Yesterday at the Farmer’s Market, I found some amazingly gooey, ripe dates which are almost too smushy to pack and eat on their own. Immediately, I thought of making some truffle sized date balls. I love this no-bake, easy snack that you could serve at your upcoming Halloween bash!

How about putting a whole almond in the middle of them to make them look like eyeballs? Or you can just leave them as is…creepy or not, these are no doubt, delicious. Ivan and I snacked on them while carving pumpkins at the park. Pretty awesome date I must say…

For the Recipe, click here:

Crunchy Date Balls with Coconut Crust

First off, I love our new camera! My roomates from college bought Ivan and me an amazing Nikon 5000 for our wedding, and though I am only just starting to dabble, it is coming through like a champ. Thanks again to Jay for letting me borrow his for so long…

Also, how adorable are these mini loaf pans! Another great wedding gift that is going to help enormously with my inability to stay away from baked goods. This way, I can make multiple small loafs and give the majority to friends instead of hoarding a whole giant loaf for myself.

This coconut bread is all over the internet, so out of sheer curiosity, I made it. And it’s yummy yummy toasted and spread with a little butter. You know you want it.

For the Recipe, click here:

Coconut and Cinnamon Bread

I love a spur of the moment dinner party. Even more, I love friends that I can try my recipes out on. Thank goodness Jorge and Jamie enjoy being guinea pigs. A little Southern or as Jorge put it, Peruvian, this is a nice homey meal that you can prepare in under an hour.

I threw together a Flourless Chocolate Cake with Coconut Lime Sorbet (which because of the lack of freezing time, was more like a creme) for a sweet bite at the end. My mom had given me her recipe about a year ago and I’m not so sure why it took me so long to make something so perfect sounding. I’ll probably be having sorbet for breakfast. So much for limiting my sugar intake. I figure this week, with the cookie contest, I am already a lost cause…

Juiciest Chicken with Tri-Pepper Succotash

6 chicken drumsticks

6 chicken thighs (trimmed of excess fat)

2 tbsp olive oil

1/2 cup white wine (sweet, such as Riesling)

1 red pepper, diced

1/2 orange pepper, diced

1/2 yellow pepper, diced

1/2 small onion, diced

1 1/2 cups chicken stock

2 1/2 cups frozen lima beans

1 can unsalted corn kernels

1/2 tsp paprika

1/8 cup flour

1/4 cup fresh basil, cut into ribbons

Salt

Pepper

Place a pot of hot water on the stove. Boil lima beans for 10 minutes until almost softened, but still slightly underdone. Strain.

Liberally salt and pepper both sides of the chicken. Heat oil in a dutch oven. Brown the chicken on both sides, working in batches. Remove browned chicken to a plate. After all chicken has been browned, use a paper towel to soak excess chicken fat from the dutch oven by blotting. Leave some juices.

Add the onion and turn the heat to medium. Add the peppers and corn and sauté until translucent. Add lima beans, paprika, wine, and chicken stock and using a spoon, scrape up any chicken bits from the pan. Bring to a boil and season with salt and pepper. Add the chicken back to the pot, reduce heat to low and cover. Let simmer for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. After the 30 minutes, remove chicken from the dutch oven and place in a baking dish. Cover with tinfoil and place in the oven for 15 minutes. Scoop about 1 cup of the juice from the succotash into a bowl. Add the flour and whisk well to form a roux. Add the roux back into the rest of the mixture and allow to boil, uncovered for the 15 minutes that the chicken is cooking. Garnish with basil. Serve with warmed bread.

Flourless Chocolate Cake with Coconut Lime Sorbet and Ripe Mango

Adapted from Epicurious

4 oz. fine quality bittersweet chocolate, chopped (such as Ghirardelli)

1 stick unsalted butter

3/4 cup sugar

3 large eggs

1/2 c. unsweetened cocoa powder

powdered sugar or cocoa for sprinkling

1 ripe mango, diced

raspberries for garnish

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Butter 8” baking round. Line with wax paper and butter paper. Chop chocolate. In a double boiler, melt chocolate with the butter, stirring until completely melted. Remove from heat and whisk in sugar. Add eggs, whisk well. Sift in the cocoa powder until fully combined. Pour batter into pan. Bake for 25 minutes, until top has a thin crust. Remove from pan and allow to cool 5-10 minutes. Dust with cocoa or powdered sugar.

Coconut Lime Sorbet (or if 1/2 frozen, Creme)

15-20 oz. cream of coconut (such a Coco Lopez. This can be found in the “mixer” section in the liquor department of a supermarket)

3/4 cup water

1/2 cup fresh lime juice

Whisk together and freeze in an airtight container overnight, or 1 hour for creme.