design a life you love
Do I ever have an unexpected Valentine’s Day drink recipe to share with you today! This one was discovered by accident when my ever resourceful husband played mixologist and started combining all manner of ingredients. This particular combination didn’t sound particularly delightful right off the bat; Amaretto, orange juice, grenadine, and…vodka? Truthfully it sounded dreadful. However just one sip of this smooth, almost creamy cocktail and I was singing a different tune.
Is it just me or is this year already flying by? I can scarcely believe that January is over and February is upon us. And you know what February means…all of our resolutions to eat healthier and avoid sugar are about to go out the window with the arrival of Valentine’s Day sweets. In lieu of that fact I only feel a teeny bit guilty about today’s post.
The recipe I’m sharing today is a quick and easy dessert option that I have found myself making almost every weekend lately. I have drastically cut back on my sugar intake in the past couple of weeks (hello angry post-holiday skin!) but still occasionally need a little something to satisfy my sweet tooth. That is where this easy chocolate bark comes into play.
This recipe is about as simple and straightforward as a dessert recipe can be and is even fun to make! It would be a great little treat to whip up with kids for Valentine’s Day gifts and an even better one to indulge in yourself.
Over the years Valentine’s Day has taken on many incarnations. For the first eighteen years of my life I absolutely despised the day because it represented a day when I was tangibly reminded of the fact that I was not popular nor were any of the boys at my school remotely interested in me. I’m sure we’ve all been there at one time or another…it feels lousy and it greatly influenced how I have celebrated the occasion as an adult.
While the day has been consistently good from the time I was nineteen on, I still choose to commemorate it in a more low-key fashion. I’ll pass on the overcrowded restaurants and boxes of chocolate (wait, I take that back, please still give me the chocolate!) and instead generally opt to cook a nice meal at home and enjoy some down time with my valentine.
In keeping with that tradition, today’s recipe is equal parts simple and delicious making it the ideal Valentine’s Day dinner. This bacon asparagus pasta has been a favorite in our house for over a year. You can whip up this five-ingredient Valentine’s Day recipe in a jiffy and are guaranteed to please your guest. Especially guests of the bacon loving variety.
On our final day in Amsterdam my husband and I meandered through the streets of the city, soaking in as much of the vibrant town as we could before our flight to Prague. We stopped for a late lunch at a little corner cafe situated on a canal and lingered there for a couple of hours, watching the city go by.
Amsterdam is a town where beer flows like water; in fact a glass of beer is considerably less expensive than a glass of water. Needless to say, I was getting a little tired of drinking beer at every meal and decided water a cocktail was in order. After surveying the menu I settled on a Moscow Mule, fully expecting to be served a classic no-frills vodka and ginger beer concoction.
What was placed in front of me however was a gorgeous glass filled with slices of cucumber and topped with black pepper. I took a sip and, to my great surprise, the cocktail tasted even better than it looked! I immediately took a photo of the drink and announced that I was going to recreate the mule recipe and share it on the blog as soon as we got home. I did exactly that my first weekend home and thus the Amsterdam Mule was born.
As the big 3-0 approached, I found myself craving the taste of the rich chocolate birthday cakes I enjoyed in my youth. The only problem was that all of the chocolate cake recipes I had in my arsenal contained gluten. Not one to be deterred by my gluten-free lifestyle, I set out on a quest to find an easy and delicious alternative to the chocolate cake recipes I remember from my childhood.
