Chocolate!?!

Chocolate!?

ok, here's the deal, i cant stop eating! especially chocolate! i cant help it...it's like when it's late at night, and i walk out, i get a cookie...ugggg...i mean, im still thin..but im worried it will catch up to me soon!

Ive also read that dark chocolate is a good thing. I just read it again last night in the latest issue (or last month) of either "Alternative Medicine" or "Today's Diet and Nutrition". Maybe it was "Body + Soul". (I was able to read a few magazines last night after the boy for whom I was babysitting went to bed and while he was playing by himself. He said he wanted to play by himself, so I let him.)

Anyway, as for the way most chocolate is farmed, it's not done in an environmentally friendly manner. That's one of the reasons why I rarely eat chocolate. Also, with milk chocolate, most of the good stuff is taken out and replaced with milk. There are some good environemtally friendly, organic chocolate bars out there. One I reccommend is from Equal Exchange. Yum. It is not only farmed environmentally friendly (as well as the yummy coffees), but is done in a way that gives the farmers a fair pay for it. (My church sells the coffee; I don't have any of the regular, but my husbnad bought me three bags of decaf the Sunday after we found out about my pregnancy. Admittedly, I mix the decaf with regular store brand coffee. I don't drink much coffee any more, and I have stocked up on that when it's on sale. This week, through tomorrow, the Krogers in my area have the Kroger brand coffee 3/$5 for the regular sized cans. It's over $2, maybe close to $3 regular price. I stock up, let it last six months and get some more. I don't feel as guilty that way.)

Also, I use the following recipe for my chocolate fixes and for potlucks and group dinners. I use whole wheat flour and replace the oil with apple sauce. (Apple sauce can be used as either an oil or an egg replacer in most recipes. Bananas also work for eggs, but a banana taste might result.)

Absurdly Easy Chocolate Cake
Ingredients:
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3 cups flour (680 grams)
2 cups sugar (450 grams)
6 tablespoons cocoa (100 grams)
2 teaspoons baking soda (10 cc's = 10 ml)
1 teaspoon salt (5 cc's = 5 ml)
3/4 cup vegetable oil (200 cc's)
2 tablespoon vinegar (30 cc's)
2 teaspoon vanilla (10 cc's)
2 cup cold water (480 cc's)


Instructions:
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Mix the dry ingredients. Add the wet ingredients. Stir until smooth. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Makes two layers of a two-layer 9-inch or 8-inch round cake, or one small sheet cake. When cool, frost it.

I use the following frosting recipe, which I found on Veg Web:
1 cup of sugar
1/2 of a teaspoon of vanilla extract
1/2 of a cup of cocoa powder
2 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons - 3 tablespoons of vanilla soy milk

Directions:

Mix all ingredients. Use more soymilk for glaze, less for frosting.

For chocolate-mint: add some peppermint extract, you can add less vanilla if you want. Probably 1/8 of a teaspoon, I have never measured, all I know is it is a very small amount, just a couple drops or so.

I buy the cocoa powder when it goes on sale at Kroger (usually at Thanksgiving and Christmas) for $.99 a box and stock up. Four or five boxes usually last me the year. Though I'm running out early this year; I've been going to more dinners.

Anyway, I hope this helps.