Menu ideas for the Week...Valentines Day Week

There's lots of ways to get ready for Valentines Day and I say taking care of being happy with yourself is a good start. I'm going to see if I can share a different menu pairing for your chocolate, each day this week as we approach Valentines Day. I may be able to sustain it after...we'll see how much shoveling there is.
Today the breakfast idea to warm up your day..

Put blue corn tortilla chips with two eggs and some chipotle goat cheese-cover the bowl with a slight gap for breathing and poach for shy of two minutes in the microwave. Top it with slices of grilled chicken apple sausage and have your hot chocolate made with almond milk. You're ready to go.

experimenting and thinking out of the recipes

So much going on and so many recipes have been tried...goat cheese ganache with almond milk instead of cream, cocoa nibs with cinnamon and palm sugar...I'll post the recipes later, yet felt like I wanted to connect. Things are going great. Going to be part of the Bucks County Women in Business Gourmet Getaway with a version of the impish chocolate cupcakes. Fun!

Flying high with The World of Chocolate

It's been so much fun this week. The Candy and Gourmet Show on Sunday, baking and visiting Sand Castle Winery for a pairing recommendation. Also,

I've been testing ways to use red cocoa that Laurie gave me (Laurie's Chocolates) and began with vegan chocolate cupcakes. The recipe was from Desserts that Heal from Heather MacLean Walters, were light and moist. A total surprise~in a good way. I didn't have time to do frosting and felt they needed something...I confess I took a shortcut and I stuffed a truffle into their center so they had a heart. Does this mean I failed?
The pumpkin bread was great just the way it was-well I did change the whole recipe by incorporating tapioca flour, reduced the sugar and used almond milk. Then to dazzle the experience, I used the red cocoa to dust the bottom of the pan and it was a light and flavorful. Doubling the batch to keep the ratio's worked perfectly this time around and I think I'm in love with tapioca flour. It's so much smoother than rice flour and seems to be a equal substitute for pastry or regular flour. Have you tried it yet? I'd love to hear if you found the same results with your recipes.