Paleo Chocolate "Peanut butter" Hearts

There are days when all you want to do is wake up and eat chocolate. Ok, maybe not you, but I definitely have those days. Today, is one of those days.

My love of chocolate brings me to the crucial conflict of my existence: I truly believe that I can survive and be healthy, happy, productive, etc. on meat and vegetables alone; however, I emotionally cannot live without CHOCOLATE! I would probably drop five pounds, live five years longer, and have five less crinkles around my ever aging eyes, but I can't seem to do it! So, I choose chocolate. I will always choose chocolate (and wine), and frankly, I have to write this post to justify my need for chocolate!

You may call me strange because I actually do eat bars of unsweetened (yes 100% dark) chocolate, and I put cocoa powder in my chili, and when I'm feeling sad, I do self medicate with a chunk of chocolaty goodness.

The sad story of chocolate is that like meat and vegetables, it has become denatured, contaminated and abused in the modern era. For example, do you remember the days when you had to tenderly care for your chocolate bars, keeping them in a cool place to prevent temperature fluctuations? I do! When I was seven, we had a Sees candy bar drive; I must have sold 350 candy bars, but we had a good 50 left after the drive. For some crazy reason (which looking back, is probably the reason I have my entire chocolate addiction today), my parents decided to buy the remainder of the dark chocolate almond bars. I was eating chocolate bars for months! But as time went on, and the candy bars were exposed to hot days and cool nights, I noticed a white, chalky discoloration to my afternoon treats! Candy bars don't discolor like this anymore, because every single chocolate bar now a days has soy lecithin in to emulsify the cocoa butter and the cocoa, preventing the separation that causes that white discoloration. Its sad; soy , dairy, sugar, corn syrup, and more pounded into our treats to make them completely unavailable to us few and proud people who are super choosy about even our indulgences.

If you're like me, and you love chocolate, and you want a halloween treat that won't kill you because it's saturated with junk, try these amazing chocolate "peanut butter" hearts. You won't miss Reese's for a second!

1. 1 Ghirardelli 100% dark chocolate baking bar (unsweetened! and soy free!)
2. 1/4 C sunbutter
3. t Tbs honey
4. 1/8 tsp salt
5. 1/2 tsp honey
6. Sea salt for sprinkling

1. Melt chocolate in a double boiler.
2. With beaters, cream together honey, sun butter, salt, and vanilla
3. Sprinkle sea salt into each of the 15 chocolate heart molds.
4. Fill chocolate heart molds 1/4 full of melted chocolate. Divide sun butter evenly between chocolate heart molds.
 5. Top off with the remainder of the chocolate.
6. Freeze until hard. Enjoy your paleo chocolate candy!

"Fancy" Sage Sausage Squash Farci

As a young girl, I spent my afternoons whipping up lemon bars and apple crips out of betty Crocker boxed baking kits in my parents' tiny kitchen. But as any seasoned chef will attest, baking (especially the kind that comes from a box) is very different from cooking. I knew it even then. People loved what I baked, whether it came from a box or I made it from scratch, but it was my grandmother's cooking that really brought people together. Friends, family members, even strangers were always drawn in by the warmth wafting from her little range oven as it powered out batch after batch of fried chicken and creamed spinach. And absolutely everybody looked forward to the night they would eat at Grandma's.

When I was about ten, I realized that Grandma was getting older and that, one day, Grandma wouldn't be there to create the food that glued us all together. I looked over my family-my calculating sister, my wild brother, my silly cousins- and I knew then and there that I had to be the one to fill in for Grandma when she no longer could. That's when it began. I spent Saturdays making all her dishes- writing down the recipes, tasting the flavors she'd been perfecting her whole life, hearing the stories that, for her, were as interwoven into the recipes as the ingredients themselves.

It wasn't until years later, when I was studying baking in France, that I remembered the very first dish I ever made with Grandma. A family of French sausage makers invited me to dinner at their farm. We sat down under the stars as Madame brought out a steaming tian of legumes farcis (stuffed vegetables) and I remembered the stuffed peppers I made on my first Saturday with Grandma. The flavors were different: Grandma's were spicy with paprika and a rich tomato base, much more Hungarian than the earthy French version filled with fresh herbs. But Madame's fully grown children moaned with delight when they saw her set the pan on the table, just the way my family would respond to Grandma's stuffed peppers. I spent the night listening to their stories and remembering my own, savoring that knowledge the power of food to give life its meaningful moments.

These are my own variation on legumes farcis. Neither French, nor Hungarian, they still make my husband whoop when I make them. The best part about stuffed squash is that the presentation is lovely, but they are very affordable and very easy to make. Excellent food for creating memories.

"Fancy" Sage Sausage Squash Farci: Serves 4

-2 small Acorn squashes
-1 small onion diced
- 1 bell pepper diced
-1 Tbsp chopped fresh sage
- 2 cloves of garlic, minced
- 1 1/2 C crimini mushrooms, sliced
- 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
-2 Tbsp white wine
- 1 lb pork sausage
- 2 Tbsp almond flour
- 3 Tbsp Olive Oil
-Salt and pepper to taste

1. Preheat oven to 400.
2. Cut squash in half, scoop out he seeds and disgard. Chop off the ends so that the halls sit solidly without rolling. Place in a baking dish, season with salt and pepper and drizzle with olive oil. Bake for 35 minutes
3. Meanwhile, sauté the onions in 2 Tbsp of olive oil. Once translucent, add he sausages (remove casings) and brown. Once browned, add red pepper, mushrooms, and garlic. Cook 2 minutes then add sage wine and simmer until all veg and meat are cooked and some of he liquid is reduced. Sprinkle in the almond flour and stir (this will thicken the sauce and help to bind the filling inside the squash). Remove from heat.
4. Once the squash have have baked for 35 minutes, they should be nicely browning and softened. Remove them from the oven and fill with the sausage sauté. Bake in the oven for 7-8 more minutes. The tops should be nicely golden. Serve sprinkled with chopped sage and some white wine. Bon Appetite!