Green & Black's Organic Chocolate to share with you! Giveaway!

Just when I thought I'd had enough chocolate for the entire year, look what showed up at my doorstep........

About a month ago during a 'Tweet-Up' on Twitter with FoodBuzz and Green and Blacks, I was lucky enough to win a gift pack from Green and Blacks.  I had completely forgot about it until yesterday when this package showed up at my doorstep via FedEx. 

Thirteen bars of chocolate with flavors from Cherry, almond, dark, peanut, milk, white, hazelnut & current, ginger, and a few more, a Green & Blacks chocolate cookbook, an apron and a shopping bag were included in this gift pack.

Well, what's a girl to do?!  Share of course!  I will give away a couple of chocolate bars and the choice of either the shopping bag  or brown apron you see in the photo, to you, one of my readers, selected randomly.  ALL you have to do is leave a comment in the section below answering this question:

Milk Chocolate or Dark Chocolate?

I'll announce the winner on Sunday the 26th.  Don't forget to sign in with your email address! {otherwise I have no way of contacting you} {U.S. residents only}

Merry Christmas Eve!

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I Have a Craving!

Spin class at Rolling Hills Club kicked my behind this morning.  Maybe that is what's triggered my unstoppable craving for chocolate!  Or maybe, the mere fact that I worked out today justifies a sweet treat somewhere in my crazy mind.  Whatever the reason......I want chocolate and I want it NOW!

I wanted to find something to both satisfy my craving and stay somewhat healthy.  It's all about moderation, right?  So I went to my 'go to' site for healthy recipes, Eating Well, for the answer.  This looks like it's going to hit the spot.......What do you think?

Grilled Dark Chocolate Sandwich

Photo by EatingWell

 

Both simpler and more decadent than a chocolate croissant, a grilled chocolate sandwich is a marriage of bread and chocolate in which the two components are evenly matched.  What can be better than bread and chocolate?....two of my favorite things......okay, a glass of Zin would go nicely in the mix as well.

Ingredients
1/4 cup fat-free evaporated milk
3 ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
1 1/2 tablespoons butter, softened
8 slices thin whole-wheat or white sandwich bread
3 tablespoons bittersweet or semisweet chocolate chips (or milk chocolate like I enjoy)
2 tablespoons chopped toasted hazelnuts, (optional)


Preparation
1.  Heat evaporated milk just until boiling. Add chocolate, let stand for 1 minute, then whisk until smooth. Let cool slightly.

2.  Spread butter on one side of each slice of bread. Divide the chocolate mixture on the unbuttered side of 4 slices, leaving a little border. Press chocolate chips and nuts, if using, into the chocolate. Cover with the remaining slices of bread, buttered-side up, and press lightly.

3.  Cook the sandwiches in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat for 1 to 2 minutes. Turn over, press with a spatula, and cook until nicely browned and the chocolate is barely melted, 30 seconds to 1 minute. Serve warm.

Nutrition
Per serving: 151 calories; 7 g fat (4 g sat, 1 g mono); 6 mg cholesterol; 21 g carbohydrates; 4 g protein; 2 g fiber; 131 mg sodium; 28 mg potassium.


What do you do to satisfy your sweet tooth cravings?  Give in, try to stay healthy, or abstain all together?

Happy Friday!  Cheers! Pin It

An Attempt at Reupholstery & Chocolate and Bananas

I finally found the time to visit the fabric store to look for some upholstery fabric for our dining room chairs. Our seven year old dining room chairs are completely and disgracefully stained. I suppose these things happen when there are kids in the family and add to the fact that we use our dining room table to eat breakfast, lunch and dinner every day. I'm not trying to blame it on the kids entirely, we have had many dinner parties where wine was spilt as well.

I searched the remnant pile at the fabric store and found what I was looking for....wipeable vinyl for $6 a yard. Great! All that was needed was three yards for six chairs. The back side..... While we were visiting my parent's house this past weekend, I asked my Dad if he had a staple gun I could borrow. Of course he does! He proceeded to bring out a hammer type, a traditional staple gun and an electric staple gun. My Dad has almost every tool ever invented and probably two or three of each. I chose the electric one. Who knew they made electric staple guns? I did not, but was ecstatic to find out this piece of information. This was going to make my job much easier.

I'm not trying to staple Chloe, she just snuck into the photo.....

I've never reupholstered anything before, but I thought anything would look better than the way the chairs look at the present time. The Steps:

• remove chair pads with screwdriver
• clean all crumbs and food particles from where the chair pad met the chair frame (yuk)
• lay the chair pad down on top of fabric
• pull fabric up around the chair pad bottom
• staple as you go
• trim off excess fabric
• re-attach the pad to the frame
• done

Well, the chairs don't look professionally done or beautiful in any way, but they do look better than they did, and that was my goal. Now we can just wipe off spilled food, milk, wine, etc. Have you ever tried to reupholster? If so, please lend me some tips for next time!

Now, time to test out the clean ability of the new upholstery job.....

Chocolate & Banana Satisfy that chocolate craving with a drizzle of melted chocolate chips over banana slices for an easy and low fat, low calorie treat. 1 serving Ingredients 1 tablespoon semisweet chocolate chips (or milk chocolate if preferred) 1/2 banana, thinly sliced 1 tablespoon nonfat vanilla yogurt Preparation Melt chocolate chips in a small bowl in the microwave. Top banana slices with the chocolate and yogurt. Nutrition Per serving: 117 calories; 3 g fat (2 g sat, 0 g mono); 0 mg cholesterol; 23 g carbohydrates; 2 g protein; 2 g fiber; 14 mg sodium; 277 mg potassium. 1 1/2 Carbohydrate Serving Enjoy & Happy Monday! Pin It