Trying to Stay Healthy

So....I like food.  No no, let me rephrase that.  I LOVE food.  I love to eat food and I love to cook food.  I like to read books and magazines about food and I like to watch television shows about food.  The bad thing about that is if I ate what I want when I want I would be the size of the house and very unhealthy, and I want to stick around for as long as I can.  So I do my best to eat healthy during the week so that I don't feel so bad when I indulge on the weekend.  It's not a bad system.  I don't know about everyone else but I am the type of person who when they go on diets and the diet says they can't have a certain food, such as carbs, that is the first thing that I crave.  I become miserable and unsatisfied and it is not easy for the people around me.  So I am a big believer in everything in moderation. 

So in trying to keep with that philosophy I try to come up with healthier sweet treats that I can eat that won't break me.  Since I love to bake I am always trying to take recipes that I love and make them healthier.  I have made muffins and cookies with much success, but that will be for another day.  What I was craving today was chocolate.  Now they say that chocolate is good for you and It is actually healthy to eat chocolate on a regular basis.  I say bring it on!  So I decided to make chocolate bark.  So I started gathering my ingredients...

I got my bittersweet chocolate, chopped my dried fruit (my choice was tart cherries and apricots), and I toasted my nuts (almonds and pistachios).  Toasting just brings out the flavor in the nuts, it makes them taste even more yummy.  I buy my nuts raw and store them in the freezer to make them last longer.  I toast them as I need them.  So next you melt your chocolate. 

I chose the double boiler route today.  Nothing fancy, just a bowl over a pot of simmering water.  You're trying to melt the chocolate gently so make sure the water is simmering because you can still burn your chocolate if your water is at a rapid boil.  Also you have to make sure that the bottom of your bowl is not touching the surface of the water, that could cause it to burn too.  Alternately you can melt your chocolate in the microwave.  Just make sure it doesn't get too hot.  Microwave it at 30 second intervals, stirring in between.  When it starts to get close, reduce it to 15 second intervals till completely melted.  Ok so where was I?  Oh yea chocolate.....

Mmmmmmm...don't you just wanna dive in?  So when it's melted, spread your chocolate evenly on a sheet tray lined with parchment paper and start loading it up!

I did two flavors with mine.  This half has the cherries and almonds and the other half has the apricots and pistachios.  Yummy!

 

Now just let it chill for about 30 minutes, I put mine on the screened in porch since it was so cold today, but the fridge is just fine.  When it hardens back up again break it into small pieces and you have a delicious homemade fairly good for you candy bar that you can snack on and not feel guilty about!

So simple and so delicious!  Keep cooking!  <3