Cacao Tea

After eight glorious weeks off, I am going back to work tomorrow.  I always take two teas with me to work each day - one to drink throughout the morning, and one for the afternoon.  Fortunately, I just found out about Cacao Tea, and I am so excited about it.

Cacao Tea is an all-natural tea, made only from cacao husks (shells) once they are removed from the cacao nibs.  It is completely free of sugar, calories, dairy, gluten, GMOs, and caffeine, but full of mouth-watering chocolate flavour.

The aroma is incredible, and it has a smooth chocolatey flavour with a very slight natural sweetness.  Although it is caffeine-free, it contains theobromine, a natural compound that provides a gentle energy boost, while decreasing blood pressure, and supporting healthy circulation, respiration, digestion, and brain function.

Cacao Tea is ethically-sourced, organically-grown, sustainable, and fair-trade.  It is rich in antioxidants (10 times that of green tea), flavonoids, vitamins, and minerals.  You can read more about the health benefits here and here.  And, check out the FAQ here.

It was very easy to brew; it's just 1-2 tsp per cup of boiling water, and a few minutes of steeping.  The flavour was perfect for someone like me, who finds hot chocolate way too sweet.  This tea is a perfect dessert-like beverage for me, or great as a morning or afternoon pick-me-up.

We often drink green tea for the health benefits, but I think we'll be switching it up for Cacao Tea for the added antioxidants and flavour.

Cacao Tea Co. ships everywhere in the world!  Click here to order some for yourself.  You can find Cacao Tea Co. on social media using @cacaoteaco and  #cacaoteaco.

Have you ever had Cacao Tea?

Are you a chocolate fan? 

Full disclosure: The tea was provided to be free of charge.  All opinions are my own.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Loaf

I've got a great recipe for you!  I recently had some canned pumpkin to use up, so I whipped up a loaf with it, and it turned out so well that I made another loaf a couple days later.

It is easy to make, very moist, and super flavourful. 

For the spice in it I used 1.5 tsp of my homemade gingerbread spice:

It just takes minutes to throw together and is great to have on hand, but you don't have to use this.  The recipe for it is from Food Network (2 T each ground ginger and cinnamon, 2 tsp ground allspice, 1/2 tsp each ground nutmeg and finely ground pepper and 1/4 tsp ground cloves), and they also have numerous different recipes that you can make calling for this spice mixture both here and here.

If you don't want to make the spice mixture, you can just use pumpkin pie spice instead, or 1/2 tsp each of cinnamon, nutmeg, and allspice.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Loaf

1 1/2 cups flour
1 cup sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 cup canned pumpkin (not pie mixture)
1/2 cup olive oil
2 eggs, beaten
1/4 cup water
1 1/2 tsp gingerbread spice (or pumpkin pie spice, or 1/2 tsp each of cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice)
1/2 cup chocolate chips

Pre heat the oven to 350 F and spray or grease a loaf pan.  Sift together the flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt.  In a separate bowl, carefully stir together the pumpkin, oil, egg, water, and spice.  Combine the wet and dry ingredients until just mixed; don't over mix.  Stir in the chocolate chips.  Pour into a greased loaf pan.  Bake 50-60 minutes (test with a wooden skewer/toothpick). 

This is a recipe I'll be making again and again.  I actually don't make a lot of loaves, and didn't really have any stand-by loaf recipes that I swear by ... but now I do!

Do you make loaves?  What is your go-to?  Banana?  Lemon poppy seed?  Chocolate zucchini?  Pumpkin?  

Have you done any baking lately? 

Trying Three New Recipes

We've been trying some new recipes in the Everyday Foodie house.  Last Sunday we roasted a chicken, and then used the meat in a corn, chicken skillet dinner.

The recipe was from Food Network Magazine, and it was really easy to throw together.

We thought it was good, but better the next day for lunch.

On Monday we used the chicken up in another Food Network recipe, chipotle chicken enchiladas.

We thought this recipe was great, especially the sauce, which we'll definitely make again.  It would be good on any type of enchiladas.

They were filling enough that I only needed one for dinner.  Christopher had two, and there was lunch for the next day.

Last week I made a dessert to toss in the freezer for whenever we're craving an after dinner treat.  These PB bars taste like Reese's cups.

Chocolate PB Bars

1 cup peanut butter
1 cup margarine
1.5 cups graham cracker crumbs
2 cups icing sugar
1 bag chocolate chips
peanuts to sprinkle on top (optional)

Melt together the PB and margarine.  Add in the cracker crumbs and icing sugar, and press into a parchment lined 9x13 pan.  Chill.  Melt the chocolate and spread over the top.  Sprinkle with peanuts if desired.  Freeze.  Cut into bars.  Best stored in freezer.

Do you like peanut butter and chocolate together?  

Have you tried any new recipes lately?

Chocolate Pavlova

This summer I made a pavlova for the first time using this recipe.  This is one of Christopher's favourite desserts, and he loved it, so I decided to try out a chocolate pavlova for my second go at it.

I used this recipe, and it turned out perfectly.

Christopher said it was the best pavlova he's ever had, and that we should definitely make it for company.  Sooooooo, our next dinner guests just might be having this for dessert ...

This is a recipe that we will be hanging on to and making again and again.  It has the most satisfying texture, and the chopped chocolate inside added to this in an unexpected way.  We topped it with very slightly sweetened whipped cream (with a dash of vanilla), blueberries, and chocolate shavings.  Both of us were sad when the last piece was gone.

What are you waiting for?  Go and make a pavlova!

What was the last dessert you made?  What is your favourite dessert?

Saskatoon and Purdys

Last Saturday we drove up to Saskatoon to see my mom.  We had an awesome visit with her, and also caught up with my sister and her family, as they were in town visiting too.  We were craving pasta for dinner, so we ate at Chianti.  We also stopped by the Midtown mall to check out the new Purdys Chocolatier.  They had a special treat waiting for me, exclusive to the Saskatoon store:

They made a nice dessert once we were back in our hotel.

The next morning we went for breakfast to Grainfields before heading back to see my mom for the day. 

I received a box of chocolates in the mail from Purdys, so that was a sweet surprise.  They have some different, interesting flavours, such as Peanut Butter Crunch Mayan, Butterscotch Fudgie, Chocolate Cashew, and Maple Meltie, to name a few.  The chocolates are made fresh daily in Vancouver, using 100% sustainable cocoa. 

We're really diving into them today to discover our favourite #everyonehasafavourite.

I usually reach for caramel flavours first, as they are my favourite.  I am really interested in trying the Butterscotch Fudgie, as I like butterscotch even more than caramel.  It's not in this box, so I'll have to pick one up from the store next time we're in Saskatoon.  Oooooooh, chocolate!

When digging into a box of chocolates, what kind do you reach for first?  Caramels?  Fruit filled?  Nuts?  Milk?  Dark?  Other?

Full disclosure: The Purdys products were provided to me free of charge.  Thank you Purdys.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Banana Creme Pie

Because ... why not ...

The boy loves pie.  Now that I'm on holidays, I've told him to put in requests for things he'd like me to make, but he's too polite to ask me to make anything.  Okay, fine, I'll just start with pie.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Banana Creme Pie

Slight adaptions from recipe here.

35 Nilla wafers (in the cookie aisle), finely crushed
1/4 cup butter melted
2 squares semi-sweet Baker's chocolate, divided
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
2 bananas
2 pkgs. Jell-O instant pudding (3.4 oz. each)
2 cups cold milk (any %)
2 cups thawed Cool-Whip topping, divided

Heat oven to 350 F. 

Mix wafer crumbs and melted butter until well blended.  Press into the bottom of a 9 inch pie plate.  Bake 6-8 minutes.  Cool.

Meanwhile, beat the pudding with the milk for 2 minutes.  Add 1 cup of the thawed Cool-Whip.

Slice bananas into the crust.  Melt 1.5 squares of the chocolate with the peanut butter for one minute.  Stir until the chocolate is melted.  Pour over the bananas.  Top with the pudding mixture.  Then top that with the remaining 1 cup of Cool-Whip.  Use a veggie peeler and the last half of the chocolate square to make some chocolate shavings for the top.  Refrigerate for 3 hours.  Serve.  Store leftovers in fridge.

What is your favourite kind of pie?

Cookie Dough Dip

When Jessica posted a recipe for Cookie Dough Dip, I knew it would only be a matter of time before I had no choice but to make it.  

The time has come my friends ...

I present you with 3 different cookie dough dips:

Snicker Doodle

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip

Double Chocolate

I will be taking these dips to share with my colleagues tomorrow.  I am going to serve them with strawberries and Teddy Grahams.  

Cookie Dough Dips

makes about 3 cups

(Adapted Slightly from How Sweet Eats)

1 cup butter

2/3 cup brown sugar

2 8-ounce block of cream cheese, softened

1 cup powdered sugar

3 teaspoon vanilla extract

Melt butter in a saucepan. Add brown sugar and whisk until sugar dissolves and mixture starts to bubble. Set aside to cool, and whisk in vanilla.  Cream together cream cheese and powdered sugar for 60 seconds. With mixer on low speed, add in brown sugar and butter mixture. Mix until combined. 

Separate the mixture into 3 dishes and add in any combination of the following (to taste)

• Cinnamon (about 1 T for a third of the mixture will make snicker doodle/cinnamon bun tasting dip)
• PB
• Chocolate chips
• Cocoa
• Coconut
• Etc. Etc.

Dip the following into the dips: fruit, Teddy Grahams, animal crackers, fingers, etc..

Last night after my tasty coq au vin dinner (I used white wine because that was what was open in the fridge from a risotto recipe), I enjoyed some fruit for dessert.

I then stayed up until midnight so that I could register for classes at the exact millisecond that the clock turned over from 11:59 p.m. - 12:00 a.m. (00:00).  Registration is so competitive for the Masters program that I am in, that one must register in this exact minuscule time frame or risk not getting in to one's required courses.

Luckily I got in to the classes that I need, although I was exhausted and trying to pry my eyes open.  I will no longer have to register for classes for my program, as I have registered for the final 4 classes in my program (2 in spring/summer and 2 in fall). 

This morning called for some extra caffeine.  I made mocha oats with 3/4 cup coffee, 1/4 cup chocolate almond breeze, 1/2 cup oats, chocolate chips and PB.  I had a cup of coffee and some water too.

Lunch was leftover white wine coq au vin and some strawberries.

This evening the hubby made supper while I was coaching a b-ball game.  He made sweet and sour meatballs with rice.  Dessert was an orange and a couple of the BEST chocolates in the world (a late part of my v-day gift from the hubby).

If you live in Canada, Oregon or Illinois, and have never had Bernard Callebaut chocolate, please remedy this situation immediately.  Thank you.

What higher quality food item have you had that has ruined all others that try to compare?

Are you a chocolate snob?  Wine snob?  Cheese snob?  Some other type of food/drink snob?

Tell me the tales of your food snobbery!

I will eat "cheap" or lower quality chocolate ... but NOTHING can compare to Bernard.  If you think something can, prove it (AKA - please send me free chocolate).