Happy Chocolate-Dipped Valentine's Day with Driscolls!

I've never been a big Valentine's Day enthusiast. Not as an adult anyway. It's a fake holiday that was created to sell cards and chocolates, and seems to unfairly put the burden on the guy to make it special. Plus good luck getting a reservation anywhere! But I will happily help my kids celebrate! And what better way to celebrate friendship than sharing a plate of chocolate covered strawberries? Making your own is easy and far more affordable than buying them pre-made, plus you have the flexibility to get organic berries, avoid GMOs, get allergy-friendly chocolate, etc.

[This post is sponsored by Driscoll's Berries]

My niece's birthday is right around Valentines Day, so when she wanted a sleepover with her cousins that weekend, chocolate-covered strawberries were prominently on the menu! They are supremely easy to make, and so fun to eat, but there are a few tricks to getting them just right!

I've found that candy melts and chocolate chips tend to melt too thick (and usually have artificial colors, flavors, and milk, which we can't have.) So if you're using these, add a little oil or shortening to get a better consistency. I prefer coconut oil or palm shortening, since the brand-name shortening has petroleum-derived preservatives.
Another solution is to buy chocolate bars... They already contain an emulsifier to help them get nice and melty and smooth. You can find chocolate that is all-natural, organic, fair trade, dairy-free, or made in a nut-free facility... whatever you need to make them safe for your family! And in the case of making your own chocolate goodies, you get what you pay for. If you buy cheap chocolate, your results won't be as yummy and fancy and special. It's worth it to splurge for the "good stuff" here!

I'm lazy and choose to melt in the microwave, but as it turns out, that helps you get a better quality finish on the chocolate versus a double-boiler, since you aren't getting moisture from the steam. But for treats being eaten right away, chocolate bloom isn't really an issue! Hahah! But if you are needing a large amount of melted chocolate, double boilers are safer and can hold more at once.
Microwave melting is easy though, and I have a glass dish with a sealable lid that I can use again and again and keep the leftovers ready for next time. Glass is best for this, since it doesn't retain heat like plastic or ceramic, so you run less risk of overheating and ruining your chocolate.

Make sure that your berries are washed and completely dry. Water messes up the chocolate and prevents it from sticking to the berries.

How to Make Chocolate-Dipped Strawberries

To melt chocolate in the microwave, put your chocolate (around a cup at a time) in a microwave safe dish and heat for 1 minute on High. Then stir and cook for 30 seconds more. Continue to heat in 30-second intervals, stirring each time, until melted. Then dip away! (If adding oil to thin, add a little at a time between heatings until desired consistency is reached.)

Since it isn't very cost-effective to have enough melted quality chocolate to fully dip whole berries, use a spoon to help cover both sides. Let most of the excess drip off.

Place dipped strawberries onto a parchment-lined baking tray or plate, or on a silicone baking mat on a baking sheet to cool. Allow them to cool at room temperature, unless you plan to eat them all soon. Putting them in the fridge is faster, but can cause unsightly chocolate bloom spots to appear a few hours later.

If you want to get fancy, add gently sifted powdered sugar, crushed nuts or cookies or graham crackers, sprinkles, or mini chocolate chips before leaving the chocolate to harden. Drizzled chocolate designs are also fun and can be done in different colored melted chocolates or even the same, as long as you wait for the dipped chocolate to be mostly hardened first.

Enjoy, and have a berry great holiday, no matter how you celebrate it!

Mini-Sandwich PBJ Lollipops!

 

Cutting shapes with cookie cutters is a great way to keep the same-old sandwich from getting boring, but making little sandwich "lollipops" or wands is even more fun!

Big Sis Loves Lollies!

GF PBJ w/pretzel sticks; organic carrots, strawberries, grapes, GF chocolate cake, dairy-free Cocomel

Friday, 5/2/14 - I hadn't made sandwich lollipops in forever! I either didn't think of it, or didn't have any gluten-free pretzel sticks on hand when the idea would strike me. But I figured they'd be a hit, and I was right!

We had some leftover Wholesome Chow Chocolate Lavender Cake that I'd made for no particular reason (other than the girls found the mix and wanted to help make it and we had time...) So I used the same heart cutter from the sandwiches to make a little cake-y treat. And added a dairy-free Cocomel caramel in there too, just for fun. Normally I'm pretty stingy with those. I must have been in a good mood for "treat Friday!"

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Lollies for Little Sis

GF PBJ w/pretzel sticks; organic carrots, strawberries, grapes

 

Little Sis only got a few sandwich wands, mostly because she doesn't usually eat the bread, so I get tired of wasting it. I just make sure to really glob on the peanut butter so she gets in some calories! I don't think she's ever had these before, so it was a fun novelty for her. She did eat the pretzel sticks...

How-To Make Sandwich Lollipops

Making sandwich wands is quite easy. All you need is your sandwich fixings (use spreads versus meats and cheeses - you want something nice and sticky and gloopy!) mini cookie cutter(s,) and some pretzel sticks!

After cutting out an even number of mini shapes from your bread slices, slather on the spreads. It works best if you put something on each piece of bread. (If your cutter design isn't symmetrical, be sure you have your bread facing the right way before adding the filling! Wouldn't want to have it sticky-side-out!)

Once your spreads are on, just take a pretzel stick and press it firmly against one of your bread shapes. You want it at least halfway up the design for best support. (Shapes with holes cut out of the middle work but aren't ideal for this type of thing. If you have this kind, you'll want the pretzel stick to touch the top part of the design as well. Otherwise it will just poke around in the hole and much everything up.)

Then press the top slice on top, pressing firmly to get the pretzel stick nice and stuck! Ta-da! Sandwich lollipops!

Tools of the Trade

  

My Dye-Free Valentine

At their ages, Valentine's Day is full of cookies and candies and fun. For a Mama of kids with dietary restrictions, it's full of stress and worry and trust. Trust that the teacher won't blindside my kid with something she can't have that we hadn't previously discussed and I hadn't sent an alternative for. And trust that my kid will resist temptation and stick to the treats Mama sent!   

Both of Z's Kindergarten classes had sugar cookie decorating parties, but the teacher at the private school made everything herself, to be sure it would be safe, and so all the kids could have the same stuff. (Have I mentioned that I love this teacher? Tears will be shed at the end of the school year!) She made gluten-free sugar cookies from a mix I'd supplied earlier, made frosting from scratch, and had proudly announced at the beginning of the school year that she'd bought some dye-free sprinkles specifically for this activity later in the year! (We had the same teacher last year, which was one of the many reasons we opted to stay at this school for Kindergarten too.)

The public school Kindergarten Z attends in the afternoons is actually an all-day program, but we only show up at lunch time. But Valentine's week was half-days due to conferences. So I picked Z up a little early from her AM class and rushed her off to her other class for the last hour of school to go to her other class party. She nibbled on her lunch along the way, but wasn't really hungry (surprise surprise.)

But I had packed her a dye-free gluten-free cookie decorating kit anyway. Plus extra treats to help her resist busting into any of the candy in her Valentines.

GF vegan sugar cookie, asst dye-free candies, Truffle Pig, dye-free frosting, dye-free sprinkles, gummy hearts

 

I found heart-shaped vegan gluten-free sugar cookies at the gluten-free market up near my mother-in-law's house, but in a pinch, I would have used round ones from Enjoy Life or Lucy's - both companies are completely free from the Top 8 Allergens and gluten!

I sent a kit willed with star-shaped gummies from Whole Foods and UNREAL candy-coated chocolates (not dairy-free,) some Lovely fruit chews (just like Starburst!) a Truffle Pig (not dairy-free,) vegan white frosting (store-bought caned frosting almost all have artificial dyes, even the white and chocolate ones!) and a mix of sugar sprinkles and jimmies from Maggie's Naturals and India Tree Nature's Colors.

(If there's not a Whole Foods or natural market near you with dye-free candy and sprinkle options, check out NaturalCandyStore.com. And you can order sugar sprinkles and food colors direct from Chocolate Craft Kits or Maggie's Naturals. I've even found dye-free Sprinkelz packets at Fred Meyer and I think Wal-Mart. And Cherrybrook Kitchens makes the only "canned" frosting I've found without artificial colors and/or flavors (I just found out that artificial flavoring vanillin is more commonly made from petrochemicals, just like the dyes are, and not a wood pulp manufacturing byproduct, as I'd previously thought. That puts it on the "avoid at all costs" list, like the other petrol-derived food additives that Z reacts to!) I've only ever found Cherrybrook Kitchens frosting at Whole Foods and other natural grocery stores. And online.)

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Because I knew they'd be full from cookies, I didn't pack big lunches. And I went for popcorn over sandwiches because it's more of a "sure thing" as far as actually getting eaten!

My Little Valentine

Organic apples, organic popcorn w/salt and nutritional yeast; organic carrots, peas, and grapes

 

E got some MOMables Real Food Valentines Treats apples left over from a previous lunch, but otherwise these snacky lunches were just plain and simple and easy to put together.

My Big Valentine

Organic popcorn w/salt and nutritional yeast; organic carrots, peas, and apples

 

Both my girls love their "cheese powder" which is what we call the nutritional yeast in our house. Two Tablespoons of "nooch" contain 9g of protein - a complete protein - as well as 4g fiber and a variety of B vitamins. So I am more than happy to let them sprinkle it on pretty much anything they want! They especially enjoy it on popcorn, and I don't even need to add (non-dairy) butter!


In between all the shuttling back and forth for Z, E and I went to a Valentine's party with my MOMS Club. They too were decorating sugar cookies. Luckily, I had brought extras from packing for Z!

E had a great time decorating her cookie. Sadly, Z got the only unbroken one left at the store, but E didn't mind. In fact, she made me break up the larger pieces after she decorated them! And she was thrilled to spread her own frosting and add her own decorations onto her broken cookie. Just like a Big Girl! 

Tools of the Trade

   

Food for Thought

  

Toasted Cheese Valentines

Toasted Cheese for my Big Girl

Chocolate-covered GF sandwich cookie, GF toasted goat cheese sandwiches, organic clementine, kale chips

 

Friday, 1/10/14 - I cut some bread and cheese with a small heart cutter, then buttered and toasted up the sandwiches in the oven on Broil for a few minutes on each side.

My nephew had a chocolate fondue party for his birthday, so we came home with tons of chocolate-coated goodies - all gluten-dye-dairy-free, since I had brought my own "safe" supplies to work with. So I packed one of the chocolate-covered gluten-free "Oreos" (Trader Joe's brand) as a special Friday treat.

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Scraps for the Toddler

GF toasted goat cheese sandwiches; organic clementine, snap peas, tomatoes

 

Little Sis got the scraps from the heart-shaped bread, since she's not much of a sandwich eater, and was going through a small-appetite period then.

Hearts for Mama

NatureBox Masa Crisps, Naturebox Dark Cocoa Almonds, rice crispy treat,
organic salad (spinach, strawberries, chia seeds, hemp hearts, raisins, rosemary vinaigrette)

I packed myself a lunch and added strawberries to my salad since the red is very Valentines-y. And a heart-shaped rice crispy treat made in a greased heart-shaped muffin pan, since I had some extra mix after making some rice crispy suns for a classroom snack.

Tools of the Trade