Lady Grey Tea Dark Chocolate Truffles

The afternoon feels long and slow today. My desk by the window is letting a warm (slightly too warm) light in, despite a howling wind on the other side. I'm not one to let sleep go by the wayside, so despite a full nights rest, I'm feeling rather drowsy. 

I reach for a bag of tea, and heat up some water. It's too late for coffee, but tea and a truffle will wake me up a bit (that's the hope, at least). I grab a truffle, and take a bite. 

With the chocolate still in my mouth, I take a swig of tea, and let its warmth melt the truffle in my mouth. It is rich, but there are light notes of flowers and bergamot. This is probably the perfect time to enjoy a truffle: a moment when you have nothing to think about other than what it tastes like. 

I've made these truffles twice this month and am going to keep making them. They appeal perfectly to my inner chocoholic but are simple, and easy to put together... just watch below! They're the perfect last minute Valentine's Day gift (that's today!!) or indulgence for your every day (that's tomorrow!)

Happy day to everyone! 

P.S., I'm still super new to this video thing! What do you guys think? Do you like seeing Foraged Dish recipes in video form? Any tips or suggestions? 

Lady Grey Tea Dark Chocolate Truffles

Paleo, Primal, Gluten-Free, Grain-Free    |   Caitlin Sherwood    

Lady grey tea lends a faint but floral note to these truffles.

Yields: 16   |    Total Time: 60 active minutes

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Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup cream
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 2 tablespoons loose leaf lady grey tea
• 1/16 teaspoon salt
• 8 oz semi-sweet chocolate bar chopped, or chips
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder

Directions:

1. Heat cream over medium heat while stirring continuously until it begins to simmer. Remove from heat, add tea and stir. Allow to sit for 5 minutes.
2. In a medium-sized mixing bowl, combine chocolate, salt, butter, and vanilla. Strain cream through a fine-mesh sieve into the mixing bowl. Allow the warm cream to warm the chocolate by letting it sit for 5 minutes.
3. Use a spatula to stir the mixture until it is smooth. If needed, heat the mixture in the microwave at 10 second intervals to melt the chocolate further. After stirring for about 10 minutes, you should get a thick, glossy ganache. Scrape mixture into a tupperware and place, covered, in the fridge for at least 1 hour.
4. After chilling, the ganache should become firm, but remain somewhat malleable. Use a spoon and your hands to roll the ganache into spheres.
5. Pour cocoa powder in a bowl or deep plate and toss each truffle in cocoa. Serve immediately or store in an air-tight container in the fridge.

Easy Herb De Provence Roasted Mushrooms

This recipe was made on a whim as a side dish for dinner with my mom. It was our pre-Christmas dinner, since we were both traveling for the holiday, so she went to a local butcher shop and got what they recommended (a roast and some sausage prosciutto rolls), and I got to work on side dishes. 

Honestly I forget every other side dish I made because I became so obsessed with this one, vowing to make it the next time I found myself looking at a container of mushrooms in the grocery store. So I did exactly that, and was again licking my lips and filling my plate mostly with mushrooms.

Easy Herb De Provence Roasted Mushrooms

Paleo, Primal, Gluten-Free, Grain-Free    |   Caitlin Sherwood    

It’s amazing how easy it is to make this dish, and how delicious the mushrooms turn out!

Serves: 4   |    Total Time: 30 minutes

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Ingredients:

• 20 ounces mushrooms (I used crimini)
• 2 tablespoons herbs de provence
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

Directions:

1. Preheat over to 450°F.
2. Wash mushrooms and spread in an even layer in a baking dish or oven-safe skillet.
3. Cut butter into thin slices and place, evenly spaced, over mushrooms. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, and herbs de provence.
4. Place pan in oven and bake for 25-30 minutes, until mushrooms are cooked through and juicy. Allow to cool for 10 minutes before serving. Serve hot as a side dish for chicken, over grilled red meat, or even on a bed of quinoa.

Hearty Eggs Benedict

Despite my immediate desire to eat chocolate in the morning, I tend to feel better if I eat a real breakfast (go figure). As a kid I was a no-breakfast type, preferring a cup of hot chocolate and nothing else. But my dad always ensured I ate something of breakfast-- grapefruit, toast with almond butter, cereal, and on the special days oven roasted hash browns or even Eggs Benedict. 

Now I love eggs for breakfast, and Eggs Benedict feels like a holiday to me because you have to get more than one pot dirty to make it, but it's always worth it. This particular Eggs Benedict recipes includes more than just Hollandaise sauce: with a bed of hash browns and a layer of lox, it's pretty hearty, in the best of ways. 

Just got home from a really long trip? Make this. 

Finished a tough work out? This. 

It's Saturday and you just need some time to yourself after the work week? Yup. 

Hearty Eggs Benedict

Primal, Gluten-Free, Grain-Free    |   Caitlin Sherwood    

Served over hash and lox, a poached egg is dressed with hollandaise sauce.

Serves: 2   |    Total Time: 30 minutes

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Ingredients:

• 2 egg yolks
• Juice from 1/2 lemon
• 4 tablespoons butter, melted
• Dash cayenne
• Dash salt
• Parsley, for garnish
• Pepper, to taste
• 2 eggs, poached or fried
• Hash browns of choice
• 2 servings lox

Directions:

1. Before making the sauce, prepare your hash browns to your liking, and cook your eggs (I prefer to leave the yolks runny).
2. Whisk together egg yolks with lemon until they become slightly lighter yellow. Place in small pot and heat over low, whisking continuously (or in a double boiler if you have one). After 3 minutes, pour in melted butter continuing to whisk the entire time. Continue to whisk until sauce thickens. Remove from heat. Add a dash of cayenne and salt to taste.
3. Serve: Make a layer of hash brown on each plate, and top with lox. Then place a fried or poached egg on top, before drizzling with sauce. Top with parsley leaves for garnish, a sprinkle of pepper and/or more cayenne to taste. Serve immediately.