-
Festive Chocolate Drizzled Pretzels!
These chocolate covered pretzels are so delicious, they add the perfect amount of savory and sweet, and are the perfect treat with a cup of coffee or tea!
The beauty of these, is that you can really make them for any holiday or season. Just change up the sprinkle colors for Halloween, Christmas, or even Easter with pastels and white chocolate!
Makes 16 Pretzels
Ingredients
- 1 cup semi sweet chocolate chips, melted
- 16 pretzel rods
- Valentines day sprinkles
Method
Place chocolate chips in a
microwave safe bowl. Microwave on high for 1minutes at 50% power, remove from microwave and stir. The chocolate chips won’t be fully melted so continue to microwave on high in 10-15 second intervals, stirring in between until all chips are melted! Set aside.Cover a cookie sheet with parchment paper or a Silpat, lay 16 pretzel rods on the cookie sheet and drizzle chocolate over them. Keep drizzling until you’ve reached your desired “chocolaty-ness”
While the chocolate is still wet, add your sprinkles and place
in the refrigerator for 20-30 minutes. The chocolate will be set and your chocolate Valentines day pretzels are ready to serve!Enjoy, Friends!
-
“Healthy-ish” Peanut Butter Cups
These “healthy-ish” Peanut butter cups are really tasty, loaded with protein and refined sugar-free these peanut butter cups are sure to please. These are a great snack with a cup of tea or perfect for the kids lunches!
Makes 6-8 Peanut Butter Cups
Ingredients
Chocolate Layer
- 1/2 cup coconut oil, melted
- 1/4 cup cocoa powder
- 3 tablespoons maple syrup
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
In a mixing bowl, Mix together the coconut oil, cocoa powder, maple syrup and vanilla until combined. Layer into a square baking dish or muffin tin (since these are for valentines day you can use a heart shaped mold!). and place into the freezer for 15-20 minutes.
Peanut Butter Layer
- 1/2 cup coconut oil, melted
- 1/2 cup peanut butter (salted, chunky peanut butter)
- 1/4 cup maple syrup
- 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
- 2 tablespoons of chia seeds (optional)
- Powdered Sugar for garnish
Mix together Coconut oil, peanut butter, maple syrup and vanilla until combined. Pour on top of chocolate layer, Sprinkle with chia seeds. Freeze for 15-20 minutes.
At this point you can either slice with a warm knife or cookie cutter, or unmold!
Place on a plate and sprinkle with powdered sugar.
Enjoy!
xx,
T
-
Truffled Rosemary Monkey Bread Muffins
Upgrade your biscuit game with these incredibly delicious, simple and fun to eat muffins! I like to serve these with soup and they would be great at your holiday table as well! The cool thing is that because they’re cut into smaller pieces and tossed in the coating all the pieces have flavor!
Makes 12 large muffins
- 2- 16 oz packages buttermilk biscuits (you can find these at the local supermarket or my favorite store, Trader Joes!)
- 1 Tablespoon fresh rosemary finely chopped
- 3 Tablespoons butter, melted
- 2 Tablespoons truffle oil
- 1/2 Teaspoon salt
- 2 Tablespoons parmesan cheese
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Spray a muffin tin with cooking spray, set aside. Open biscuit packages and cut each biscuit into 6 pieces.
In a large bowl mix rosemary, butter, truffle oil and salt. Whisk together until combined, add biscuit pieces and toss until completely coated.
Sprinkle parmesan in the bottom of each muffin tin and fill with coated biscuit pieces until all pieces are gone. Press each one down slightly so the pieces stick together.
Bake for 9 minutes until the tops start to brown, then turn down the oven to
325 d egrees, cover with foil and bake for another 9 minutes.Remove from oven, let cool for 5 minutes before removing from muffin tin.
Enjoy these taste morsels of goodness!
-
Corned Beef, Cabbage, and Sweet Potato Pizza!
This is a St. Patty’s day tradition in our house, I make it almost every year and we always say “we should make this more often”! It’s a fun twist on a traditional Irish classic! Making the dish in “pizza” form is fun and interactive, you could even do mini pizzas for a party too!
- 3 carrots, peeled and sliced into 1/2 inch pieces
- 4 sweet potatoes, peeled and sliced into 1/2 inch pieces
1 (about 3 lbs) corned beef brisket already brined. - 1/4 cup mozzarella cheese
- 2 cauliflower pizza crusts (you can use regular too!)
- 2 Tablespoons truffle oil.
- 6 cups water
- 1 lb bag shredded cabbage
- 1 tablespoon butter
- Salt
- Pepper
- 1/2 cup chicken broth
In a slow cooker, place carrots and sweet potatoes. Remove corned beef from package, and rinse (I like to rinse it to remove some of the saltiness). Place corned beef, fat side up, on top of vegetables add enough water to almost cover meat (about 6 cups). Cover and cook on high until corned beef is tender, about 6 hours on low.
Melt butter in a saucepan, once it’s heated add cabbage, salt, Pepper and broth, sauté until cabbage is translucent and completely cooked (about 5-10 minutes). Let cool.
Once meat is cooked, prepare pizza crust as directed on package. I opted for cauliflower pizza crust but you can use regular pizza crust too, Once crust is baked sprinkle generously with truffle oil and a light sprinkle of mozzarella cheese, now build your pizza! Start with veggies, shred beef and add that, then top completely with cabbage and the reminder of the mozzarella cheese.
Turn oven to broil and broil pizza on high, just until cheese is melted and browned.
Now let cool for 5 minutes, serve and enjoy with a cold Guinness.
Happy St. Patricks day!
xx,
T
-
Perfect Easter “Quarantini”
Easter is one of my most favorite holidays, which is why it warrants a specialty cocktail! This Easter specialty cocktail is so festive, yummy and pairs well with pretty much any food!
Here’s a fun tip too, since you may not be able to celebrate today with your family today, send them this recipe, call them up and have a virtual Easter Martini
aka: Quarantini together!
Recipe:
- 4 oz. Empress gin (hailing from Victoria, BC, this gin is made with 8 different botanicals but gets its color from butterfly pea blossoms!)
- 1 oz. dry vermouth
- Lemon for garnish.
Start by cutting a wedge of lemon, squirt a bit of the fresh juice into the cocktail shaker (this is key and adds a little something extra to the drink). Fill the cocktail shaker with ice, pour in vermouth and gin and shake, shake, shake it up (are you singing a Rooney song right now?). Pour martini into a chilled glass, garnish with a slice of lemon rind!
Happy Easter and enjoy this festive cocktail.
xx,
T (Peanut Butter & Jelly Chronicles)
-
15 Stocking Stuffer Ideas
Hi there Grace Girls!
The holidays are just around the corner and Black Friday is looming near, which means great deals on Christmas gifts and stocking stuffers. I don’t know about you but I always loved opening stockings on Christmas morning. Now that I make stocking for people I’ve realized how hard it is to find the perfect small gifts for stockings! Here are a 15 ideas for stocking stuffers, for her, him and the kids!
5 Stocking stuffers for her:
The perfect small things for your mom, sister, cousin, aunt…you get the idea.
Makeup mirror for travel: This one great for women ‘on the go’ whenever a makeup refresh is needed, this is the perfect thing. Small enough to fit in a handbag and it lights up too! Click here to check it out!
Eye shadow applicators: Why is it that the eyeshadow ALWAYS lasts longer that the little applicator? and using a q-tip or your finger to apply eyeshadow just isn’t the same. These Covergirl applicators are under $3 and will tide over your makeup lover..at least until Easter!
Reusable shopping bag: For those environmentally conscious folks (or folks who don’t want to spend .10c for a shopping bag each time they go to the store) these mesh bags really do the trick. They’re lightweight, can be tossed into a purse and bonus, they’re washable too! Reusable mesh bags are a stocking stuffer essential!
EOS lip balm: This goes into my families stockings each year, Eos lip balm not only hydrates and nourishes your lips but the best part is the shape. You can always find it in your purse because of the “egg” shape. The vanilla mint flavor is a must as well!
Soy candles: The cold winter months call for calmingly lavender scented candles. These offer a clean, fresh, lavender scent and burn up to 35 hours, and they come in a 2 pack so you can keep one for yourself, better yet, light it while shopping online for stocking stuffers!
5 Stocking stuffers for him:
The perfect small things for your brother, dad, husband, boyfriend…we’ve been here before.
Pens: I know it sounds weird to talk about “writing” experience but these pens are literally the best! They write super smooth with a fine tip. For under $8 for 3 pens these will spoil you and nothing will ever compare…maybe! Click here to purchase!
Earbuds: Where do earbuds go? You have them one day, and the next, poof, they’re gone which is why they’re the greatest stocking stuffer ever. Even if you already have some, more of these little guys is always better, you never know, a set for travel, a set for the office? These Earbuds work with iPhone, Samsung galaxy and Android.
Notebook: Moleskin notebooks are a great stocking stuffer, no matter who you are, you can always use a cool, sleek notebook! They come in a variety of sizes too!
Card pocket for phone: Card pockets are essential when space is limited (ie: in a pocket). Grab out just the cards needed, maybe a bit of cash and you’re ready for a night out or a quick run to the store.
Swiss Army pocket knife: This is the perfect stocking stuffer, and practical too, you never know when you might need a tool, nail file or a pair of tweezers and it’s a small keychain version too so it’s always accessible. Click here to check it out!
5 Stocking stuffers for the kiddos:
The perfect small things for the kids…be sure to add copious amounts of candy and sweets too..it is the holidays after all!
Playing cards: In this day and age, we are so focused on tech, phones, video games and TV. Cards are the perfect way to engage a child and maybe teach them a new game or two! Cards are a classic. These cards are too cute with animals on the backside, choose from a variety of animals that suit your little’s fancy (get it…suit!!).
Yo-Yo: Yo-Yo’s are a classic, they teach hand, eye coordination and offer a bit of fun too! They’re the gift that can go anywhere and bonus, they’re not annoying for parents either!
Fun Bandaids: Owies are never fun, but having a cute bandaid to cover it up makes it feel a little better. These bandaids offer a few different characters, from Paw patrol to Frozen, there is a pack for every kid!
Emoji Sticky notes: These are thinking outside the box! They’re fun too, with 4 different designs there is an emoji for every mood!
Lipsmackers: Whether these are for a boy or a girl, lip smackers are always fun. For boys they have Starwars and M&M’s theme while for girls they have Frozen. Who knew lip balm could be so fun!
Have a great time Black Friday shopping for stocking stuffers! Make sure to buy a little something for the shopper too!
Here’s to a stress free holiday!
xx,
gracegrl
