Tag Archives: holiday

Dark Chocolate Peppermint Bonbons

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I made these for Valentine’s day, but let’s just say we had a classic “case of the missing Ice cream bonbons” so I had to make some more batches for photos! No complaints there! 🙂 These would be awesome for St. Patrick’s Day!

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Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup cashew nuts/pieces, soaked overnight in cold water
  • 1/2 cup virgin coconut oil, melted
  • 1/4 cup agave or maple syrup
  • 2 tablespoons milk (rice, almond, coconut)
  • a big handful fresh peppermint leaves (approx 1 cup loosely packed)
  • 1/4-1/2 teaspoon natural peppermint extract, to taste
  • 1 cup dark chocolate + 1 Tbsp coconut oil, melted, to coat

Directions

  • Drain and rinse soaked cashews and add to a blender along with all the other ingredients, except the chocolate. Blend on high for about a minute, or until really smooth with just little flecks of green throughout.
  • Pour into silicone muffin trays (oiled with a little coconut oil), or regular metal trays lined with paper cases. Freeze to set for at least 30 minutes.
  • Remove patties from the moulds and place back into the freezer on a tray while melt the chocolate.
  • Dip patties in melted chocolate, covering thoroughly and place on a sheet of parchment paper.
  • Once they’ve all been covered, return the lot to the freezer for 5 minutes or more to set. They will keep in a covered container in the freezer for 2-3 weeks.

Thanks for the inspiration MyDarlingLemonThyme.com

dit-elle-Esther

Mexican Hot Chocolate

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Merry Merry Christmas everyone!

Feeling chilly? Need a drink after playing in the snow? This Mexican Hot Chocolate will warm you right up! A delicious blend of spices including ginger and cayenne make this a wonderful steamy drink for a cold winter day.

Blog mexican hot chocolate (2) Blog mexican hot chocolate (1)

Ingredients (1 serving)

  • 2 tsps cocoa
  • 1/2 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/4 tsp ginger
  • cayenne to taste (I use about 1/8 tsp, but I like it spicy!)
  • 1 Tbsp agave syrup or honey
  • 1/4 cup water
  • 1 cup milk (or coconut milk)
  • Half ‘n’ half or cream to taste

Directions

  • Mix dry ingredients in a cup
  • Add agave and water
  • Microwave on high for 20 seconds
  • Stir till well blended, add milk and return to the microwave for another minute or until hot
  • Add some whipped cream (optional)

dit-elle-Esther

Hot Artichoke and Crab Dip

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We just had our annual Iron Chef party – the challenge was to use ONE of the following ingredients in a dish: crab, chocolate or cranberries. I picked crab and made this dip. Guess who won the iron chef challenge!? Yep, that’s right – Hot Artichoke & Crab Dip! 🙂

This dip is everything you would expect from a hot creamy artichoke and crab dip – plus more! The 1/2 tsp cayenne adds a fabulous kick. Spicy but not too spicy. If you’re not into spice and heat – omit! Definitely not recommended for kids, but a wonderful “grown up” dish. I served this with cucumber and red bell pepper slices, but toasted baguette or pita would be great if you prefer!

blog crab artichoke dip

Ingredients

  • 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
  • 1 cup mayonnaise
  • 1 clove garlic, pressed
  • 1 (14 ounce) can artichoke hearts in water, drained and chopped
  • 1 1/2 cups cooked crabmeat
  • 3/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese + 1/4 cup for topping
  • 1/3 cup chopped green onion + 2 tsps for garnish
  • 1/3 cup chopped red bell pepper + 2 tsps for garnish
  • 1/2 tsp ground cayenne pepper

Serve with

  • 1 hot house cucumber, sliced (for dipping)
  • 1 red bell pepper, sliced (for dipping)

Directions

  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C)
  • Combine cream cheese and mayonnaise in a large bowl until smooth; stir in garlic and cayenne. Gently stir artichoke hearts, crab, Parmesan cheese, 1/3 cup green onion, 1/3 cup red bell pepper. Transfer the dip to a 9-inch pie dish and sprinkle top with rest of cheese.
  • Bake in the preheated oven until topping is golden brown and dip is hot, ~30 minutes. Garnish with 2 teaspoons green onion and 2 teaspoons chopped red bell pepper.

dit-elle-Esther

Festive Felted Wool Ball Ornaments

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Felted Wool Ball Ornaments are one of my favorite Christmas tree decorations to make. Super easy (you need some wool, Styrofoam balls, soap and hot water!) and a fun activity to do with a toddler or older kid. After all, who doesn’t like playing in soapy water!

Ava and I had fun making these. Unfortunately I did not get any photos of us doing this project as soap was flying and Anders has just started crawling (read: tearing around the house)! But we had a blast! 🙂

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Ingredients

  • Styrofoam balls – they come in different sizes and can be found at craft stores like Jo-Ann’s Fabric
  • Wool (find carded wool or roving online or your local yarn store)
  • Decorative long pins (optional)
  • Ribbon or yarn for tying around the balls
  • Soap & Water (liquid soap for hand or dish washing works great)

Directions

  • Wrap a bunch of loose wool around Styrofoam ball – it should be loose and fluffy
  • Dip in hot soapy water and start ‘packing a snowball’
  • Repeat this – making the ball very sudsy and keep ‘packing’ and rubbing it for 5-7 minutes
  • The loose wool will shrink and turn into felt and ‘hug’ the surface of the Styrofoam ball
  • Rinse in warm water and gently squeeze off excess water with a towel
  • Decorate and let air dry

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dit-elle-Esther

Feeling thankful..

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It’s been an amazing year. Baby Anders joined our family and he is a sweet, happy, easy going boy. Ava is such a dear, loving big sister. And then there’s Adam who is my rock and love.

Cooking (or just figuring out what food to put on the table) used to be super stressful for me because I would come home every day and have “NO IDEA what to make for dinner.” So I started a food blog to create an arsenal of recipes to have at my fingertips. Over time I built a quick list of go-to dinners, and much more. Dinners no longer seem quite as daunting.. I had to learn to be much more creative when I discovered gluten intolerance, and paleo inspired meals have become a big part of our lifestyle.

Lauren took this of Anders when he was 8 days old!

Lauren took this of Anders when he was 8 days old!

My latest obsession is food photography (which often takes place with one of the munchkins in my arms). I’m still working on my fashion photography which is just a little harder between (lack of) daylight hours and hands being free, but I am thankful for the creative partnership with Lauren through this blog!

It’s been big year for me outside of the home as well, as I joined a new, global team about a year ago, and am in an intense but gratifying role and work with wonderful and brilliant people every day.

So yeah, there’s a lot to be thankful for, I think about that every day, but wanted to take a moment to blog about it too during this holiday season.

dit-elle-Esther

Spiced Honey Almonds

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A great snack for the holidays – or anytime really! 🙂Blog honeyalmonds

Ingredients

  • 1 Tbsp honey
  • 1/2 Tbsp butter
  • 3/4 tsp garam masala (find in bulk section)
  • 1 tsp sesame seeds
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1 cup raw almonds

Directions

  • Preheat oven to 325* and line a baking sheet with parchment paper
  • Melt honey, butter, garam masala, sesame seeds and salt in a saucepan over medium-low heat
  • Add almonds and stir to coat
  • Spread mixture on the baking sheet in a single layer
  • Bake for 10 mins, cool and serve or store in an airtight container for ~4 days

These store well in an air tight container for up to 4 days.

dit-elle-Esther

Star Cookies

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Inspired by Elana’s Pantry, these Star (and Moon!) Cookies are a fun fall treat. I went to a Waldorf school a long time ago in a far away land.. and sun, moon and star cookies were an autumn tradition as part of the Moon Lantern Festival, which I’ll blog about another day. In the meantime, enjoy these high protein, not too sweet cookies.blog starcookies2

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Ingredients

  • 2 ½ cups blanched almond flour
  • small dash of sea salt
  • ¼ tsp baking soda
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • ½ cup coconut oil, melted
  • 5 tablespoons agave nectar or honey
  • 1 Tbsp vanilla extract

Directions

  • In a large bowl, combine dry ingredients
  • In a smaller bowl, mix together coconut oil, agave and vanilla
  • Mix wet ingredients into dry, then chill dough in refrigerator for 1 hour (or overnight worked as well)
  • Roll out dough between 2 pieces of parchment paper until ¼ inch thick
  • Remove top piece of parchment paper and cut out cookies with a small star cutter
  • Using a metal spatula, place stars on a parchment lined baking sheet
  • Bake at 350° until lightly browned around the edges, 5-8 minutes
  • Cool completely prior to handling cookies

Super mom tip: these are great as a frozen treat and thaw quickly in room temperature for a few minutes! They are a nice high-protein/low-glycemic snack for little tummies.

dit-elle-Esther