The Nourishing Gourmet

Nourishing. Satisfying. Gourmet.

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A Fix for Seized Chocolate: Fudge Sauce

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(Pennywise Platter is live! Add your thoughts and recipes).

The other day I wasn’t careful. I was melting chocolate (5 ounces in fact) for a project and it seized. Chocolate will seize if it’s exposed to water or any type of liquid while it is melting. I was left with grainy, unattractive and unusable chocolate…..or was I? I did a quick google search and found that you can make your grainy seized chocolate into a smooth chocolate sauce. I thought it was worth a try. It worked! This chocolate fudge sauce is seriously delicious, it really is. Probably one of the best chocolate sauces I’ve ever made. And there wasn’t a trace of graininess to the sauce, it was lusciously smooth.

If you ever have chocolate seize, may I suggest a better solution than throwing it away? Make it into fudge sauce! You can use it with many types of desserts. I hate to waste food (it’s just not frugal), so this was the perfect solution. Since I had my vanilla coconut milk ice cream on hand, I served it generously poured over it. Absolutely, most definitely, delicious. I don’t have a recipe for you since I was eye balling it the entire time. But I will give you the process so that you to can make your own fudge sauce out of seized chocolate.

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Chocolate Milk “Frappé” (Honey Sweetened and Dairy Free)

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chocolatemilkfrappe
Today is the last day to sign up for the stainless steel pizza pan giveaway!

It was the middle of the afternoon and I was starting to drag. I felt like I either needed to take a nap or have a snack. I choose to have a snack ( so much more fun than sleeping!). I wanted something that was refreshing and chocolate. I thought about just having plain chocolate milk, but it didn’t seem refreshing enough. So I decided to add a bit of ice and blend it up into a mock “frappé” chocolate milk for a very cold and delicious treat for a hot afternoon. Yum! This is a very chocoately, slightly sweet, icy treat. I sweetened it with honey and used coconut milk for a dairy free treat, but you could certainly use whole milk instead of the coconut milk and water combo.

A simple yet great afternoon pick me up!

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Sweet Roasted Tomato Bruschetta

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sweeetroastedtomatobruschetta
There is something so beautiful about taking fresh tomatoes and a few other flavorful ingredients and making a beautiful bruschetta topping. In this recipe I roast the tomatoes in olive oil infused with garlic for a rich and sweet flavor. This method works wonders when tomatoes aren’t at their prime. It turns mediocre tomatoes into a flavorful bright spot spot on the menu. If you look at my photos below, you will see how even the color is enhanced by the roasting method.  I finished it off with some sweet basil, salt and pepper and balsamic vinegar. So simple and so good. I served this at a recent bridal shower and it got good reviews from everyone.

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Homemade Creamy Tropical Popsicles

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tropicalpopsicle
We just made our first popsicles of the season. I know it’s not summer yet, and we truthfully haven’t been having the best of weather, but it was time. And boy, were they enjoyed! Elena and her cousins (and myself) loved these creamy, mild popsicles sweetened entirely with fruit and blended with coconut milk. Yum!

Making your own popsicles is the best. It’s generally very inexpensive and easy to do too. Some of those “all fruit” popsicles are just plain expensive. If you have some leftover smoothie, it makes the perfect popsicle too. So a lot of our popsicles during the summer are simply leftover smoothie!

This time, I used one of our favorite smoothie combo’s, mango, banana and coconut milk. That’s all, if you don’t count the water. Just three ingredients. That’s what I call simple.

And I loved using my new stainless steel popsicle mold I received!

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