I Believe in Chocolate

Last week I had the joy of facilitating a summer camp for my school called Leadership Academy. We teach kids that "who you are is how you lead" and that there are many kinds of leaders. We teach them to find the qualities that they possess in order to be a good leader.

The culminating assignment for this week was a podcast called "This I Believe," a spinoff of the NPR bit. We asked students to write about what they believe. Naturally I believe in chocolate. Intrigued? Here is my podcast:

Ever since I can remember, in my house no other flavor of cake existed besides chocolate. My mother would bake chocolate cakes or brownies weekly for my siblings and me. My mother and I consuming the largest piece. Straight As, birthdays, or any other special occasion called for a trip to Sarris Ice Cream Parlour for a sundae. Chocolate of course. If there is one thing my mother and I have in common, it is chocolate. I believe in chocolate.

When I turned 16, I got a job in order to earn

some spending money. I didn’t want just any job. Folding jeans or waiting tables just wasn’t for me. If I had to spend 20 hours per week working, I figured, I might as well be working with chocolate. I began working at Sarris’ Candies scooping ice cream. I met fellow chocoholics and made good friends. I didn’t mind going to work every day because I got to work with people like me, and I got to eat all the chocolate ice cream I desired. For the next four years I was committed to hot fudge sundaes, chocolate assembly lines in the factory, and filling shelves full of chocolate goodies. This never felt like a job. They say, do what you love, and you’ll never work a day in your life. The way I look at it, I got paid to eat chocolate.

Chocolate has also allowed me to combine something else I love, writing. While applying to internships in college, I started my own blog to showcase some of my writing. I began a blog called Chocolate Emergency and still continue it today. Everywhere I go, I purchase a piece of chocolate from that region or a local bakery and blog about it. While this started out as an excuse to eat more chocolate and showcase my writing, it turned into a hobby. Now I have friends who buy me chocolate to taste and turn into a blog entry. (And I have another excuse to eat chocolate!) Not a bad deal. I was able to refine my craft of writing all while doing something I love to do - eat chocolate.

Obviously, my favorite food is chocolate. My second favorite food is anything covered in chocolate. Milk, white, dark, doesn’t matter. I don’t discriminate when it comes to eating chocolate. The more chocolate I eat, the happier I am. This correlation just makes sense to me. If I can find something I like and I’m good at, I’ll do more of that. There has to be a little bit of chocolate in everything I do.

Chocolate + Wine

I made an unexpected (although not unusual) chocolate purchase today. I fell for one of the oldest marketing tricks in the book. Albeit when it's chocolate, I'm not a hard sell. I stopped at the drug store to pick up a few birthday cards, and these were waiting for me next to the register.  

It seems I'm all about the chocolate pairings these days. Chocolate and wine? It's a no brainer! WIN! 

Ghirardelli's signature squares are no stranger to the chocolate drawer in my kitchen. My favorite would have to be the hazelnut in milk chocolate. Coming in a close second is the dark chocolate with raspberry filling. This delightful little dark treat, however, is infused with flavor instead of the gooey filling like the popular caramel or raspberry. It is solid dark chocolate (tastes like 50% cacao) infused with blackberry and grape flavors. It is not as tart as I expected, but it is a nice mix of bitter from the chocolate, sweet and tart from the fruit. 

When I opened the package, the first thing I smelled was the grape aroma. It seems that's what Ben smelled too because he made it awfully hard for me to take a nice picture. Too bad cats can't have chocolate; more for me! 

PB&J Choco

I always say that my favorite food is chocolate; my second favorite food is anything covered in chocolate. So naturally when I came across this PB&J chocolate bar, I had to try it. 

The combination is a staple in most kids' diets. They love to put the combo in between two slices of bread, so two pieces of chocolate should be an improvement right? I'm not a huge fan of Trader Joe's chocolate to begin with, and I couldn't get my taste buds as excited about this as I thought. 

A dry peanut butter sits below tart raspberry jelly. I might like this if it was simply the chocolate and peanut butter, or chocolate and raspberry; for some reason, this combo didn't work for me. I don't say this often but this just wasn't the chocolate bar for me. Worth a try? Yes. But I probably won't be bringing it home for round two. Who knows; maybe you will like it more than I did. Give it a shot. 1,000,000 kids can't be wrong, right? 

Chocolate Mousse

I'm going to a game night with some old friends tonight. Even as an adult I think it is fun to play games. Maybe even more than when I was a kid. Especially with old friends. I usually come home with a stomach ache from laughing so hard. I never get a stomach ache from eating too much (as if there were a such thing!). I offered to bring something sweet tonight. Naturally, I'll bring something chocolate. Here's what I've decided:

Chocolate Mousse  Really Easy and Delicious Chocolate Mousse. Listen, I'm not one of those crafty, expert chef, do-it-all bloggers. I'm a teacher, a dancer, and a chocoholic, okay. I like simple. 

The garnish I used here is a vanilla wafer. I will also add a strawberry for tonight I think. And Anthony suggests some chocolate sprinkles. I've crushed graham crackers to put in the bottom for a base. Here's the recipe.

1 package 5.9 oz Jello chocolate pudding mix

1.5 cups cold milk

1 package 8oz cool whip

Extra cool whip for the topping

strawberries

graham crackers

vanilla wafers

or any other garnish you'd like to add (hmmm raspberries maybe?!) 

Mix pudding mix and milk with a whisk for 2 minutes. Fold in the cool whip. Refrigerate. Crush up graham crackers and line the bottom of the serving dish. Add mousse, cool whip, garnish. Devour. 

P.S. It's okay to lick the spoon if you're done with it. ;) 

Chocolate for Breakfast - No Cook Overnight Oatmeal

It seems these days that if it's not a choco-peanut butter combination, I'm not interested. But seriously, name one thing that isn't better if you add peanut butter. 

I've found an excuse to have both chocolate and peanut butter for breakfast. You're welcome. Bonus: it's good for you. This recipe is beyond delicious. I'm always looking for something quick in the morning and am getting a bit tired of granola bars. 

This is something I can make the night before and just grab and go in the morning. I need all the free time I can get in the mornings since I tend to sleep in until the last possible moment. 

Seriously, the picture does not do it justice. I'm a chocoholic, not a photographer. Trust me on this one. 

You will need:

1/2 cup banana yogurt 

1/3 cup milk

1/3 cup rolled oats 

2 tablespoons peanut butter (or more if you're so inclined)

1 handful chocolate chips (okay a big handful, right?)

Combine all ingredients in a bowl and refrigerate over night or for at least 4 hours. 

Another possible addition I'm considering is almonds. Another recipe called for sliced bananas, but I found they get too mushy. What other additions could we consider?! Mmmm the possibilities! 

Red Velvet Cake Chocolate

Merry Christmas! Happy Holidays! Happy New Year! 

This is the perfect time of year to indulge in a little a lot of chocolate. Being a teacher and known chocolate lover, I received many, many gifts of chocolate this year. For which I could not be more grateful. Especially right now during my late night chocolate emergency. 

One of the unique chocolate bars I received from a dear coworker was this delectable red velvet chocolate bar. 

Whenever I think of red velvet cake I usually think of weddings and that delicious cream cheese frosting. However, now my brain is on chocolate. 

This unassuming bar is quite incredible. No fancy design needed. The taste is what's important, and it certainly does not disappoint. It has the discernible taste of red velvet cake batter upon first taste. I am happy to report that the makers of this chocolate did not leave out the cream cheese frosting. Little white beads inside melt in your mouth just as the frosting would. To top it all off, chocolate. 

Genius creation from the folks at Market District. For you non-Burghers out there, Giant Eagle Market District is the grocery store in Pittsburgh and the surrounding areas. 

Thank you to my coworker and friend for the delicious gift. Enjoy your chocolate-covered holiday, all! 

Astor Chocolate in a Boston Tin

In honor of Boston's recent victory at the World Series, I'm going to blog about some chocolate in a Boston-inspired decorative tin! 

One of my teacher friends brought this back for me after a recent trip. Have I mentioned that I have great friends?

Astor Chocolate is actually based out of Lakewood, New Jersey, but it started in New York in 1950. Astor Chocolate makes a myriad of different chocolates. It's great for unique gifts (you know for others... or yourself). I'd actually like to own the chocolate chess set! 

To start, the aroma of chocolate when I opened the tin was incredibly enticing. The perfect smell of milk chocolate. The chocolate covering the delicious almonds is sweet, though a bit waxy. However, seeing as how I'm fishing into the tin again and again for more almonds, these certainly satisfy the chocolate emergency of this chocoholic. Now, what will I use this soon-to-be-empty tin for?