Chocolate Stuffed Chocolate Covered Strawberries

Dessert is by far my favorite pat of any meal. Coincidentally, making dessert is also one of my favorite past times. And since today is one of my student's birthdays, I decided that today is a great day to make a delicious treat.

However, since the weather has been heating up and I was a little pressed for time, I was both too hot and too lazy to heat up the oven to make a baked treat. My solution? Chocolate covered strawberries stuffed with chocolate truffles. Yum! 

I might have snacked on a piece or two during the process, but I couldn't resist. There's still plenty for everyone! So let me share with you how I made this very tempting treat. 

You will need: 

1 package of double stuffed Oreos 

2 chocolate pudding cups

1 8 oz. package of creamed cheese

optional: 1 cup of mini chocolate chips 

32 oz. of strawberries 

I got excited just looking at all this stuff! 

Procedure: 

1. Wash your strawberries thoroughly. Cut off the tops of the strawberries. 

2, Use a small but sharp knife to take out the core of the strawberries. 

3. Put that aside and open the package of Oreos. I got the double stuffed kind because that just sounds more festive. Break a few Oreos and then put them in a food processor and grind them until they become fine crumbs. My food processor is a small one, so it took me two or three rounds of processing, but it got the job done, so that's what counts. 

4. In a large bowl, cream together the creamed cheese and Oreo crumbs until it almost resembles dough. If you want, add a cup (or less, depending on how much or how little chocolate chips you want) of chocolate chips and stir until everything is well combined. 

5. Very carefully start stuffing your cored strawberries with the creamed cheese mixture. This is going to be most easily done with your hands. 

6. Put the delicious chocolate stuffed strawberries in the freezer for 20 minutes. When you take them out, cover the tops of the strawberries with a generous helping of chocolate pudding.

7. Toss those puppies back in the freezer for another 30 - 40 minutes. Some of the pudding might fall off, but that's why we put a generous helping of pudding on top of the strawberries before we put them in the freezer. 

8. Take them out of the freezer and enjoy! 

These treats are very delicious, and it's helpful that they're cold. Perfect for a nice hot summer day! :) 

For the Military S.O Questioning Your Relationship

When I met my boyfriend in high school, there were some things that I definitely knew. These things included:

- He was cute
- He was going to be very special to me for an undetermined amount of time
- He made me smile a lot
- I definitely had a crush on him

There were some things that I would come to learn when we started dating and got to know each other a little better, like:

- I have never been loved the way he loves me
- If he and I don't end up together in the long run, he will always be the standard that I will hold any future significant others to
- He is the love of my life and will continue to be in my life even if we don't work out
- I will never have to question his dedication and love for me

But there was one big thing that I didn't know, that I couldn't possibly have known until very recently:

- After four years of being in a long distance relationship because we went to school in two different states, I would return home only to learn that we'd be in a long distance relationship for even longer. Why? Because he made the decision to enlist in the Marine Corps, and the universe decided to play a mean joke and actually reversed the states that we were now in. (In college, I was in Virginia and he attended school in New Jersey. After he enlisted and graduated from basic training and I finished my undergraduate career in college, I returned home to New Jersey and he got stationed in Virginia).

Now, I knew this wasn't going to be easy. I'd heard enough stories and spoken to enough people regarding dating/being in a relationship with a military man. I knew that it meant sacrificing some of the quality time together I'd just gotten used to getting again. I knew that sometimes it would mean he would randomly get called to do something last minute and even though neither of us would like it and would very likely be angry about it, there would be nothing we could do about it. I knew all of this going in, but I accepted this lot of life anyway, constantly reciting the mantra, Nothing good ever comes easy.

But lately, he's been called away for several late nights. He's been unable to talk to me as often because of all the work he has to do, and when he does finally get off work at 10:30 at night, he is usually too tired to talk to me anyway and we have a brief low-quality conversation before he goes to sleep. It's led to me getting irritable and taking out my frustration with the situation out on him. It's led to me very nearly deciding to end this relationship because this distance, this military career, this forced lack of communication, just wasn't worth the trouble. When I made a pros and cons list, the cons were easily outweighing the pros. I know nothing good ever comes easy, but did it have to come this hard?

Then I looked back at old photos. I re-read some old messages, letters, and cards he'd written me in the past. And I knew, without a doubt, that the guy in these pictures and wrote these words still loved me. The man hadn't changed; he was just in a job that forces him to be away from me for more time than either of us would like. He still tries very hard to make time for me. He still tries very hard to make me happy and finds little ways to make me smile. This is still the person I fell so deeply in love with so many years ago, and the person I'm still in love with today.

So for those of you out there who are in a similar situation, who find themselves wondering if being in a relationship with a military person in worth it, let me assure you that your s.o doesn't love you any less -- it's the job, not the man. The road is a hard and difficult one, but if the love is good and strong enough, the road is worth travelling. You can trust that this career is probably weighing heavy on your s.o's shoulders as well. I want to remind you to take a deep breath, and to put extra effort into nurturing the great relationship that you have. Being a military s.o is hard, but loving someone as fiercely as you do is worth trucking through this difficult patch.

Love and light to you all.

X

Getting Mold Out of A Camelbak Mouthpiece

As I was cleaning out my closet the other day, I dug up an old Camelbak water bottle I used to be absolutely obsessed with. I'm not kidding; I was rarely seen without it. I was always really hydrated. I don't remember why I stopped using it all the time, but I figured I should start up again. It'll be good for my health, after all. The problem was that it'd been a while since I've used the water bottle, so mold had started growing in the mouthpiece. The rest of the water bottle was just a thorough wash away from being usable again, but the mouthpiece was gross and moldy. Obviously, I wasn't about to throw away a perfectly good water bottle for the sake of a moldy mouthpiece, so I was determined to wash it out. 

I tried scrubbing it with some q-tips and scratching the leftovers with toothpicks. I rinsed it with hot water and soap. I let it soak in a baking soda and water solution. Although these methods gave me a temporary fix (the mold grew back the next day), they weren't long-term solutions. I guess I hadn't killed the bacteria. 

Then I tried a bleach solution. 

I'm no stranger to the fact that bleach kills bacteria on contact. I was just avoiding this solution for safety and health purposes; I didn't want to accidentally ingest bleach from a less-than-thorough rinse-out afterward. But desperate times call for desperate measures. Luckily for me, it worked like a charm and was incredibly easy to do. So just in case there's someone out there desperately searching for a way to really get that mold out of your water bottle mouthpiece, let me share my method with you: 

1. I used a plastic pint to put my bleach in. It wasn't being used for anything other than rinsing things out, so it was a safe choice. Whatever container you choose, avoid a commonly used dish for eating. You don't want any unhappy accidents. 

2. I didn't really measure out my bleach. I just put a tiny splash of bleach in my container, just enough to thinly cover the bottom of the container. I filled it the rest of the way up with hot water and give it a good stir. 

3. Now it's the easy part. All you have to do is put the moldy mouthpiece in this solution. Make sure you really poke it down so that it sinks to the bottom. That's it. Walk away and do whatever you have to do. 

4. My mouthpiece didn't have a terrible amount of bleach in it, so after 10 minutes, it was clear of the mold. I left it in for an additional two minutes, though, just in case. Adjust the time according to how deeply your mouthpiece needs cleaning. 

5. This is the important part. Rinse out your mouthpiece. Wash it with hot water and some mild soap, and really thoroughly rinse it. I even rinsed it with a baking soda rinse to make extra sure I wouldn't ingest bleach (I'd sooner accidentally ingest baking soda than bleach). 

And then you're good to go! I hope this has been helpful! 

X 

Baking Soda = Quick "Dry Clean" Hair Fix

I may just be the world's biggest procrastinator. I had a whole morning all to myself to do everything I need to -- laundry, shower, housekeeping and such. Theoretically, I have enough time to do all of the above and still have some leisure time to continue binge watching my favorite shows on Netflix. However, I made the royally horrible mistake of starting my night with the binge watching, so when I looked at the clock after a few episodes, I realized I had just half an hour before my butt had to be in the office.

Now, I'm a pretty low-maintenance gal, but I'm not so low-maintenance that I can shower, get dressed, and look presentable in 15 minutes to be at work on time. I considered not washing my hair, but when I looked in the mirror... well... yikes. It was gross and greasy since I hadn't washed my hair yesterday either. I certainly didn't have time to give my hair a wash and be at work on time. Luckily, I remembered that baking soda can absorb the oil in a pinch, so I went in the kitchen, grabbed the box of baking soda, and got to work. The end product wasn't nearly as nice as I would have liked, but it was significantly better. It was good enough for me to decide that this was as presentable as I was going to get today.

Here's what I did:

1. Brush out your hair to get out all the knots and tangles. This makes your hair much easier to work with.

2. Use your finger tips to massage your head gently. This loosens up the oil on your head and also helps add just the tiniest bit of volume. This step may sound counter-intuitive; after all, why try to make your hair look even greasier? But trust me; this step is worth it.

3. Add about a tablespoon's worth of baking soda into the palm of your hand. You can sprinkle a little bit of baking soda on your roots before this, too, if you want. Rub your hands together to coat your hands in baking soda, and run your fingers through your hair. Make sure you focus a lot of the baking soda on the roots. Section your hair in different ways to make sure you get as much of your roots as possible. I had to do this step twice to get enough grease out of my hair.
NOTE: This step will get messy. I suggest doing this whole thing before you get dressed.

4. At this point, your hair should look a little less greasy. I'm not saying it's going to get all of the grease out of your hair -- it certainly didn't get it all out of mine. But it should do just good enough of a job to look somewhat presentable. I gave my hair another brush to shake out any excess baking soda, and then tossed my hair a little bit for volume.

5. Because baking soda does have a bit of a smell, I masked it with a Bath and Body Works body spray. I sprayed their Sweet Pea scent just above my head (not on my hair; that would be a little much), and put a coat of coconut oil lotion on my neck and face. It was just subtle enough to cover up the (kind of smelly) baking soda scent.
NOTE: I chose to mask the smell because it was enough to bother me. However, if the smell doesn't bother you, then this step isn't completely necessary. And if you do decide to also mask the smell with a body spray or perfume, choose one you actually like. Also make sure that you won't be around people that may be sensitive to perfumes.

X

Next Bev Up: Lemonade

In case you haven't noticed, I've been on a beverage kick lately. I know it's really important to make sure you drink a good amount of water every day, but sometimes water just gets boring. So I need to change it up. Granted, my alternatives do tend to be a little unhealthier than water, but I can't help it. Plus, I still make sure I drink at least 5 cups of just water every day (yes, I know. That's nowhere close to enough water, but I'm working on it).

Today, in the midst of spring, the weather here in New Jersey is actually cooler than I'd like. In fact, some parts of New Jersey got snow the other day! In April! I'm not a fan of cold weather, so I keep my fingers crossed for this cold weather nonsense to end. I added to my self-delusion today by making myself a nice cold glass of lemonade. (Actually, it's still in the process of getting made as I type up this blog, but I decided to write about it anyway).

So here's what I did:

INGREDIENTS:

1 lemon
2 Tbsp. honey
2 Tbsp. brown sugar (or white sugar, if you prefer)
1 cup + 8 tbsp. water (the 8 tbsp. will be for the syrup)

PROCEDURE:

1. On the stove, heat up the honey, sugar, and 8 tablespoons of water in a small skillet. It doesn't need to come to a boil; it just needs to be warm enough to dissolve the sugar completely. Give it a couple stirs at the end to really make sure the water's dissolved.

2. Put the syrup in the fridge to chill.

3. While the syrup is chilling, cut a lemon and squeeze the juice into a cup. I personally like my lemonade to be very lemony, so one whole lemon is a good amount  for me. However, if you don't like your lemonade as lemony, you can use a little less. Adjust according to your taste.

4. Check on the syrup. For me, the syrup wasn't done chilling yet, so I spent some time cleaning up the kitchen and stuff. Then I wet a paper towel with cold water, wrapped the wet paper towel around the cup, and then stuck that in the fridge too. I know there's not really anything in the cup other than the juice of the lemon, but I really like my lemonade cold, so I figured, the colder the cup, the better I'll enjoy it.

5. Once the syrup is chilled enough for your liking, take it out of the fridge. I also took the cup with lemon juice out of the fridge and filled it up with water. Add a bit of syrup to the lemonade. WARNING: The syrup is very sweet. Don't be too tempted to just dump the whole thing in at once without trying it little by little first. You can always save any leftover syrup for the next cup of lemonade.

6 Enjoy your lemonade! :)

X

Today's Breakfast Beverage: Chocolate Milk!

Am I the only one who still gets pretty excited about making my own chocolate milk? I mean, here I am, a grown woman, and the second my mom buys a big thing of unsweetened cocoa powder, the first thing I want to do is make a tall glass of chocolate milk.

I mentioned in my previous blog post that I recently found a way to make extremely delicious coffee with cocoa in it. Well, this morning, I made some tasty chocolate milk. The first time I tried to make chocolate milk, it was a bit of a failure. The cocoa powder floated to the surface in clumps and made the whole experience pretty dissatisfying. So today, I mixed some cocoa with some sugar and then slowed down the whole "add milk" process. The result: chocolate milk that I gulped down within five minutes! It was so great I just had to take to the internet and share.

Ingredients:

1 cup  milk
1 tsp unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp brown sugar

Procedure:

1. Mix the cocoa powder and brown sugar together. You can use white sugar instead, but my family has been on a health kick and my mom is convinced that switching from white to brown sugar will be the solution to our unhealthy sweet tooth habits.

2. Pour about a quarter cup of milk into the cocoa-sugar mixture. Really stir that mixture. I'm talking stir it hard. You might see floating clumps; I did. So I zapped it in the microwave for 10 seconds, just long enough to warm it up a bit but not long enough to make the milk uncomfortably hot.

3. Continue stirring until most or all of the clumps are gone. When that happens, pour in the rest of your milk. Stir again, and you should have a relatively clump-free glass of chocolate milk. You may still have a little clump or two in your glass, but because it's been mixed with sugar, it's actually not so bad.

4. Enjoy your chocolate milk and maybe reminisce about the good ol' days when you raced into the kitchen every morning to a glass of chocolate milk that your parents made for you.

Chocolate Coffee Recipe (AKA Delicious Way to Get Up In The Morning)

Like many people, I start pretty much all of my mornings -- particularly work day mornings -- with a nice cup of coffee. Generally, I brew my cup of coffee, add a little bit of sugar and milk, and I'm good to go. But recently, my mom bought a big container of unsweetened cocoa (the Hershey's brand) from Sam's Club, and that got me thinking. Sure, I'm sure I could use the cocoa powder for baking (which I still plan on doing this weekend), but I wondered what would happen if I put the cocoa powder in my daily cup of coffee.

It was a bit of trial and error. The first morning, I put half a tablespoon of the cocoa powder in my cup of coffee. Unfortunately, I forgot that it was unsweetened cocoa powder, so my coffee was a little hard to finish that morning. But then this morning, I found my cocoa coffee sweet spot. Let me share my discovery with you.

Ingredients:

1 cup brewed coffee (to your liking)
1/4 cup of milk (I like my coffee a little more milky than others. Feel free to adjust according to your taste)
1 tbsp. brown sugar
1/2 tbsp. unsweetened cocoa powder

Procedure:

1. Brew your coffee.
2. Add sugar, cocoa powder, and milk to your coffee. Stir thoroughly until all ingredients are mixed.
3. Enjoy!

Of course, feel free to add/decrease the amount of cocoa, sugar, or milk so that it suits the way you like it. I might go with a little less sugar next time, but at least I know I'm on the right track. I hope this has helped you find your coffee sweet spot, too!