White Chocolate Peppermint Popcorn Bark

December 16, 2015December 16, 201513 Comments

I always love a good popcorn and chocolate mixture. I mean hello, we are Popcorn AND Chocolate. Although, I have to admit these days we have been heavy on the pop front with less choc. But, have no fear, we are fixing that right now by giving you this delicious chocolatey recipe perfect for the holidays! We give you white chocolate peppermint popcorn bark. Say that 3 times fast… and then go make this delicious bark and eat it 3 times fast. No, actually, bad advice, please do not eat this super fast. We want you to savor it and enjoy it. Plus, we don’t want any liability issues with chocking hazards.Okay now that we have established you are going to savor this recipe, we should probably tell you what is in it. Well, you have all your main snacking options (popcorn and chocolate) and to give it a fun festive flair we added some big ol’ chunks of candy canes.This white chocolate peppermint popcorn bark is full of flavor. The smooth white chocolate melts in your mouth while the popcorn and peppermint add a nice crunch that makes you go back for more and more and more. Plus, look how festive and pretty it is! Plus, plus, it is super easy to make. So go make some right now!No seriously, what are you waiting for? Oh yeah, you probably need the recipe first.Ingredients:

White chocolate bar
1 candy cane
A big handful of popcorn

Directions:

Put some parchment paper onto a baking sheet or a flat surface you can transfer to the freezer.
Melt your chocolate – you can either do this in the microwave or using a double broiler. We stuck to the easy microwave method.
Once all your chocolate is melted pour it onto the parchment paper. Use a spoon to make it into one even layer.
Smash the candy cane in a plastic bag so you get candy cane crumbles.
Sprinkle the candy cane crumbles onto the chocolate layer. Break apart your popcorn and then add that on top.
Stick your bark into the fridge or freezer for 20-30 minutes to harden. Once hardened, you can either eat it all then or store in an airtight container.

This holiday bark is so festive and easy to make you have no excuse not to whip some up right now!

Winter Fun List

December 6, 201511 Comments

Hello December! I can’t believe it is already December, but then again I can’t believe it is any month at any given time so I guess I shouldn’t be so surprised anymore. I was long waiting for December to approach as winter is my favorite season. We might have already put up some holiday decor, which has heightened my much anticipated arrival of winter. Since we over in the Popcorn and Chocolate household are all about the holidays and enjoying each season to the fullest, we thought we would share a little fun winter checklist. It’s got all the things we love to do to get us in the holiday spirit. We also thought we would share it a wee bit before winter for any of you who are already bursting to watch Christmas movies and bake gingerbread just like us.Let us know what your favorite thing to do in the winter is in the comments below! We would love to know!

Pomegranate Moscow Mule

December 2, 20154 Comments

Now that Thanksgiving is over it’s time to charge full speed ahead into the next holiday season, which happens to be my favorite time of year. I might get a few unsubscribes for admitting this but I cannot wait for it to snow! There is nothing like watching snowflakes slowly fall from the sky on a cool evening. It is just so magical. Sorry for anyone who hates winter and is dreading the snow.

I have a feeling this holiday season is going to be full of lots of laughs, extra cozy sweaters, much fun with friends and family, and of course good food and lots of alcohol. As a cheers to the good times coming, we have crafted this lovely pomegranate Moscow mule. It is the perfect drink to share with friends and family this winter.

I love a good mule. They are simple to make and delicious to drink. Plus, they come in the cutest, most festive mugs. Although, admittedly, the mugs were a pain in my behind when taking these pictures. I’ll forgive them because just look how cute!

Anyway… back to this delicious drink I know you are dying to try. The pomegranate adds a fun, festive flare to the traditional Moscow mule. We crushed up pomegranate using a mortar and pestle and added the juice to the mule. It couldn’t be any simpler!

Ingredients:

1/4 cup pomegranates
1/2 cup ginger beer
1 shot of vodka
1-1 lime wedges
Dash of sugar (we used raw turbinado sugar)

Directions:

Start by crushing the pomegranates. We used a mortar and pestle to do this. Note – you could also buy pomegranate juice instead of using fresh pomegranate seeds.
Add the juice from the pomegranates to your cup and then pour the ginger beer and vodka in as well.
Squeeze the juice from the wedge of the lime into the drink and then add a dash of sugar to sweeten. Garnish with fresh pomegranates and another lime wedge if desired.

Well, there you have it folks, a simple drink to celebrate the upcoming season. We’ve been making these pomegranate mules every weekend. They pair perfectly with a little bit of popcorn and your favorite Christmas movie.

Let us know what your favorite drink for the holidays is!

Apple Cider Popcorn

November 24, 2015November 28, 20157 Comments

As Thanksgiving approaches, I’m trying to finalize my menu and get everything ready so I know what to make ahead of time and what has be done the day of.

I love to plan things, but I’m not the best at executing them. I’ll spend days looking over different recipes online trying to find the perfect one that fits well with everything else that is being made. Usually I save a few and go back and forth between them before I throw in the red flag and give up on it all.

As I am cooking Thanksgiving dinner this year, I am determined to not give up! I have all my recipes planned out and I won’t let myself change them up last minute… although I did just find a mashed potato recipe that looked better than the one I chose…

I’ve got plenty of delicious looking sides and my mom is graciously going to help me with the whole turkey situation as that is foreign territory to me.

For dessert, my family always loves a classic apple pie, so I will gladly make that (and eat it too)! But, after talking to Rose, who is baking 2 desserts for 3 people (I’m cooking for 5) I’m suddenly worried I won’t have enough desserts for everyone to enjoy. I mean, you always want leftover desserts to go with your leftover turkey/stuffing/mashed potatoes, right?

Rose and I have the perfect extra recipe that can be added last minute to anyone’s Thanksgiving menu and is guaranteed to go with everything. What is you ask? Well, popcorn is involved… and apple cider.. yep, we made an apple cider popcorn! It is crunchy and sweet and full flavor, perfect for a pre-dinner appetizer or an after dinner sweet treat.

Apple Cider Popcorn (serves 2)

Ingredients:

1/3 cup popcorn kernels
1/2 to 2/3 cup apple cider
1 teaspoon coconut oil
1 teaspoon maple sugar (or brown sugar or coconut sugar)
Salt to taste

Directions:

Pop the popcorn kernels on the stovetop or in an air popper (if you need directions, look at this post) and lay out on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
In a small saucepan on medium heat, reduce apple cider until it is thicker and looks about 2 tablespoons, stirring occasionally. This should take around 7 to 10 minutes.
Once reduced, add coconut oil and turn the heat to low, stirring frequently.
Add in the maple sugar and simmer for another 2-3 minutes until frothy, stirring frequently.
Drizzle over popped popcorn and sprinkle with salt and sugar to taste.
Enjoy! Store any leftovers in an airtight container.

There you have it! A, what I would call, perfect addition to any Thanksgiving feast! It is quick and easy to make and can be made ahead of time as to not add to the Thanksgiving cooking stress, although I can’t guarantee that you won’t be tempted to eat it all before Thanksgiving. Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanks to Tatertots & Jello for hosting!

What I Ate Wednesday

November 18, 2015November 18, 201523 Comments

Hello! How’s it going? Hope everyone is having a splendid week so far. We just got back from a quick little visit to our college town. It was weird but also a lot of fun to be back in Saratoga Springs (we went to Skidmore college). It seemed to be a lot colder than I remembered, but we made up for it by eating lots of soup and other yummy things. Speaking of food and yummy things, I am here to share what I ate yesterday. Keep on reading if you want to know!

Breakfast: Greek yogurt with pomegranates, banana, strawberries, and granola. I’m so excited that pomegranates are in season! They add the perfect crunch and sweetness to my breakfast. I topped this with the original ancient grain granola from Purely Elizabeth. I love this stuff; it is too good.

Lunch: Quinoa and kale salad with roasted veggies and chips and hummus on the side. We did some meal prep on Sunday and roasted up cauliflower, carrots, sweet potato, zucchini, and yellow squash as well as making some quinoa to throw into salads for the week. This spicy yellow lentil hummus is super delicious and also super spicy for my delicate mouth. I drank two full water bottles after this lunch because my mouth was on fire!

Snack: Kind peanut butter and dark chocolate bar. Gotta have something to keep the hunger away between lunch and dinner and it’s just an added bonus that it has some peanut butter and chocolate in it 😉

Dinner: Crisp kale and brussels sprout tacos with avocado and white bean creama These tacos are freaking delicious! We’ve had them before – in fact this is an old picture as it gets dark at 4pm here and that means weird shadows and odd looking food. I could eat these tacos for days, the white bean creama is excellent and the brussels yum! I’m already excited to have these again as leftovers.

Dessert: Tea with a cookie. As it gets colder all I want is tea tea and more tea. In fact, not pictured are the 3 cups of tea I drank between lunch and dinner (I have a problem). You’d think I would be too water logged to want even more tea after all that but nope bring on the tea (and pee)! This tea is my absolute favorite and I went on a wild goose chase trying to find it in stores. Luckily once I found it I stocked up. These cookies are amazing. They are chocolate cookies with white chocolate chips in them yum yum yum.

Mmm that is all I have to share with you today. What have you guys been munching on late at night when you know you should go to bed? Anything you love to eat once the weather gets a bit cooler? Do you have any favorite holiday teas you like to drink? I’d love to know; comment below!

As always, thank you Peas and Crayons and Clean Eats, Fast Feets for hosting!

What I Ate Wednesday: Halloween Edition

November 4, 2015November 4, 201515 Comments

Hello lovelies! I can’t believe Halloween is already over and now there is Christmas music playing and Christmas decorations everywhere. What happened to Thanksgiving, people?? I’m still not over Halloween yet.. I need some time to shamelessly eat all my leftover candy, which is pretty much the two entire bags we bought. We bought two huge bags full of candy thinking we would get trick or treaters but sadly we only got a handful. Also, at the last minute I decided to throw in some plastic eyeballs into the pile of candy to make it spooky and the few kids that did come just wanted those instead of the candy! So, long story short, we have most of our candy left that need to be eaten before we can even think about delving into Christmas candy. Life’s rough ay?

Anywhoooo since it was a holiday and all, I thought it would be fun to share a What I Ate Wednesday, Halloween edition.

Breakfast: A ~~bowl of poison~~ A green smoothie bowl with kale, bananas, orange, hemp seeds, and topped with blueberries and granola. I figured it would be a good idea to start the morning with something healthy and full of greens because I would inevitably be eating lots of candy later. We got these cute Halloween mugs at HomeGoods if anyone is wondering!

Lunch: More kale! A kale salad with leftover veggies roasted in a Mexican spice blend. I also had some chips and salsa on the side because you can’t have Mexican flavored things without chips and salsa!

Snack: A cup of tea with some graham crackers, peanut butter, and banana bits. This was a bit of a random snack but I had just woken up from a nap and was craving something sweet, hence the graham crackers. Usually I have this on a rice cake instead but gotta feed those cravings! Does anyone else crave sweets after napping?? Just me, okay…

Dinner: Homemade chicken nuggets, mashed potatoes, and steamed veggies. This was such a deliciously nostalgic meal. Since it was Halloween and all, we decided to embrace our inner children and made some chicken nuggets for dinner. It was SO GOOD. I haven’t had chicken nuggets in foreverrrr. This plate was also covered in ketchup about 5 seconds after I took this picture..

Dessert: A grown ups version of Halloween: wine, leftover Halloween candy, and popcorn! After the couple of trick or treaters came and went, we settled down with some treats to watch a movie. Can you tell that I like Milky Ways??

Welp, there it is what I ate on Halloween. And, incase anyone was curious as to what we were for Halloween, here you go: We went as Ben and McKinley dressed in their zoot suit from Wet Hot American Summer: First Day Of Camp. I thought we pulled it off pretty well if I do say so myself. Of course, about 30 minutes later we put on our real zoot suits:

So, I want to hear, what did everyone else do on Halloween?

Did you dress up?

Have you seen Wet Hot American Summer??

Let us know below and we might give you some of our leftover candy!

As always, thanks to Jenn & Arman for hosting this What I Ate Wednesday party! Check out their sites for more delicious foods!

Happy Halloween: Candy Corn Popcorn

October 31, 2015October 3, 20166 Comments

Happy Halloween! Can you believe it’s already Halloween 2015?! And if you’re like us, then you’re currently wondering what you’re going to do with all that extra candy corn that you bought because it is oh so pretty but you really can’t eat that much of it.Plus you’re way too busy trying to finish all those Reese’s and Kit Kats that were “accidently” left over from trick-or-treaters….

We have just the treat for you that will use up all your leftover candy corn. This candy corn popcorn is the perfect after Halloween treat for grown ups (and kids!) to help you ease out of the Snickers and Reese’s sugar coma.

It is light, fluffy, and full of bits of candy corn! What isn’t to like??

Also, with all the new and wacky candy corn flavors they seemed to have out this year, you could really create quite the treat. Did anyone see the peanut butter candy corn that they were selling this year?? Am I the only one who has never seen that before?? If you tried it, please comment and let me know whether it was good or not! I really wanted to try it but didn’t feel like I should buy the entire bag before it is too late…

Anyways, so to help you use up those cute little candy corns you bought, we came up with this recipe for candy corn popcorn. It’s not too sweet and not too sticky and so so good!

Serves: 2 Time: 10-15 minutes

Ingredients:

about 10-15 pieces of candy corn (or more to sprinkle in at the end)
1/3 cup popcorn kernels popped
1 Tablespoon hazelnut milk (we would have used unsweetened almond milk, but we already had the hazelnut milk open, but either would work)
1/2 Tablespoon virgin coconut oil
Wax paper

How to make:

Pop the popcorn using your method of choice (we used an air popper)
Line a baking sheet with wax paper and spread the popped popcorn over it. The wax paper is important because the melted candy corn will get stuck to anything else and be hard to toss together.
In a small pot on the stove, melt together the candy corn with the milk. Keep stirring occasionally (I used a spatula) until the mixture starts to bubble and look frothy. Then add the coconut oil.
Keep stirring until well incorporated – it will look oily around the edges but the orange candy corn mixture will be smooth looking (about 5 minutes)
Drizzle the mixture on the popcorn and start tossing immediately to incorporate. Use a bowl and a spatula or two spatulas at first since the melted candy corn will be hot!
Sprinkle extra broken up candy corn pieces in for good measure!

Enjoy!

Melting Witch Chia Seed Pudding Treats

October 17, 2015October 3, 201613 Comments

Today, in honor of Halloween we have a deliciously spooky treat to get you in the Halloween spirit. We have created melting witch chia seed puddings!

“I’m meltingggg” That’s what this witch is saying and what ran through my head the entire time we were creating this melting witch pots. Does anyone else remember that scene from the Wizard of Oz?

These Halloween treats were inspired in part by the melting witch and also in part to create a healthier version of the pudding gravestones I’ve seen posted on Pinterest. I love the idea of having a little Halloween treat that is also healthy and a little bit spooky.

Once I spotted these witch legs I knew they would be a perfect addition to the melting witch pot. These hats would have been really cool too. But you could also make a little witch hat out of an Oreo and a Hershey’s kiss.

Ingredients:

Makes 4

1/4 cup chia seeds
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon maple syrup or honey or sweetener of choice

For a flavored chia seed pudding add:

1 teaspoon of matcha to make a green melting witch OR 1 tablespoon of PB2 to make a brown melting witch

Directions:

Mix all ingredients together and then scoop into mason jars and put in the fridge overnight. To serve, add an extra sprinkle of matcha or PB2 to the tops of the pudding and then stick the pretzel legs in!

What I Ate Wednesday Hiking in NH

October 14, 2015October 14, 201518 Comments

We spent the long weekend back at my house in New Hampshire. It was luxurious and relaxing and full of everything fall. All the trees there are bright orange and red and yellow. Fall was in full swing so we decided to take advantage of all the pretty trees and go hiking one day.

We hiked up Cardigan Mountain in Orange, NH. The hike was positively gorgeous. The views on top of the mountain were incredible. You could see all these other mountain ranges and all the trees were spotted with different colors.

I mean look at that! You don’t get those kind of views in Boston!

Made it to the top!

But, before we went hiking I made sure to fuel up on a hardy breakfast.

For breakfast: oatmeal with blueberries, bananas, cinnamon, and some Justin’s almond butter. I like to bring the jar of almond butter to the table with me because you never know if you’ll need more 😉

Also does anyone else still read the comics??

For lunch: Sandwich with turkey, cheese, spinach, tomato, and cucumber. I also had an apple on the side. We ate our lunch once we reached the top of the mountain. We were quite hungry at that point so I’m glad we packed something!

Snack: Crackers with sunflower butter. Back home from our hike I decided I needed a little snack to hold me over until dinner so I munched on these. This sunflower butter is too good! I couldn’t stop eating it!

Dinner: Chicken with mashed potatoes and maple brussels sprouts with a cauliflower and pecan side salad that was not pictured. I almost didn’t include this because this dinner was just a bit of an all around fail. We went out to dinner and ended up getting this dish that looks and sounds amazing but our chicken wasn’t cooked! We had to send it back twice and it still looked raw to us. The mashed potatoes and brussels were good at least!

After dinner eats: popcorn and wine! This is an old picture because I forgot to take one before I munched it all down, but it is pretty much the same as what I had. Gotta end the night with something right!

And just because here is a picture of us on the top of Mt. Cardigan! We look a little scary because it was crazy windy at the top so we had to bundle up!

If you liked this post go check out Sprint 2 The Table for some more WIAW! Thanks to Peas and Crayons for hosting!

White Chocolate Pumpkin Spice Peanut Butter Cups

October 10, 2015October 3, 201614 Comments

You know what is better than pumpkin spice peanut butter?? Pumpkin spice peanut butter that is surrounded by white chocolate!

I know I know! I just couldn’t resist the combination: pumpkin spice, peanut butter, white chocolate! What isn’t to love??

Plus, these are ridiculously easy to make and even easier to eat. We followed the same steps to how we made our homemade Easter Bunny Reese’s.

So grab some white chocolate and that pumpkin spice peanut butter I know you made 😉 and get to it!

Ingredients:

White chocolate – we used a bar of Ghirardelli since we’ve found in the past that white chocolate chips don’t quite melt right
Pumpkin spice peanut butter (note: you could use any type of peanut butter but seriously what fun is it if there is no pumpkin or pumpkin spice in it??)

Steps:

Heat white chocolate in a microwave safe bowl stirring often so it does not burn (we usually do about 20 seconds, stir, and put it back in for 10-20 second intervals after that until it’s mostly melted, then stir in the rest).
Pour a thin layer of melted white chocolate onto the bottom of a mold (we used one like this – you can find good ones on amazon) or mini cupcake wrappers (big one’s if you are really wanting something sweet!). Put in the freezer for 15-20 minutes just so they harden up a little bit.
Scoop out your peanut butter and add it on top of the white chocolate. You can do a thin layer or really glob it on there depending on the pb/chocolate ratio you want. We used a medium amount so it covered the whole bottom but wasn’t piled on. Put in the freezer again for a couple of minutes to harden.
Top the peanut butter with the remaining white chocolate and then set back in the freezer to harden fully.
Once it’s all hardened up, put in the fridge until you’ve eaten them all!

See, wasn’t that easy? Easy as, well, pumpkin pie!

These mini delights would be the perfect treat to bring to a festive fall or Halloween party. Or, they would be perfect to bring to your couch and eat while watching the newest episode of Nashville – it’s totally up to you.

Want to see some other delicious pumpkin recipes? Check out this party thanks to Sarah, Holly, Alyson, and Tabitha!

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Category: Food

White Chocolate Peppermint Popcorn Bark

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