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.

The humble jacket potato

When I studied abroad in London, I became very familiar with the jacket potato. They were on many menus throughout the city and fit my student budget. The jacket potato is the British version of a dressed up baked potato, plus it has a nicer ring to it. They stuff the humble potato with a variety of fun toppings—not just the typical butter, cheese, and chives combo—and turn it into a meal.

So yesterday when I was looking around the kitchen to see what I had to make for lunch, I spied a purple potato begging to be stuffed. I had a big bushel of collards in the crisper to use for filling and a carrot-ginger dressing to add a punch of flavor and color. You could really fill your potato with just about anything.

This impromptu lunch might be my new favorite. And look at all that color! The purple of the potato to the green of the collards to the orange of the dressing. The rainbow of color means it's packed with a variety of good-for-you antioxidants, minerals and vitamins. I also sprinkled some sunflower seeds over the top for that much-needed crunch. Also this dish happens to be dairy- and gluten-free.

Bake a purple or regular ol' sweet potato at 400 degrees for 30-40 minutes, depending on the size. While the potato is cooking prep the collards and make the dressing below.

Garlicky collards
3 large collard leaves, destemmed, cut into bite size pieces (3-4 cups)
1 T olive oil
1 shallot, diced
3 garlic cloves minced
1/4 tsp chili flakes
1/4 c vegetable broth
dash of salt

Heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the shallot to the oil, cooking until translucent. Then add the garlic and chili flakes, cooking until fragrant. Add the collards and vegetable broth to the pan. Bring the pan to a simmer, and cook for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. The greens will turn bright green and the broth will have reduced.

Carrot-ginger dressing
4 medium carrots, grated
3 T ginger, minced
1 shallot, diced
1.5 tsp tamari
2 T rice vinegar
1/4 tsp curry powder
2 tsp miso
3 T sesame oil
2 T avocado (or olive) oil
3 T water or more to thin out

Add the carrots, ginger, shallot, tamari, rice vinegar, curry powder, and miso to a food processor. Blend on high for a few minutes. While the processor is running, add the oil and water.

When the potato is done, slice it open and stuff with collards, a drizzle of carrot-ginger dressing and a garnish of sunflower seeds. You should have enough filling to stuff 4 medium potatoes.

Apple juice sweetened granola

We made several batches of granola last week in class. This wasn't your regular granola. Instead of using loads of oil, butter and refined sugars we used natural sweeteners like mashed bananas, maple syrup, honey and date syrup (pureed dates soaked in hot water).

We're headed to the beach Saturday, and I decided to whip up a big batch of granola to take with us. I had some apple juice in the fridge that was begging to be used. I think it gave the granola a great crunchy texture.

You'll see the recipe calls for a nuts/seeds and dried fruit mixture. Feel free to add your favorites here. I chose a seed mixture of flax, sunflower, and sesame seeds. For my dried fruit I used raisins. Most of the time I dice up apricots and toss after the granola has cooled. Dried cherries, pineapple, golden raisins or cranberries would be tasty too. Enjoy this granola mixed with plain yogurt and fruit for breakfast or as a healthy snack or dessert.

Apple juice sweetened granola
2 c rolled oats
1 tsp cinnamon
dash of sea salt
1/2 c nuts/seeds mixture
1/2 c apple juice (no added sugar)
1/4 c honey
1/2 tsp almond extract
2 tbsp tahini
1/4 c dried fruit

Preheat oven to 300. Mix the dry ingredients (oats, cinnamon, sea salt and nuts) together in a large mixing bowl. In a smaller bowl mix together the juice, honey, almond extract and tahini. Then pour over the oats and mix well. Put a sheet of parchment or foil onto a baking sheet, and then spread your granola over this. Check the granola after 15 minutes, and mix the oats again. Bake for another 15 minutes and remove from heat. After the granola has cooled, mix in your dried fruit.