Recipe Experiment-Chocolate Coconut Almond Bark

In trying healthier food options I found a lot of recipes on Paleo inspired websites.  One in particular is paleomg.com .  There are many recipes on this blog, but even though I don't follow the paleo diet I am inspired by the whole food ingredients this format advocates.  I made a few modifications to the recipe Juli of paleomg posted.

Since it is just me I cut the recipe down.  After melting the chocolate and adding in the butter I found I used half of the 1/2 cup I spooned out.

Chocolate Coconut Bark
original recipe           
1 cup Coconut Cream Concentrate
1 1/2 cup Enjoy Life Chocolate Chips or dark chocolate chips
1/2 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
pinch of salt
My modifications for a smaller batch
1 cup semi sweet chocolate chips (that is what I had on hand from holiday baking sale)
1/4 cup coconut butter (this is an estimate.  I just added it to the chocolate and stopped when it got too runny)
almonds with skin on-about 4 or 5, I lost count, trader joe's handful of nut single packets
unsweetened shredded coconut-I probably put about a cup
no salt

I made them into almond clusters on a nonstick baking sheet and put it in the fridge.  

OH WOW!!  They are very rich and finger lickin' good!  Umm...finger lickin cause they melt pretty quickly, but yumm!





I put the remainder of the batter into a square dish and put it in the freezer.  First pic is out of the container.  Second pic I chopped it up with a butcher knife.

My supermarket trip....

So, like most folks, my money is tight.  I started to just whip out my debit card, but with the products I needed I went rummaging in my many pocketbooks for straggling dollars.  I came up with $19 not counting the loose change...yay!

Before going out I searched on supermarket circulars online.  My other money saving goal was to not use a lot of gas.  The closest supermarket to me is bottomdollar and Giant.  Although bottom dollar can be cheaper depending on the item, I didn't care for their produce and that is what I needed.  I ended up at Giant supermarket based on them having strawberries for sale for 1.50 a quart.  They also had mango's on sale which I LOVE!  Acme supermarket is further away and had mango's for $1.  There was only $0.25 difference in price so I got them at Giant. 

Even when spreading your dollar, you still need to look for the best quality you can get.  It is worthwhile to look at the different brands when deciding too.  I initially picked up a package of tomatoes that ended up costing more than I wanted to pay.  I picked a different brand that were on sale with $1 off at checkout.  Cha..ching!  I needed lettuce and they had an unadvertised sale which was buy one get one free.  Cha...ching!  Blackberries were on sale too....IT'S MY LUCKY DAY!!  I became in love with blackberries last week so they were on sale 2 pints $3.  Where's the meat you say?  I have a freezer full of stuff so I didn't need to buy any on this trip.

As you can see by the pic I added a frozen treat to my haul.  I've had this brand before and it has the added benefit of probiotics from the yogurt.  Skinny cow was on sale also so here is where I had to make a choice.  TCBY and skinny cow fudge bars were the same price for the same quantity.  I went with TCBY. 

In a perfect world I would buy organic, but that didn't go along with my budget this week.  So I have salad mix for the week.  Strawberries, blackberries, mango to make a yummy fruit salad with the oranges and pears I already have on hand.  TCBY fudge bars as a frozen 80 calorie treat.

Taste Test-Lindt Chili Dark Chocolate

So its evening and I decided to try this chocolate I'd bought.  Watching Dr. Oz he suggested getting dark chocolate with chili.  The only brand I found was Lindt.  Well it really is a calorie bang for your buck because you don't need a lot at all.  I in fact at 1/2 of a square.  The chili spice went down my throat in a way that made me cough.  The chocolate is still lingering on my tongue ten minutes later.