal!  It does take a long time, but not a ton of effort, just the checking every 15 minutes and flipping.  Most of the work is upfront, and also works out well for a helper to make when you’re preoccupied with the main dish.  Holy butter!  No literally, this is what happened when I microwaved the butter…I thought it was amusing so I took a photo, XD. This recipe was adapted from Spicy Southern Kitchen’s melting potatoes recipe, and let me tell you, they really are “melting”!  The chicken broth gives them a full whallop…

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  • Caramelized Onion Crispy Chicken @ bestwithchocolate.com

    caramelized onion crispy chicken;

    February 25, 2016bestwithchocolate@gmail.com

    We went whole-hog on dinner today!  On the menu: caramelized onion crispy chicken, ranch broccoli, and melting potatoes!  I did cheat a little and the ranch broccoli came out of a bag, but hey, you need those fast and easy dinner add-ons!  Bonus points for it being a vegetable.  But this caramelized onion crispy chicken was really pretty great.  It was simple, and quite tasty. I do say, since I adapted Dara’s Crispy Chicken with Caramelized Onions and Tomatoes sans tomatoes (T doesn’t like tomatoes in general), I want to add a sauce next time.  I think a lightened up balsamic sauce would…

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  • Strawberry Shortcake Vodka Slush @ bestwithchocolate.com

    strawberry shortcake vodka slush;

    February 22, 2016bestwithchocolate@gmail.com

    The weather’s getting warmer, and we’re getting closer to the time when we break out the mixed cocktails, the wine tastings out in the summery vineyards…  It makes me a little sad that I don’t enjoy winter as much as I used to.  When I was little, winter meant staying inside by the fire, or staying home from school, or playing in the snow.  Now it means brushing off the car, going into work in the cold, and dealing with the extra icy stupidity that overtakes the NoVA area.  And even though it’s not actually that warm out yet, I decided to…

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  • Asparagus Pesto Pasta @ bestwithchocolate.com

    asparagus pesto pasta;

    February 19, 2016bestwithchocolate@gmail.com

    This is a hearty and tasty vegetarian pasta option!  We actually were introduced to this recipe by a friend of T’s who made it when we visited them to chat about their trip to Iceland!  We’re going next month, so we wanted to get the inside scoop since they went only a few months before we will.  But T and I were both impressed with how tasty this meal was, so I decided to recreate it at home for myself! Asparagus is not T’s favorite, but he’ll eat it, and more happily so when it’s mixed into things, so that works out…

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  • Cider floats @ bestwithchocolate.com

    cider floats;

    February 17, 2016bestwithchocolate@gmail.com

    Here’s a new one for the books!  Who would have thought–cold cider floats!  I sure wouldn’t have. You can thank Cornell’s Grad students for this doozy. I was up in Ithaca visiting a friend this past weekend for “galentines” day, and their “TGIF” (Read: thank grads it’s Friday) served cider floats! Now I’ve only tried it specifically with McKenzie’s seasonal hard cider, and I will say that it would take some convincing to get me to try another. That’s for a couple reasons. Firstly, the winter seasonal (as I am assuming it is) definitely has some Christmas-spice notes that really…

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  • banana chocolate chip doughnuts;

    February 15, 2016bestwithchocolate@gmail.com

    In addition to banana bread, here’s another way-past-ripe bananas recipe to add to your repertoire!  Though you do need a doughnut pan for these.  I prefer baked doughnuts since they’re “healthier”, but more so because they don’t involve heating up oil and frying things.  I always feel like I’m being wasteful with the leftover oil, and besides, it also makes my house smell of oil for like a month.  (I might be exaggerating a leeeeetle.) You can see that my bananas were a little past a little prime.  But the flavor is still packed in there!  And like most banana breads…

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  • Mediterranean Couscous @ bestwithchocolate.com

    mediterranean couscous;

    February 9, 2016bestwithchocolate@gmail.com

    This is a nice, clean, vegetarian recipe!  It’s super easy to make, and would also make a great side, although we ate it as the main dish tonight.  It is definitely a little on the light side for a main meal, but was still super tasty.  It’s got a variety of vegetables and a nice Mediterranean flair. I ended up using yellow onions though the original recipe by Taylor over at food faith fitness used red onions.  I imagine that red onions would be a little bit better because they’re less potent, and give an extra pop of color.  But if you chop the…

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  • bbq pulled pork pizza;

    February 8, 2016bestwithchocolate@gmail.com

    Just look at these pictures!  Tell me that’s not making you want some pizza.  This is the perfect recipe to use up some of that leftover pulled pork from the previous recipe I posted.  And it’s pretty delicious, if I do say so myself.  Now I definitely recommend a pre-made dough, whether that be from a box, or just the frozen or refrigerated dough from the grocery.  You can always make your own, but it does make the whole process a lot easier. So here’s the assembly process!  Roll out the pizza dough and pre-bake for a few minutes.  First goes on…

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  • Kuterra Salmon - Review: Barrel & Bushel @ bestwithchocolate.com

    happy hour review: barrel & bushel;

    February 4, 2016bestwithchocolate@gmail.com

    Tonight ended up being a somewhat impromptu date night!  I wanted to round out my gamecube controller selection–I’ve only ever had two controllers.  I always had game-geek friends that had extra controllers, so I never needed the full four.  So since we were headed out to the mall to grab extra controllers, and we decided to stop by Barrel & Bushel for dinner. Now T had called about an hour earlier, inquiring as to whether we would need a reservation if we came in around 7, and whoever he spoke to said sure, no problem.  When we got there, they informed us it…

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  • Pulled Pork @ bestwithchocolate.com

    pulled pork;

    February 2, 2016bestwithchocolate@gmail.com

    Pulled pork is one of those slow cooker recipes to keep in your back pocket.  I love me a good slow cooker recipe that has people (mostly T) raving about how awesome it is when I almost feel guilty for the praise because I barely touched it.  Seriously, the most amount of time I spent on this was shredding the meat.  I’m not even joking.  And most of it just fell off in chunks anyway! Some of the meat near the bone was a little tough, but I left it until after dinner and just picked off what I could after…

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