A First Experience: Shallots

Shallots were a foreign food item to me for the longest time.  I would see them used all the time on the food network, but this was something my mom would never use in her cooking.  I've cooked with plenty of garlic and onions, but never a shallot.  I would always see them in the supermarket.  I would eye them curiously, but would always end up walking past them.  

A few weeks ago I went to a farmer's market that is right next to where the boyfriend lives.  I've wanted to go for a while, but I was never around in the morning when it was happening.  But, eventually it happened.  It was awesome.  There was so much there I wanted to buy, but I had to control myself.  I ended up buying a whole wheat cinnamon bun for breakfast, apple cider bread, string beans, and a big bag of tiny shallots.  

They look like a different colored garlic.  I was actually wondering for a bit if that's what I ended up getting.  I was proven wrong when I started cutting them.  They make my eyes water like every other onion does when I chop them open.  I decided to do something simple with them just to experience the taste.  

I cooked them with some chicken in some coconut oil with some chili powder, oregano, and cumin.  I did kind of overcook the shallots, but they were still really tasty.  I do think they have are a cross between an onion and garlic.  Despite the overcooking, the dish was REALLY good.  I am now in love with cooking with coconut oil.  And shallots definitely add to a dish.  I've used them several times since then and will probably use them again tonight.  

All in all, use shallots in your cooking.  You won't be disappointed.  

I love when it's sweet, fatty AND good for you!

This is what was left of a super tasty treat I made when I finally got around to snapping a picture of the final product.  It was super delicious and apparently fairly good for me.  Ben, the boyfriend, bought a recipe home for me to make.  His physics professor gave the recipe to his class and he was raving about it and was all excited when I decided to make it.  It's fairly pricey for a treat, but it's worth it every once in a while.

It looks like regular chocolate fudge, but it's actually made with cacao instead of cocoa, and it's apparently the most chemically complex food that has ever been studied.  It's also the highest antioxidant food in the world.  It also contains the most vitamin C of any seed or nut, and one of the most vitamin-C rich foods in the world.  And on top of all the other good things I've told you, it's also the highest natural source of magnesium, chromium, and iron and is also extremely high in zinc, copper, and manganese.  Thank you David Wolfe for all the useful information.  

Cacao isn't the only ingredient I used in this tasty contraption.  I had to buy some coconut oil as well.  I bought this stuff once, but it was in a tiny bottle and when I went to use it and nothing came out.  I didn't want to heat the plastic bottle it was in...so I never got around to using it.  I was excited to finally use it, and now I have lots left over to use for cooking...which I've done already.  That's for another post though; a short one.

The recipe is for making bars, but I have nothing square sadly.  Soooo, I just used one of my nine inch cake pans.  I lined it with plastic wrap so I didn't have to worry about the bars sticking to my pan.  The shape wasn't perfect, but I'm not too worried about it.  Still tasted great.

Another ingredient was some kind of nut butter!  The recipe calls for cashew butter, but you can use anything.  The store I went to only had a bunch of varieties of peanut butter and almond butter, so I bought some organic natural peanut butter to do the trick.  I'm not obsessed with organic stuff or anything, I just figured I'd give it a try.  I like the sweetness regular peanut butter has, but I must say I'm also a big fan of the natural stuff.  The fresh, nutty flavor is quite pleasant. 

I mixed the peanut butter with the coconut oil and it made mixing with the other ingredients much easier.

After you mix the peanut butter and the coconut oil together, you mix in the cacao powder and the final ingredient....

Honey!  I used an entire bottle of honey for this recipe.  I didn't get anything fancy for this.  I just went to Walgreens and bought a bottle of the generic stuff.  I do want to try different kinds of honey one day.  Watermelon honey has definitely caught my interest.  

All you do is add the ingredients together and mash it into a pan!  Of course, you should shape it and make it look semi-decent.  But even if you just spooned it out and ate it, it'd be just as good.  I also premarked where  I was going to cut the bars to make it easier when it was ready.  Then, I stuck it in the freezer for an hour and moved it into the fridge after that. 

The final result was super tasty, as I've already said plenty of times throughout this post.  The bars didn't hold together very well.  Once you hold them to eat them they start to melt in your hands.  Ben said when he sampled them the first time when his professor made them that didn't happen.  I'll probably use a little less honey next time.  All in all, it was a huge success.  Not going to lie, I had it for breakfast a few times.

And now, here's the recipe:

-16oz cashew butter (peanut butter is also good)

-2 tbsp liquid coconut oil (heat it slightly to liquefy if necessary)

-About a cup of honey, use your own judgement.

-A cup of cacao powder

Mix the cashew butter and the coconut oil until fully blended.  Add the honey and stir until fully blended.  Once the honey is combined with the cashew butter mixture, add the cacao powder a little at a time while stirring.

Dump into plastic wrap (you can use a baking pan lined with plastic wrap to get a nice shape) and press flat until it's about 3/4 inch thick.  Mark serving squares on top of plastic wrap.  This will make separation easier.

Cool in the fridge until firm.  This will take a couple of hours (I put it in the freezer because I wanted it to be ready by the time Ben got out of work and I made it pretty late).

Separate the squares and eat!  I used a pizza cutter to fully cut the squares.