Valentine's Day Coconut Milk Truffles

Happy Valentine's Day

2 months, 15 days

I have been working on this post since last week but haven't had the time to finally put it up, so here it is a week late!

Last year we spent our first Valentine's Day dinner together... in the past we have been separated by TDYs (temporary duty assignments) or deployments. We were pretty excited about doing something however, forces outside of our control turned our dinner into something very memorable and very strange. Definitely something that you would see in the Twilight Zone.

This year my husband and I wanted to do something different than the usual heavy pasta Valentine's Day dinner.  We realized with the addition of Emerson, that going out was not an option nor did it sound appealing for many reasons! We stayed in and had a wonderful dinner of tenderloin steaks, balsamic brussel sprouts, mashed cauliflower, and coconut milk truffles. Our grand total for the evening was $13.38 (we do have the added benefit of shopping at our commissary)! That alone was well worth our evening at home. Plus, Emmy gave us a special gift of taking a 10 min cat nap, allowing us to eat by ourselves.

Our highlight of the evening was definitely the truffles. They are deceptively easy to make and look great as an added bonus. WARNING, they are super dark... so  for the milk chocolate lovers out there, these probably aren't for you.

Coconut Milk Truffles

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup of full fat coconut milk
• 10 oz bittersweet chocolate, chopped 
• Various raw nuts, chopped 
• 1 heaping tsp of cocoa powder
• 1 packet of Starbucks Via

Directions

1. Heat coconut milk in a small saucepan on the stove until bubbles start to form around the edges and the milk is thoroughly heated.
2. Pour hot coconut milk over chopped chocolate in a heat safe bowl.
3. Stir until combined and the mixture has taken on a shine.
4. Place mixture in the fridge to chill for 1-2 hours.
5. Meanwhile preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
6. Place chopped nuts of choice on baking sheet and bake in oven for 5-7 minutes or until toasted and fragrant.
7. In a small bowl combine the Starbucks Via and cocoa powder, stir to combine.
8. After 1-2 hours has elapsed, take out the chocolate mixture.
9. Using a 1/2 tablespoon, scoop out balls of chocolate mixture and roll in the palm of your hand until rounded.
10. Take rounded ball of chocolate and roll it in toasted nuts or cocoa powder/via mixture or both.
11. Eat immediately or chill for later.

Makes about 15 truffles

 Hint: you can use cocoa powder to "flour" your hands to help keep chocolate under control.

Grain Free Blueberry "Scones"

I made these "scones" today as a special Saturday treat. I have always loved baking in addition to cooking so when we starting eating paleo I thought my baking days would be few and far between. Thank goodness I found Elana's Pantry (www.elanaspantry.com) last year... so that doesn't have to be the case! Elana's recipes are gluten free, and she herself also follows a paleo/primal lifestyle so the majority of her recipes are dairy free as well. In addition to her website she now has two published books. The recipe below is one that I adapted from her book The Gluten-Free Almond Flour Cookbook.

My in-laws gave us a ton of blueberries a couple of weeks ago, so this was my efforts to try to get rid of the last pint that had probably seen its better days. I also used a couple of sad oranges that would have probably not been eaten otherwise. Hope you enjoy, feel free to alter it as you like depending on what you have in your own kitchen.

Grain Free Blueberry "Scones"

• 3 cups of blanched almond flour
• 1/4 tsp of salt
• 3/4 tsp of baking soda
• 1 heaping tsp of cinnamon
• 1/4 cup of grape seed oil
• 3 large eggs
• 3 tablespoons of maple syrup (the real stuff)
• 1/4 cup of fresh squeezed orange juice
• zest of one lemon (or the zest of the orange... ours were too sad)
• 1 cup of fresh blueberries

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Mix together the almond flour, salt, baking soda, and cinnamon in a large bowl
3. In a separate medium size bowl, whisk together grape seed oil, eggs, maple syrup, orange juice, and zest until smooth
4. Throughly combine the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients
5. Fold in blueberries
6. Cover a baking sheet with parchment paper and spoon the batter onto the pan leaving space between them
7. Bake for 10-12 minutes until golden brown

Makes 16 "scones"

Drive

This is my first attempt of anything that resembles a blog... or even sharing my thoughts with others on a social media. I am typically a very private person when it comes to sharing my inner thoughts, ideas, etc. This is surprising even to myself, since I grew up during the myspace, xanga, and aim age. Maybe it is my experience of watching others that has brought about this privateness. Well today I am opening myself up to new possibilities, expressing myself in new ways, and I am terrified.


The reasons for the name of my blog is threefold: 1) I may occasionally get onto my soap "box" on issues that are important to me, 2) I will most definitely talk about my "box" which is my local crossfit gym and sometimes my own back yard, & 3) I also love to cook and follow a mostly primal-paleo lifestyle (not always 100%) so we can look forward to few recipes to add to your recipe "box."

Most importantly I am a new mama. As of today I have been a mother for 2 months and 10 days. I have a precious baby girl named Mary "Emerson" or Emmy. She has followed in the footsteps of her mom and grandmother, all of us having the name Mary but each of us going by our respective middle names. Thus, the tradition continues.