Chocolate Covered Strawberries

Fine. I’ll admit it. Yes, I’m in a book club. There. I said it. It’s not like it’s top secret or anything. It just sounds kind of geeky. Okay way geeky. But, I like to read! And I know people who also like to read, so once a month we get together, pick a book, and you guessed it…read it. The book we chose to read this month was Silver Linings Playbook by Matthew Quick. Our book club is a fairly new development so we are still getting all the details worked out, but basically it goes a little something like this. We all get together (and by all get together I mean like 5 of us) the third Tuesday of every month. Everyone chooses a dish to bring and you have to find a way to tie that dish into the book we read. Clever right?! So of course I picked…I’ll give you one guess…yep! Dessert. Duh, like there’s any other food group. But now what?

Luckily for me there is also another “Palean” in the group. He has a gluten intolerance and dairy doesn’t sit well either. So basically he eats Paleo because he has to. This works out really nicely for me because everyone caters to his food allergies and I just get to luck out! And trust me, it’s very rare that you just “Paleo luck out” in a situation like this! I’ve become so used to being the person that carries Tupperware and dressings in my purse and tries to dodge questions like “What are you eating?” “Why can’t you eat what the rest of us are having.” As much as I love educating the masses on all the health and lifestyle benefits that come from eating Paleo…(hello you’re reading my blog about it!) sometimes I just want to eat my damn food in peace. Hmph! How did Bitter Betty get out? I thought we locked her up with the Oreos and my Notebook DVD?

Fast forward a month to when Cousin Jen texts me, yesterday, to see what I’m bringing for dessert to book club tonight. Wait? What Tuesday is it? And then the panic sets in. CRAP! I totally forgot! I had a month to come up with something and I have nothing! I already have to make a Paleo chocolate cheesecake this week for CrossFit Jen and CrossFit Michele’s birthdays (that’s supposed to be a surprise so I hope they aren’t reading this). When will I find the time?!? Then out of nowhere Bitter Betty pokes her nosy little head out again with Oreo crumbs all over her face and says “But I thought you were this fancy Paleo Chef, with her own blog, you can just whip up some fabulous Paleo dessert on a whim can’t you?” As she raises a snarky eyebrow and shoves another milk dunked Oreo into her mouth in one bite. Ugh. What am I gonna make!?!

What’s something that’s quick, and Paleo (haha quick Paleo?! Please.) that I can throw together and not spend all night making, that I can somehow tie into Silver Linings? And then it hit me like a Paleo slap in the face! Chocolate Covered Strawberries in silver cupcake liners, or in SILVER LININGS! Genius! So I got to work and was done in no time at all. Here’s what I did:

Paleo Chocolate Covered Strawberries

Ingredients:
1 carton of organic strawberries
1 cup of Enjoy Life Mini-Chocolate Chips (Soy Free, Dairy Free, Gluten Free but NOT taste free!)
1/2 bar of 85% cacao or higher dark chocolate

Directions:
1. Melt down the chocolate chips in the microwave or if you’re feelin’ frisky you can heat a saucepan full of water over low heat on the stove until it starts to simmer. Then place a mixing bowl with the chocolate chips in it over the water and stir until the chocolate is melted evenly. This is commonly referred to as “The Double Boiler Method”. Remove the chocolate once it’s melted, you don’t want to get the chocolate too hot where it starts to burn or too hot where the strawberries start to wilt once they are covered in the chocolate. Is that even a real thing that could happen? The strawberries wilting because of the temperature of the chocolate? In my head it is and I’d rather not chance it so, it’s my blog, I say it’s a real thing. Who cares about the scientific facts here people.

2. Then one by one dip the bottom portion of the strawberry into the chocolate and place in rows on a sheet of parchment paper.

3. After this is completed take your dark chocolate and put it in the Ziplock baggie. Melt in the microwave (keep an eye on it, you don’t want to melt the plastic or the chocolate all over the microwave) or use the double boiler methond. Cut a corner off the bottom of the Ziplock baggie and then squeeze to drizzle the dark chocolate over the already chocolate covered strawberries to give them some texture and contrast.

4. Then leave out to cool. I recommend not putting them in the refrigerator when you’re done but leaving them out until ready to serve if possible. They tend to wilt faster in the fridge. That is a real thing. I referred back to my previous blog post and to Paleo Step No. 4…Googling. I Googled. I also have two very hungry and mischievous cats that would just love more than anything to ravage my pretty little strawberries sitting so innocent and delicate on the counter. So I had to fridge them. Deal book club.

I was not feeling very Martha at the beginning of this project at all but I was very happy with the end result. It was quick and painless and usually Paleo never is. That perhaps is the Silver Lining to this Paleo Blog.

Until next time, live long and Paleo. (Yes, that was a Star Trek reference and I already told you I was a geek.)