Homemade Nutella

My boys love Nutella. I'm not so much a fan as they are. If I'm going to allow them to eat it, I would much rather they eat something I made because I know what has gone into it. Not like I'm such a healthy eater all the time but I try when I can.

I ran across this recipe at one of my favorite websites David Lebovitz who posted this recipe on Recipe Nut

Chocolate Hazelnut Spread
Two jars (about 1 cup each)

Picture is courtesy of David Lebovitz

Adapted from the Encyclopédie du Chocolat under the direction of Frédéric Bau

1/3 cup (40g) whole almonds
1 1/3 cup (160g) hazelnuts
1 3/4 cup (400g) whole milk (see Notes)
7/8 cup (60g) powdered whole milk
3 tablespoons (40g) mild-flavored honey
pinch of salt
11 ounces (170g) bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped


1. Spread the nuts on a baking sheet, keeping the almond separate, and toast the nuts in a 350ºF (180ºC) oven, stirring a few times, for 10 to 15 minutes, until the hazelnuts are browned.

2. While they are roasting, warm the whole milk and powdered milk in a small saucepan with the honey and salt just until it starts to boil. Remove from heat.

3. In a clean, dry bowl set over a pan of barely simmering water, or in a microwave oven, melt the chocolate until smooth.

4. Once the nuts are well-toasted, remove them from oven and use a spatula to place the warm hazelnuts in a clean tea towel, then fold them inside the towel and rub them vigorously to remove any loose skins. They don’t need to be pristine; just try to get as much off as possible.

5. In a food processor, grind the warm hazelnuts and almonds until they’re as fine as possible. You may not be able to get them completely smooth, depending on your food processor.

6. Add the melted chocolate and continue to process the mixture, stopping to scrape down the sides of the work bowl, as necessary.

7. Once the mixture is smooth, add the warm milk mixture and process until everything is well-combined.


8. Transfer the mixture into two jars and refrigerate until ready to use.

Storage: The Chocolate-Hazelnut Paste will keep in the refrigerator for up to one week. It may seem too thin after you make it, don't worry it will thicken once in the refrigerator.

Tuesday Turkey Burgers

Happy Tuesday everyone.

I took out ground turkey this morning to make something for dinner.

As always, I posted a question on my facebook for help on what to make with it.

A special friend mentioned turkey burgers. I LOVE a good juicy turkey burger.

Stay tuned for the recipe.

I love Hungry Girl. I have made my own cookbook of her recipes that I have collected.

Tonight it's just the boys and I so I decided to come right home and cook dinner so Chris could eat before he heads over to the station.

I grilled up some pork tenderloin and made a Hungry Girl side dish.

My son, Michael, who is 8 years old loves the Green Giant Broccoli and Cheese so I made up some whole wheat pasta and mixed in the broccoli and cheese. I used two boxes to 1 box of pasta. I also added three triangles of Laughing Cow garlic cheese.

All these ingredients are great for a person eating healthy.

I would say one serving of the pasta is about 1 cup. And of course a deck of cards size of the tenderloin.

I didn't have great timing tonight since my butter squash fries are still in the oven LOL

I peeled and sliced up into fry size and sprayed some olive oil over the fries and baked until crispy.

Just a quick meal I thought I would share with all my friends.

Michael just saw a commercial for pie. Great, I have nothing in this house to make a pie and of course, who on a diet eats pie??

Back to my Hungry Girl site to find a great recipe we all would enjoy. YES!!! Found a recipe in less then a minute and I have all the ingredients on hand, no running to the store.

My Lava Chocolate Cake


Ingredients:

For Cake
1 cup moist-style chocolate cake mix (1/4 of an 18.25-oz. box)
One 25-calorie packet diet hot cocoa mix
1/4 cup fat-free liquid egg substitute (like Egg Beaters Original)
1 tbsp. mini semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 tsp. Splenda No Calorie Sweetener (granulated)
2 dashes salt

For Filling
One-half Jell-O Sugar Free Chocolate Pudding Snack (about 1/4 cup)
1/2 tbsp. mini semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 tsp. fat-free liquid creamer (like Coffee-mate Fat Free Original)
1/2 tsp. light whipped butter or light buttery spread (like Brummel & Brown)

Directions:
Place the chocolate chips for the filling in a glass and set aside. Pour the creamer in a microwave-safe bowl with the butter, and heat in the microwave for about 15 seconds, until butter has melted and mixture is very hot. Pour the mixture over the chocolate chips and stir until they have dissolved. Allow to cool for several minutes. Add the pudding to the mixture and stir well. Spoon the chocolate mixture into four evenly spaced mounds on a plate. Place in the freezer for 25 minutes. (Don't over-freeze -- the mounds could stick to the plate.)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Place chocolate chips for the cake in a tall glass along with the contents of the cocoa packet. Add 1/4 cup boiling water and stir until chips and cocoa have dissolved. Add 1/2 cup cold water and stir well. Pour the contents of the glass into a mixing bowl. Add all of the remaining ingredients for the cake (cake mix, egg substitute, Splenda, and salt) to the mixing bowl, and whip batter with a whisk or fork for 2 minutes.

Once the chocolate mounds in the freezer are a little firm, spray four baking ramekins (each about 4 inches in diameter) with nonstick spray. Evenly spoon the cake batter (which will be a little thin, but don't worry!) into the ramekins. Remove chocolate mounds from the freezer, and place one in the center of each batter-filled ramekin. Put the ramekins in the oven and bake for 15 minutes. Cakes will look shiny when done.

Carefully remove each ramekin from the oven. You can eat the cake right out of the ramekin (while the center is still gooey!), but make sure to let it cool a little bit, because the ramekin will be hot. Or you can wait until it has cooled completely and plate the cake by running a knife along the edges and flipping it upside down. (Then just pop it in the microwave for about 15 seconds to heat it back up.) Enjoy!

MAKES 4 SERVINGS


Serving Size: 1 individual lava cake
Calories: 182
Fat: 4.5g
Sodium: 433mg
Carbs: 32g
Fiber: 1.5g
Sugars: 18g
Protein: 4g

PointsPlus™ value 5*