Peppermint Patties

I found this recipe in my Family Fun magazine and decided to make them this Christmas season. They are the addictive classics, with a snappy, minty middle and a luscious chocolate coating. My biggest tip for making them would be to keep them cold! I split the batch in half and kept rotating them out of the freezer as I did each step. Also, do not try to do them without parchment paper, Silpat mat, or similar. They will stick! Other than that, they are easy and make a pretty presentation. You could also experiment making them with other flavors such as lemon or orange.

Ingredients
• 2 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon water
• 1 tablespoon light corn syrup
• 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice (I used half this)
• 1 teaspoon peppermint extract (I used 3/4 this)
• 1 (1-pound) box confectioners' sugar (3-3/4 cups)
• 1 tablespoon shortening
• 10 to 12 ounces semisweet or bittersweet chocolate chips
• 6 hard mint candies, crushed in a Ziploc bag with a rolling pin

Instructions
1. In the bowl of an electric mixer, stir together the water, corn syrup, lemon juice, and peppermint extract, then sift in half the confectioners' sugar. Add the shortening. Beat on medium, then slowly sift in the remaining confectioners' sugar until the mixture is well combined.

2. Knead the mixture into a ball (it will be very stiff; if necessary, add 1/2 teaspoon water to make it workable). Use the bottom of a glass pie plate to apply firm, even pressure to flatten the ball between sheets of waxed paper into a circle about 9 inches in diameter and 1/4 inch thick. Lay the waxed-paper-covered disk on a cookie sheet and freeze it until it's firm, about 15 minutes.

3. Place the frozen disk on a cutting surface and remove and reserve the waxed paper. Cover a cookie sheet with parchment. With a small round cutter (ours was 1-1/4 inches), cut out circles from the disk, then place them on the cookie sheet. Gather the scraps into a ball, use the pie plate and waxed paper to flatten it again, and cut more circles until the entire disk is used up. Freeze the circles for 10 minutes.

4. Meanwhile, melt the chocolate in the top of a double boiler over barely simmering water. Coat the patties one at a time: balance each on a fork and dip it (use another fork as needed to flip the patty in the chocolate), then shake off any excess chocolate before returning the coated patty to the parchment. Sprinkle each patty with a bit of crushed mint candy. Add more chocolate to the double boiler as necessary until all the patties are coated.

5. Harden the finished patties in the refrigerator for at least an hour, and preferably overnight. Store them in an airtight container in the fridge, layered between sheets of waxed paper, for up to one month. Include tags with your gifts instructing recipients to keep the patties refrigerated. Makes 5 dozen.

Easy Chicken and Cheese Enchiladas

These are still "Americanized" enchiladas but taste a little more authentic than some I've had. I love this recipe and make them often for company. Can't beat comfort food!

1 can (10 3/4) oz. Cream of Chicken Soup
1/2 cup sour cream
1 cup Pace Picante Sauce
2 tsp chili powder
2 cups chopped cooked chicken
1/2 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese
6 flour tortillas (6"), warmed
1 small tomato, chopped
1 green onion, sliced
other toppings as desired, olives, cilantro, pico de gallo, avocado

1. Stir the soup, sour cream, picante sauce and chili powder in a medium bowl.
2. Stir 1 cup picante sauce mixture, chicken and cheese in a large bowl.
3. Divide chicken mixture among tortillas. Roll up the tortillas and place seamside up in 2 qt shallow baking dish. Pour remaining picante sauce mixture over filled tortillas. Cover baking dish.
4. Bake at 350 for 40 minutes. or until enchiladas are hot and bubbling. Top with tomato and onion.

(I add green chilies to the chicken mixture. I remove the foil half way through baking to crisp the tortillas a bit.)

Collard Wraps

This easy lunch has quickly become a family favorite. It doesn't even need a recipe really. It can be varied with whatever veggies and greens are in season. But here are a few hints for newbies to raw recipes so that it still tastes just as yummy every time with slight variations no matter what you use.

The necessary ingredients:

-Collard leaves. 1 big one per wrap.

-Your favorite Hummus. I used the Meza brand from Costco for this one because it's cheaper to buy in bulk, but at the Good Earth store there's also a yummy one called Lilly's smoked Tomato and Basil Hummus that I use from time to time.

- 3-4 slices of avocado

Filler Ingredients (Get creative with these and change them up, but here is what I used today):

-Cherry tomatoes sliced in threes

-Diced bell pepper (better source of vitamin C than oranges)

-Clover sprouts (great source of vitamin K for pregnant women)

-Radish sprouts

-Celery (chopped)

-tiny bit of Spinach or other green of your choice

-Cucumber

-One sliced Pickle

-diced onion

-a tiny bit of minced fresh garlic (great for winter sore throats)

-a sprinkle of lemon (optional)

Take your collard leaf and rinse off. Spread a spoonful or two of hummus and lay avocado slices in them. This gives your wrap a nice burrito-like filling. Then pile in the filler ingredients the best way you can and roll up the collard leaf to make a quick wrap. You don't need much of each filler ingredient. Just a small amount will fill the wrap quickly. Or you could pick just a few veggies and keep it simple if you want more of a certain filler ingredient. Sprinkle with a little lemon if you want and that "wraps" it up. There's no way to do this wrong. And if you don't want extra greens, no worries. Your wrap itself is already made up of dark leafy green. It's a collard leaf. High source of protein. Then eat away.

Trust me, you'll want another wrap after this one is gone. This recipe is a great way to take any leftover tossed salad that didn't get finished and stuff it into a savory treat. I usually make salads out of the filler ingredients anyways and so when I do have leftovers, I just make wraps and then you can avoid having to think too hard to make anything else. Hope you enjoy as much as I do.

Raw Almond Yogurt with Diced Apples

I know I haven't posted any recipes in a while. As mothers, kids keep us busy I suppose. But I would really like to start doing more raw and vegan recipes. For our little family, this journey of healthy eating has been somewhat of a struggle. I won't lie. But every now and then, we are suddenly inspired and set ourselves on crazy mode for finding yummy new recipes again. After a setback this last Thanksgiving (because we decided to have a traditional dinner) we needed some new recipes to regain some immune strength and our health. This easy recipe requires a little prep work the night before, but is super easy and surely hits the spot.

Almond Yogurt with diced Apples

-2 Cups of Almonds (soaked in water overnight) You can peel the skins for an extra creamy yogurt but you don't have to. I didn't like it at first. It seemed tedious. But someone told me it was therapeutic so I kept doing it for a while and now I really like doing it. It's like popping bubble wrap or something.

-1 3/4 Cups Water

-4-5 Ice Cubes

-1/4 Cup Agave Syrup

-1 teaspoon Danncy's Mexican Vanilla

-2 TBSP Lemon juice

-2 pinches of Salt

-6 diced of you favorite, fresh, organic Apples

-1 Cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Blend the first 7 ingredients all together in a VitaMix or other good blender until creamy and smooth. Spoon out mixture into a bowl. Toss the diced apples into it. Add walnuts or any other nut or granola in it if you like. You can do whatever you want. Or you can change the fruit. Since apples are in season, I did apples. Super yummy. Serves about 6-8.