Chocolate Chips- Literally

The highlight of this morning has been sitting in my office with the door open. The kids doing homework in the chapel sanctuary could see me and asked what I was eating. I told them I was eating chocolate chips.

When they came to my office to snag a few, they realized that I meant a different kind of chocolate chip.

Chocolate covered potato chips have been a delicacy to me for a long time. The high amounts of fat, calories, salt, and sugar make them an addicting treat. Although I first started by buying them at chocolate shops, I made them a few years ago by melting chocolate chips (the real kind) and oil/butter, and then dipping the potato chips in. When the camp kitchen took an industrial-sized box of Ruffles out of commission, I decided to eventually go to the store and buy some chocolate chips to make this unhealthy treat.

However, I soon discovered that in addition to the Ruffles, a big bowl of chocolate frosting was put in the fridge for personal use! I decided to experiment by replacing the real chocolate with frosting.

It was actually super easy. I just put several big globs of frosting into a saucepan, heated it on the stove-top until melted, and then poured some chips in and scooped them out once they were covered in chocolate.

The experiment worked! In fact, it might be even better than the original recipe!

I ate most of my first batch last night, but the little I had left this morning I shared with the ever-skeptical Owen and Lyvvie. Next thing I know, they had convinced me to make two more batches, which were gobbled up by everyone in the office.

The best part about these chocolate chips is that they're so nutritious! That's right; they're an excellent source of fat, sugar, sodium, and calories! Haha, well, they may not be healthy, but they sure are addicting!

Homemade Soft Pretzels

This has been a fun activity, whether spending a night alone or a day with a bunch of bored preteens and teenagers. (But for some reason, the kitchen always ends up cleaner with the former.) I use this recipe to make the pretzels, although I replaced all butter/oil with coconut oil. And, of course, you don't have to top these with pretzel salt. Honey and cinnamon sugar also work well.

I think the main reason people ask me to make these is because you don't have to do a standard pretzel twist, but you can be creative in coming up with your own designs. Instead of a chore, this recipe is actually entertaining. Have fun!

Challah Bread

Challah Bread, the traditional egg and honey bread for the Jewish Sabbath. But I find it useful for the other six days of the week as well.

I first fell in love with Challah when working at a Christian summer camp on the Oregon coast (which was not Messianic Jewish in any sense- to this day I still cannot eat bacon because of that camp). The baker would make it about every week, and it was delicious. I even believed that it might have healing powers. (Yes, there is a story behind that: At one near-capacity camp, the staff ate outside to save space in the dining hall, but naturally, no one had set bread out at our picnic table. One staff member grabbed a loaf from inside, but he forgot to get a board or a knife. So we passed it around the table and each took turns biting off a chunk, even though many of us had cold-like symptoms. We called it the communal bread, and it was a much better communion than those wimpy wafers and miniature shot glasses of grape juice. Miraculously, the next day, no one had any cold-like symptoms.)

Years later, I moved to another state, started working at another camp, and suddenly had a craving for Challah bread one night. Since my new camp sadly lacked a baker (or even a full-time cook, for that matter), I decided to see if I could make my own. Lo and behold, it is possible!

I found my Challah recipe here. But I've since made a few modifications. First, I don't use vegetable oil. Coconut oil is so much healthier, and gives it a moister flavor. Secondly, I've made it with a variety of different types of flour, and all of them work pretty well. I've also found that you can bake it in a bread pan for sandwich bread, or on a cookie sheet for pull-apart style. Lastly, the recipe calls for three eggs, but one of them is for the "glaze". It really only takes about half an egg for this, so I save the other half in a container in the freezer and thaw it out the next time I need them.

Gluten-Free Peanut Butter Cookies

As hipster as it sounds, I was making gluten-free peanut butter cookies before it was cool. Of course, back then, we just referred to them as flour-free cookies. (Warning to the GF people out there: I really do love baking with flour. Peanut butter cookies are just one of the few things I've found that actually taste better without flour. I'll try to label gluten-free recipes as I post them, but I don't promise that it will be very often.) This recipe I learned in my middle school baking class, and afterward found out that my dad gave a demonstration speech in in college class about these cookies. Years later, I also gave a demonstration speech in my college class about them! Once you try them, you might be motivated to give a speech as well!

My favorite thing about this recipe is it's so simple to memorize. Just remember 1-1-1-1

Ingredients:
1 cup of sugar
1 cup of peanut butter
1 egg
1 t vanilla (optional)

Mix all the ingredients, spoon 12-20 cookies on a baking sheet, and bake for 10-12 minutes at 350.

Easy, right?

For the past few months, I haven't bought any sugar. Instead, I've replaced whatever I could with honey. (I buy honey in bulk to make Challah bread, and it's healthier anyway!) When I tried replacing honey with the sugar in this recipe, I was disappointed in the results. Fortunately, I found a slightly healthier version on Pinterest, and I'm excited to try it out!

Ingredients:
1 cup peanut butter
1 cup honey
1 t baking soda
1 egg

Start by mixing only the honey and peanut butter together, then add egg and baking soda. Bake the same as the above cookies.

Frugal Food Finds

Instead of starting off the first post of this blog with an introduction that includes absolutely nothing of value, I'll share a few random tips I've discovered about baking and buying. Some of these will come into play later as I share recipes and ingredient reviews, but I believe they can help with just about any grocery shopping trip.

-I like to shop in the health food section, but most of these foods are overpriced. However, I'll be sure to pick up an item with an orange "Manager's Special" sticker! Many grocery stores will sell near-expired items for half off or even more. I can get brand-name health foods for even less than the standard generic comparison. (Of course, this applies to more than just health food!)

-Since so much of what I buy is close to the expiration date, I freeze whatever I can. Freezing food makes it usable for much longer, as long as you double-bag loose items to prevent freezer burn. Of course, some packaging will say not to freeze, but there are some surprising foods that are completely fine to freeze. For example, if I only use part of an egg in a recipe, I'll freeze the rest of it in a small container.

-For those foods where nothing is even close to expired, I compare expiration dates and buy the item that has the longest shelf life.

-Since my freezer can't fit all my food, I store some on the shelves as well. I buy both white and whole-wheat flour, so I have separate containers for each. (To encourage myself to buy the healthier stuff, my whole wheat flour storage container is several times bigger than the white one!)

-Even if I transfer baking ingredients to a storage container, I'm careful not to throw out the original packaging right away. A few weeks ago, I bought some almond milk that specifically said "do not freeze" on the packaging, but when I opened it up, I saw a chunk of ice, courtesy of either the grocery store or the shipping. Although it was still fine to drink, the consistency wasn't perfect, so I sent an e-mail to the company about this experience. After asking for things like the expiration date, UPC code, day I bought it, and day I opened it, they sent me a freebie coupon and a bunch of dollar-off coupons. Now I won't be paying full price for almond milk for the next year!

-Many foods- from pasta sauce, to peanut butter, to salsa, to baby food- are stored in nice glass containers that can easily be re-used for leftover storage. (I even took it one step further and used a plastic lid from an empty vitamin container as a food dish for my hermit crab!)

-I don't coupon. From watching the shows, it seems like most of them coupon as a full-time "job", and I don't have time for that. Plus, since I have limited storage space and don't have a family to feed, there is no need for me to get that much food. I instead spend a lot of time in the store comparing, and will only use coupons if it's for something I would buy anyway.

-I do food product reviews. Some are flops. (I don't know if I'll ever finish those hibiscus-flavored kale chips.) But I've ended up enjoying a variety of new foods, like BETTER kale chips (only the cheddar-flavored and chocolate-covered ones are any good), coconut oil, and even a SodaStream with a variety of flavors. We'll definitely cover more of this later.

-Finally, I make some foods from scratch that many others don't. I can't even remember the last time I bought a loaf of bread! In fact, that's exactly why I started this blog. Many people wanted to know my bread and cookie recipes. This is just an easy way to share those, and more.