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Chocolate Orange Cashew Bark

So I got to thinking one day, I bet there are other combinations I could try with my dark chocolate bark.   One combo we have always enjoyed is chocolate and orange.  Each year at Christmas my husband and I would find one of those Terry brand chocolate oranges, literally in the shape of an orange, wedges and all, in our stockings.  He would get the dark chocolate, me the milk chocolate.  The idea is that you hit it on a solid surface and it breaks into the little sections, hence their slogan, whack and unwrap.  Anyway, we loved them and it's been a tradition of ours for close to a decade.  Even though they were split into single serving sections, they had no shot at still being around by New Years.  Now that we are Paleo, we obviously avoid all that processed, refined garbage, so I thought of a way to still indulge in our little tradition.  I threw in the raw cashews for some cruch and because it's one of our favorite nuts.  I honestly never cared for packaged, roasted, (over) salted cashews pre-paleo, but raw cashews are so buttery and delicious that I can't get enough of them!  I recently took this bark to a gathering and everyone that tried it seemed fond of it too.

Ingredients:

10oz bittersweet baking chocolate

1/4 c coconut oil

1/4 c raw honey

1 c raw cashews

Zest from one orange (organic is recommended since you'll be eating the peel)

1/2 tsp Orange extract

Sea salt

You must give the chocolate your undivided attention once it's over heat, so do all your prep work beforehand.  Zest the orange, crush the sea salt if needed, chop the cashews if necessary, measure your ingredients, and lay out the wax paper on a cookie sheet.

Over very low heat, melt your chocolate, stirring constantly to avoid scalding.  Add the oil and honey, and keep stirring until combined and smooth.  Remove from heat and add the orange extract.

Then add about 2/3 of the cashews (you'll want the rest for garnishing the top) and 2/3 of the orange zest, reserving some for garnishing the top as well.  Pour out onto your lined cookie sheet and garnish as desired.  Refrigerate (or set outside if you live in the Midwest ;)) until set and cut into pieces.

* Cook's Tip:  If you set a timer for a few minutes after you begin chilling, you can add the garnish then, and it won't disappear into the chocolate and should still stick, as long as it's still somewhat shiny.  

I am also thinking now that if you try less chocolate or more nuts, you could make it chunkier and use a cookie scoop and do individual servings in a lined mini muffin pan.  Hmm, ideas abound.

You can vary this recipe in many ways, by changing the nut, the fruit, or the extracts.  You're really only limited by your imagination!

Winter Soup

I don't know if it's cold where you are, but it sure is chilly in Chicago!  And there's nothing I love more than soup on a cold winter night.  Plus, it doesn't get much easier than this soup, which is a total bonus if you're in a rush or don't feel like cooking and dirtying a bunch of dishes.  We used to regularly eat tomato basil soup from a can filled with sugar, preservatives, and ingredients we couldn't pronounce, not to mention BPA.  Here's Progresso's:

Ingredients: Tomato Puree (water, tomato paste), Water, Sugar. Contains less than 2% of: Corn Syrup Solids, Wheat Flour Bleached, Soybean Oil, Modified Food Starch, Salt, Potassium Chloride, Garlic Powder, Dried Parsley, Basil, Ascorbic Acid, Citric Acid, Natural Flavor.

Yuck!  Why is all that necessary?!  Such a simple soup to make yourself with just some basic ingredients.

Tomato Basil Soup

1 jar (25oz) crushed tomatoes

1 can tomato sauce

1 can full fat coconut milk

1 small bunch fresh basil

Pinch Himalayan sea salt

*organic and fresh is always healthiest, but if you don't have access, that's ok, just do the best you can.  It's too cold to grow basil here right now so I use dried from my summer harvest or fresh from the store.

Wash and chop the basil.  I like to add the leaves to a small prep bowl and use kitchen shears to chop into small pieces.  It's faster and I am much less likely to cut off a fingertip.  ;)

Add the tomato products to a pot over medium heat.  Add the basil and the flavors infuse and simmer about 10 minutes.  Add the coconut milk and salt and combine until smooth and creamy.  Heat through and you are ready to serve.  Great with a small side salad, too!  Enjoy!

Mmm...  homemade tomato basil soup!  Waaay better than canned!