Friday Favorites with La Domestique

Friday Favorites is back! Today we're talking with Jess from La Domestique. I really like the concept behind Jess' blog. She picks a new ingredient every Monday and gives you a bit of background on it.  Tuesday she gives you 10 ways to use the ingredient, and then she shares a recipe too. You can also find her articles over at the Whole Foods Cooking Boulder blog. Follow along with Jess for endless inspiration and check out her list of pantry items for Spring.

Jess, what's your favorite food?

Image courtesy of La Domestique

Jess: Oranges always cheer me up and stimulate my palate with their varied colors and sweet, tart flavor. I enjoy every part–the juice in vinaigrettes and refreshing drinks, the flesh tossed into salads, fragrant zest to flavor cakes, and chocolate-coated candied orange peel as a sweet treat. 

Thanks Jess! We're headed to Asheville to visit family and I couldn't be more excited for a weekend away. Have a great Easter weekend!

Dark chocolate sunflower brittle

Every Easter morning as kids we'd wake up to baskets wrapped in colored plastic—pink, purple, and yellow. We'd have Cadbury eggs, Peeps, Robin's eggs, and small trinkets hidden inside. Then we would head to sunrise service and eat a big breakfast afterwards. My parents always out did themselves at holidays and Easter was no exception.

I wanted to share the ingredients of those popular creme-filled eggs that many kids will receive on Sunday. Hershey's doesn't list the ingredients online, but I found this article that does.

Which would you rather eat?

As a kid receiving all that candy was great, but nowadays I steer clear of processed sweets and candies. Don't get me wrong I love chocolate, but the stuff I eat nowadays contains little sugar, and mostly just dark chocolate.

There have been a number of recent studies boasting the health benefits of consuming dark chocolate. I'm not arguing with that one. Here are some reasons why you should eat more dark chocolate. Off to nibble on a piece of dark chocolate now...

This is an easy, healthy treat you can make at home with that leftover bag of dark chocolate chips you have in the pantry.

Dark chocolate sunflower brittle
1/2 c organic dark chocolate chunks or chips
1/4 c sunflower seeds, raw or toasted
2 tbsp roughly chopped almonds
pinch of salt

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Set aside.

Pour about an inch of water into a small pot. Bring the water almost to a boil. Meanwhile, put the chocolate into a glass or aluminum bowl. This will act as a double boiler. Place the bowl on top of the almost boiling water. Make sure the bottom of the bowl doesn't touch the boiling water below. Stir quickly with a spatula. Turn off the heat, and continue stirring until all the chocolate is melted. Remove from heat. Add the sunflower seeds, almonds, and pinch of sea salt. Mix well.

Pour the mixture onto the parchment paper. Spread about half an inch thick with your spatula. Don't worry about getting it perfect. The seeds will make it hard to spread evenly. Toss into the freezer for a couple of hours until completely cooled and set. Remove from the freezer and enjoy. Makes about one large chocolate bar.