Chocolatey Pictures

As promised. 

I love how you can see her cowboy had hanging on her chair. She loves that hat.

Hip-Hip Hooray for chocolate cupcakes!

Mmmm...

Finger-lickin' Good!

"Can I stop saying cheese already and eat my cupcake?"

Chocolate = Smiles at our house.

 I love this devious little smile.
She is a trouble maker this one is, don't let her sweet temperament fool you. 

I had a little test in my culinary skills (or lack thereof). 

I got to make dinner {and dessert} that was

Gluten-free and had No Eggs, Butter, Dairy or MSG (marked natural flavors on labels)

Pretty tough huh?
But I found something, and it was SSOOOOOOO yummy.

Baked Chicken and Bell Peppers

6 Chicken Breast

2-3 Lemons

3 Green Onions chopped

1 Red Pepper Diced

1 Red Onion Diced

1-2 tsp. Salt

Seasonings to taste (I used Salt &Pepper, Parsley and Oregano)

Now the recipe didn't call for this, but I have fallen in love with brine soaks.

So before I followed the recipe I put the chicken in a gallon-sized ziplock bag with

3/4 cup brown sugar

3/4 cup salt (I used sea salt)

Heaping spoon full of minced garlic

Fill remainder of bag with water. 

I only had time to let it soak for about two hours and it was enough. 

Place chicken breast in 9x13 pan. Squeeze lemon juice over chicken breast and let soak for 10 minutes in fridge (I also added some of the water from my brine soak). 

While soaking cut up green onions, red pepper and red onion. Mix in seasonings. Carefully lift chicken breast and place veggies below each breast and the remainder of veggies on top. 

Bake for 40-50 minutes at 350º. 

Towards the end I sliced up some lemons and laid them on top to make it look pretty.

It was so yummy. Let me know if you give it a try. 

I also made the cupcakes that you saw in the picture above. 

Here is the recipe for that.
Allergy Friendly Chocolate Cake

1 tsp Sea Salt

1/3 cup Cocoa

1 tsp Vanilla

2 Tb Vinegar

2/3 cup Oil

2 cups Water, cold

3 cups Gluten-Free Flour

2 cups Sugar

2 tsp Baking Soda

Combine all ingredients into large bowl. Fill cupcake liners 3/4 full. Bake 15-20 minutes at 350º.

Or until toothpick comes out clean.

Frosting
1 Cup Sugar
6 Tb. Corn Starch
4 Tb Cocoa
1/2 tsp Salt
1 cup Water
2 Tb Oil

1/2 tsp Vanilla

Combine dry ingredients in medium sauce pan. Add water and bring to a boil. Boil for 1-2 minutes (don't over boil or it will get stiff like taffy). Remove from heat and stir in oil and vanilla.

Now the frosting wasn't as chocolatey as I would have like, but there seemed to be no problem consuming them at our house. Hope they were a hit at our friends.

Have any fun, healthy recipes? Do share.
(Oh, and in case it was confusing, we don't have diet restrictions at our house, we were cooking for a friend... so feel free to pass along anything yummy, no matter the ingredients)