Chocolate Covered Strawberries

I was driving through Gilroy today, and thought I'd stop at one of the street vendors and buy some fresh strawberries. So, I bought a box full of them. They were not only good tasting, but also looked so pretty, I wanted to put them on my blog. So, here is an easy recipe for a good desert.


Ingredients:
semi sweet chocolate chips
strawberries

Wash your strawberries and dry them with a paper towel.

Melt some chocolate in a pan on the stove top, or microwave. Be careful not to burn the chocolate. Use low heat. It is best if you can melt chocolate over boiling water (ex. double boiler), just to make sure you don't overheat it.

Look at these strawberries! They are huge!

When the chocolate is melted, dip strawberries in, and place them onto a tray.

Leave them in the refrigerator for 23-30 minutes before serving in order to solidify the chocolate.

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A double boiler is a great tool to have. It is great for cooking things that cannot stand high temperatures, such as melting chocolate, boiling milk, making fondue, even cooking foods high in vitamins. Double boiler consists of two parts- bottom part is filled with water and heated on the stove top, and top part contains the food item you need to heat (ex. chocolate). Since water will boil at 100C (212F), the top portion of the pan will not experience any temperatures higher than that. This will ensure that your chocolate does not burn, which is easy to do.

Buttermilk Pancakes

Pancakes for brunch- a great way to start your weekend!


Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
2 eggs
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Mix all the ingredients together in your mixer, blender or by hand.

Heat some butter in your frying pan over medium to low heat. When it melts and starts to bubble, poor the batter in to cover the bottom. I use my smallest pan. Still, the size is large enough so one of these pancakes is just enough for me.

When the bottom is golden brown, your pancake it ready to be flipped. You might meed to add a little more butter before you make the next one.

Serve hot with butter and maple syrup. If you have some berries, they also go well with pancakes.

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Grilled Scallops

Ingredients:

1.5 lbs large scallops
2 bell peppers
pineapple
4 tablespoons olive oil
grated peel of 1 lemon
2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
2 tablespoons chopped chives
1 clove garlic, chopped
Salt and pepper

Mix all the marinating ingredients in a blow.

Add scallops and mix all together. Cover and allow to marinade for a couple of hours.

When you are ready to fire up your grill, thread, scallops, pepper and pineapple onto skewers.

Cook on preheated grill for a couple of minutes on each side. Scallops will change color slightly to opaque. Do not overcook them.

Serve hot with other grilled veggies and fresh greens on the side.

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