Sarah’s Simple Solutions

You’re Da Bomb! Chocolate Bomb, That Is

Chocolate Bombs are all the rage for holiday gift giving and I wanted to do something different for Valentine’s Day. Once you assemble the ingredients and equipment, these are actually relatively easy. There are plenty of instructions on the internet on making chocolate bombs.Being the purist that I am, I suggest using a high grade couverture chocolate instead of chocolate coating.Here is the link I used here. No need to re-invent the wheel.

I used Nestle’s White Chocolate Chips for the topping. Just melt them and place in a plastic decorators bag and cut off the tip end. After piping a swirl of chocolate, sprinkle with Valentine Sprinkles followed with a pinch of Disco Dust for bling. I noticed on a couple of the bombs the seams were not sealed so I piped a line of white chocolate to seal them. No need for perfection, they will look great and the recipient will love them..

Chocolate Bombs were placed in a clear bag and tied with a ribbon.

I printed a round tag with instructions and cut out with a 2 inch scalloped punch. There are plenty of free tags online or you could make your own.

The birdhouse was uploaded from Canvasworkspace and printed with my Scanncut. This step is totally unnecessary, but I wanted a box for the extra protection in mailing.

A tag for the Chocolate Bomb was a bird template from Scanncut

All the bird houses with chocolate bombs inside and ready to mail!

https://amzn.to/3jzSwSJ

For more on melting chocolate and making cluster candy with the leftovers, access my post on Chocolate Dipped Strawberries

Table Scape

www.facebook.com/1350814266/posts/10217587463942360/

Chili

Visiting a local grocery store, I noticed they had suet in their meat counter. It immediately reminded me of a recipe that was given to me by Paula Bruce in the early 1970’s. The recipe was her paternal grandmother’s and it was Chili. The suet might turn most people off, but I know that the fat trimmed from the beef carcass is loaded with flavor and I wanted that in my chili. The suet doesn’t have to be consumed. I chill the chili after making and the fat becomes hard and easy to lift off leaving that fabulous flavor. The recipe is simple and makes a lot good for freezing or canning. Thanks Paula for sharing the recipe (mine is dated 1973) and for allowing me to share with others. Enjoy!

Chili

Course Main Course

Cuisine American

Keyword chili fixin’s, cool weather food

Prep Time 1 hour

Cook Time 30 minutes

Total Time 1 hour 30 minutes

Equipment

large pot

Ingredients

1 1/2 pounds suet ask butcher
4 pounds ground beef
2 ounces Mexene Chili Powder homemade recipe follows
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon comino seed
6 slices white bread
2 1/2 quarts boiling water

Instructions

Fry out 1 1/2 pounds of suet in large pot. Remove browned meat leaving fat.
Add ground meat and cook until brown.
Add chili powder, garlic powder and salt.
Brown comino see in skillet. Roll or grind to a powder. Add to meat.
Dry six slices of bread in the oven. Grate in a food processor and add to meat.
Add 2 1/2 quarts of boiling water and leet simmer 30 minutes.
Test for seasonings and add to taste.
Serve immediately or cool and refrigerate. When completely cool, remove hardened fat from surface, reheat and serve.

Notes

Removing the fat reduces the calories yet the flavor still remains.

Cranberry Relish- Cooked and Fresh: two recipes!

Fresh cranberries are only available in the fall for Thanksgiving and Christmas. That’s why I freeze fresh cranberries to use all year long.

Just this week I had a request for Stevens Catering Cranberry Relish Salad, a dish often served at our events and especially at Thanksgiving. The recipe comes from Earlene Moore and you can find many recipes at her website at Earlenescakes.com.

The cooked recipe I developed in self defense. I was buying so much of it at a local store that I decided I needed to develop a recipe. It is pretty much the same as other cooked recipes except I omitted the spices called for and added turmeric and jalapeno pepper. It was a hit and it is great over cream cheese served with crackers. We served it with dressing balls as an appetizer.

Enjoy both recipes at Thanksgiving and Christmas as a side to Turkey and Dressing.