chocolate Archives – The Pinterested Parent

Tag

chocolate

Sat
28 ^th

Chocolate Covered Pretzel Bunnies & Sunday’s Best Link Up # 13

Posted by Pinparent — 27 Comments

I took a poll on my Facebook page yesterday. I was curious about what people preferred, sweet or salty. My husband is salty & I am definitely sweet, but the truth is I love the two mixed together the best. One of my weaknesses is for chocolate covered pretzels.

With only one week left before Easter, I have a few more days of Easter inspired fun. Tonight we made some sweet & salty Easter treats in the form of our favorite Easter pal.

Melt white chocolate in the microwave. Put the chocolate in a microwave safe dish & heat for a minute. Check it & microwave in 30 second intervals, checking to see if it is melted before each interval. Be careful not to burn.

When the chips are soft & shiny stir with a spoon.

Dip pretzel dipper sized rods into the melted chocolate & lay out on wax paper. Lay two dipped pretzels side by side to form a V shape.

With a spoon, spoon out a dollop of chocolate over the bottom in the shape of a circle. Be careful to not dribble chocolate over the top. It works best when the chocolate is smooth. Use a rubber spatula to smooth out any rough edges while chocolate is still hot.

Melt pink chocolate or in a pinch use white chocolate with just a touch of food coloring gel. Using a toothpick draw a line for the inside of the ears & add a dot for the nose.

Melt a small dish of milk or dark chocolate & add in eyes, mouth & whiskers. Let your chocolate cool & remove from the wax paper. If you have any imperfections, which I had a plenty, scrape the hardened chocolate with a knife to smooth out.

Now let’s hop on over to our main event. Welcome to week 13 of our Sunday’s Best Link-Up.

Welcome to Week 13 of Mother 2 Mother’s Sunday’s Best Linkup. This is the last week for our Spring Forward theme. We will be starting our April Showers theme next week. We will be looking for indoor activities, recipes, crafts, gardening and blogging tips for those rainy days.

This week we’re celebrating the thaw across the country, so linkup Easter posts, crafts, recipes, gardening, decorating ideas, room makeovers, Easter tablescapes, spring cleaning and organizational tips. Blow the dust off your old posts and link those too. Don’t have posts that fit into the theme, link up whatever post you would like to share. We would love to have SEO, blogging, and parenting tips, DIY projects, homesteading, homeschooling, and your posts on life. Your linkups and giveaways are welcome too. Anything goes here, as long as it’s family friendly and you may linkup as many as you would like.

Each week your hosts will select their favorite post and it will be featured the following week. An image from your post will be used on my blog the following week with a link back to your blog. Be sure to check back to see if you’re a Sunday’s Best featured blogger. All Featured Bloggers will have their posts Pinned to the Sunday’s Best Pinterest Board.

If you are interested in becoming a Sunday’s Best host, please contact me for details at rhonda@mother2motherblog.com

Your Sunday’s Best Hosts:

Rhonda – Mother 2 Mother Kim U. – Pinterested Parent Kim M. – Life In A House of Testosterone

Here’s the rules, please connect with us on social media before you leave or subscribe/follow our blogs:

Mother 2 Mother: Please like my Facebook Page, follow me on Twitter, Google+, Pinterest, BlogLovin or subscribe/join my blog on the right before you leave.

The Pinterested Parent: Please like Kim’s Facebook Page, follow her on Twitter, Google+, Pinterest, Bloglovin before you leave.

Life In A House of Testosterone: Please like Kim’s Facebook Page, follow her on Twitter, Google+, Pinterest, Bloglovin, or Instagram before you leave.

Please help us grow by placing the Sunday’s Best button above on your sidebar or in your Link Party lists/directory. I appreciate your help in promoting the linkup with Re-tweets and shares. If you are selected as a Featured Blogger, let your readers and followers know that you were featured on Sunday’s Best. Now lets party!

The Sunday’s Best Posts are:

Kim U. selected Moss Covered Bunny from Pinterventures

I selected Pastel Deviled Eggs from Intelligent Domestications

Kim M. choose Keeping Up With the Joneses from Sequins In The South

All of the posts were great, and I appreciate each of you linking up. I would like to invite all of you back to linkup your post(s) again, it could be selected this week. While you’re here take a minute to visit these great blogs. It’s a great way to meet and connect with new bloggers. Be sure to PIN or share any posts that you like, we all appreciate a little love.

An InLinkz Link-up

Sun
11 ^th

Hershey Kiss Pancakes

Posted by Pinparent — 10 Comments

The battle at mealtime continues…

As most of you probably already know, I have a picky eater on my hands. I have tried doing everything. I have tried doing absolutely nothing as well. For those of you out there that also have a finicky child, you know how frustrating it can be. Luckily, there are a few mealtime gems that always win my daughter over.

Just like a typical woman, my little girl loves chocolate. For Christmas she got a plastic cane cane filled with Hershey Kisses, so we made some pancakes with them. They were a home run. This weekend my husband requested them & again they were a huge hit with the family. Mai of course helped make them. She ate all of hers & even stole some of daddy’s.

Hershey Kiss Pancakes

Ingredients:

1 cup of flour

1 tbsp brown sugar

2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp of salt

1 cup of milk

2 tbsp vegetable oil

1 tsp vanilla

2 ripened bananas

1/8 cup peanut butter (this offers a subtle taste, if you are a peanut butter lover you may opt for more)

1 egg white

Hershey kisses (one kiss per pancake.)

Directions:

In a medium mixing bowl combine flour, brown sugar, baking powder, salt, vegetable oil & vanilla. In a separate bowl, mash the ripened banana using a fork. (If you have an eager little helper, a potato masher works well for them to lend a hand.) Stir in the peanut butter until smooth. Add to the flour mixture & stir until evenly distributed. Stir in the milk & egg white. Heat a griddle or frying pan at medium – high heat. (Test with a few drops of water, the water should dance across the cooking surface for best results) Add 1/8 cup at a time. When the edges of the pancakes start to bubble and firm, flip them. Lightly press a Hershey kiss into the center of your pancake. Cook until the bottom is golden brown. We ate these plain, but of course top with butter & syrup if that is your preference. Enjoy.

Thank you as always for stopping by. Please follow us on Facebook as well.

Sat
12 ^th

Granola Balls

Posted by Pinparent — 5 Comments

I have a sweet tooth problem. Like most women I know, I love chocolate. I would eat it all the time if I could, but alas, not only am I not supposed to eat a lot of sweets, it is not exactly kind on the waistline. One thing that helps me get my chocolate fix & feeds my sweet tooth is granola. I love making it. I make bars, squares or just straight up granola with chocolate in it of course. It is easy to make & my daughter loves helping me too.

But my favorite of all granola snacks that grace my lunch box are granola balls. There is just enough chocolate to keep me happy, but with no sugar added, I feel less guilty.

Ingredients:

3 cups of quick oats
1 1/2 cups of flour
1 cup chopped almonds
1 tsp of baking powder
1 tsp sea salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup of honey
1/4 cup of peanut butter
2 eggs
2 tbsp safflower oil
1 tbsp vanilla
3/4 cup of dark chocolate

Directions: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Combine the first 6 ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Mix in honey, oil & vanilla, stirring well. With a fork cut in the peanut butter until mixed well. Add chocolate chips and mix until evenly distributed throughout the mixture. Scoop a spoonful of mixture & roll with your hand into 1 1/2 inch balls. Place on a greased cookie sheet & bake for 15 minutes.

Sat
17 ^th

Food For Eat & Food For Play

Posted by Pinparent — 12 Comments

For Mother’s Day last week a work colleague gave all of us mommies a giant chocolate bar. I love chocolate of course, but am not a fan of plain chocolate. I wanted to make some sweet treats with the chocolate, but wasn’t sure what to do. I often refer to myself as a junk cook because I love to just grab random leftover junk & throw it together just to get rid of it. Last night was a good night for that & my daughter loves cooking with mama. The measurements are random because they are leftover ingredients, but my junk bars came out pretty good. My husband says they taste like a Twix bar.

Ingredients:

1 7oz chocolate bar

12 marshmallows

1 /8 cup of margarine

1 1/2 cups of graham crackers (chopped)

1 cup of chocolate cheerios

Directions: Melt the margarine over low heat. Add marshmallow & stir until melted. Add the chocolate bar. Remove from heat & mix until marshmallow & chocolate are melted. Quickly add the graham cracker & cheerios. Press into a pan. I used an 8X6X2 pan. Refrigerate & then cut into squares.

We went through many Cheerios. Mai was having so much fun with them, we used up most of the box.

Luckily for Mai, an accident the next day kept her in the food fun.

While I was work today, I received a text message from my husband. The text went a little something like this..”Do you know why there was a box of spaghetti open on both ends?”

Oops! I knew already that this was my fault. Sorry honey. But as the saying goes “When life hands you lemons, make lemonade.” So that is what we did. Daddy gave her a bowl and a handful of the spilled pasta. Mai was happy playing with the spaghetti while I was at work. When I came home I saw the big bowl of the uncooked pasta & remember something that I had seen before. I had a styrofoam cone laying around & stuck the dry spaghetti into it. We took some of our stale Cheerios from last nights food fun & our little tot had another activity to keep her busy. This is such a wonderful way to teach hand-eye coordination & as you can see my daughter loved it.

So what else can we do with all that floor pasta?

How about spaghetti art?

Who knew Cheerios & spaghetti could be so much fun?

Sat
12 ^th

Krispie Peanut Butter & Chocolate Balls

Posted by Pinparent — 10 Comments

Here is a simple fact of life…women love chocolate. We do! Men do not understand this as much. My husband would prefer a bowl of Doritos, but hand me a piece of chocolate and I am happy.

Tonight I had a craving. Why is it when ever you want candy, there is not a piece to be found, but as soon as you are on a diet, there is chocolate around every corner?
I wanted some chocolate, but I like my candy with nuts or some kind of crunch. We had chocolate chips, but I needed something more.

Krispie Peanut Butter & Chocolate Balls

Ingredients:
1 tbsp of butter
1/2 cup of crunchy peanut butter
2 cups of chocolate chips
1 cup of white chocolate chips
2 cups of Rice Krispies

Directions:
In a large saucepan melt the butter over low heat. Add the peanut butter. Stir for about a minute until melted. Add your chocolate chips. Stir until melted and smooth. DO NOT OVERCOOK. Once chocolate is melted add the Krispies. Mix until all of the Krispies are covered. Spoon out the mixture & fill a ball pop mold. Refrigerate until chocolate has hardened & then pop candies out of mold.

Thu
06 ^th

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Pancakes

Posted by Pinparent — 12 Comments

My experimentations with wheat flour continue. Trying to cut refined flours out of my diet has sometimes been a challenge. It has been 7 months since my attack of Pancreatitis & with switching to whole grains, eliminating red meats & fried foods, I have lost 25 pounds. I do still get a craving for my sweets sometimes, so if I can drop in a little chocolate from time to time, it keeps me happy.

Ingredients:
3/4 cup wheat baking flour
3/4 cup oats
1 tbsp brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 egg whites
2 tbsp canola or vegetable oil
2 tbsp melted butter
1 cup skim milk
1/2 cup dark chocolate chips

Directions:
Beat egg and add oil, milk and butter. Add dry ingredients and mix well. Add chocolate chips. Turn griddle to medium heat and spray with cooking spray. Mixture is thinner than usual batter. Scoop about 1/4 cup of batter and pour into hot griddle. Cook until tops are bubbling and firm enough to flip. Cook other side and continue with batter until you have used it all.

Nutella Filled Crescent Hearts

Posted by Pinparent — 17 Comments

Nutella is such a wonderful thing. I want to find the person that invented the delicious nutty spread & give them a giant kiss. It is guilty pleasure of mine. I have been known to just sit there with the jar & a spoon and indulge in the sweet treat right out of the jar. I also am a fan of the crescent roll. If you stuff a crescent with just about anything it is delicious. I am guessing I would even eat a dirty shoe if a crescent was rolled around it. In honor of Valentine’s Day, I decided to couple two of my favorite foods .

Ingredients:

A sheet of seamless crescent

Nutella

1/4 cup of finely chopped hazelnuts

2 Tbsp of butter or margarine

1 Tbsp of brown sugar

1/4 cup of chocolate chips

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350. Unroll the sheet of crescent dough. Using a heart shaped cookie cutter, cut out crescent hearts for the top & bottom of your treats. Gather excess crescent & roll out with a rolling pin. Cut out more hearts until you have used most of the dough. Lay one heart down on an ungreased cookie sheet & generously scoop Nutella & spread in the middle following the heart shape & avoiding the edges. Place another heart over the first heart & Nutella. Pinch the edges. Do this until you use all of your dough hearts.
In a saucepan melt butter or margarine over low heat. Add brown sugar & stir until dissolved & then add hazelnuts. Make sure they are finely chopped. Mix until coated with butter & sugar.
In the middle of your formed crescent hearts, use a smaller heart cookie cutter & press in the center. Sprinkle nut mixture in the middle of the cookie cutter until in fills in the shape. Repeat with all formed crescent hearts. Bake for about 10-15 minute or until golden.
Melt chocolate in a bowl in the microwave. Heat it in 30 second intervals. Use a spoon to drizzle chocolate over your hearts & let cool.

Saltine Cracker Bark

Posted by Pinparent — 21 Comments

A question was posed to me the other day by a fellow blogger. She asked me “What is your favorite Thanksgiving dish that you cook?” My reply was, it was actually a dessert that was my favorite thing to make. This inspired me to share this recipe with you. With the holidays coming, this is a great treat to bring to holiday parties & get togethers. They are a never fail hit. Every holiday, for more years than I can remember my family has put in a special request for me to make this super easy, ridiculously delicious & crazy addicting dessert.

Here is what you will need.

Ingredients

1 sleeve of saltine crackers

1 cup of semi sweet chocolate chips

1 cup of margarine (2 sticks)

1 cup of sugar

1 cup of crushed walnuts

(For white chocolate bark replace chocolate chips with white chocolate chip & walnuts with almonds slivers.)

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 375

In a saucepan melt the margarine on low heat. Do not let it bubble.

While margarine is melting, line a baking sheet with aluminum foil & lay out the saltines side by side so that the edges are touching

When margarine is fully melted, slowly pour in sugar & stir until sugar dissolves.

Quickly pour the mixture evenly over saltines & spread with rubber spatula.

Bake for 8 to 10 minutes or until golden brown. Times will vary depending on your oven, so watch to make sure they don’t burn.

Take out of the oven & pour the chocolate chips over the top. When the chips turn shiny, spread evenly with a rubber spatula.

Sprinkle nuts over the top & let cool.

After the chocolate hardens, break up into bite sized pieces.

These seriously are an amazing dessert. I make tins of these during the holidays & give them as gifts. Enjoy!