Chocolate Bacon Cheeseburger

Chocolate, bacon and cheeseburger.  Those three words are probably the unhealthiest sounding words that you could say at the same time, but also the most amazing combination that you could ever taste.

Have you ever imagined a burger so remarkable that will leave you drooling just by one look? Well the genius at Epic Nomz has taken that imaginary burger and turned it into a reality.

The ingredient that makes this burger what is has to be the chocolate covered bacon.

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So just imagine, the chocolate covered bacon being placed on top of the sizzling beef patty, causing the chocolate to melt so that you can taste it in every bite.

Oh and did I mention that the cheese is inside of the burger? Well it is.

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Every bite of this burger will satisfy, and when you’re done you’ll be begging for more.

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If you’re interested in trying this recipe, you can find it here.

 

Chocolate Pasta?

Pasta is something that I can eat any day.  Spicy pasta, creamy pasta, or any type of pasta is a meal that I can have on a daily basis.  So you could only imagine how happy I was when I went to Italy, the birthplace of pasta.

One thing I did expect while I was there was to be in pasta heaven.  But what caught me off guard was the discovery of a whole new type of pasta, chocolate pasta.

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While I was there I had the chocolate pasta in a sweet dish, with berries and cream, but the noodles themselves tasted like unsweetened cocoa powder. So I began to wonder, can chocolate pasta be used to make an entrée?

When I got back to the states, my mind was still on the idea of chocolate pasta, so did some research and found a dinner recipe that used chocolate pasta.

I convinced my dad to make it for me one night and I was not disappointed.  The recipe was really simple, jus a light cream sauce with chicken and peppers, but the flavors complimented each other very well.

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This pasta is now one of my favorites and it is a regular dinner dish at my household.  It is definitely a recipe that I would recommend if you like alfredo pasta.

If you are interested in trying this recipe, you can find it here.

 

Cuban Oxtail Stew

If you haven’t noticed from the rest of my blog posts, I am pretty adventurous when it comes to food.  I will try any type of food what so ever.  I might be scared at times but usually at the end of the experience I have another favorite food.

One thing that I have tried that scared me was oxtail.  I didn’t like the idea of eating the tail of any animal.  It also didn’t help that it didn’t look very appetizing uncooked.

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The first time I had oxtail; my dad tried this amazing stew recipe that I just had to share.

Even though the recipe is a Cuban recipe, the unsweetened cocoa powder that the recipe calls for gives the stew a mole taste, which is more of a Mexican flavor.  Regardless, the ingredients blend well together and make the perfect meal.

The second my dad put the stew on the table, all of my doubts about oxtail faded away.  The un-appetizing oxtails magically became the most appetizing thing I had seen in a while.

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This stew is perfect for these cold months, it will warm you from the inside out while satisfied your taste buds.

My favorite way to eat it is over rice.  The rice soaks up all of the juices by making it even tastier.

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If you are interested in trying this dish, you can find the recipe here.

 

Vegetarian Chocolate Chili

So now we’re going to take a trip back to my vegetarian days, back when I would scour the campus for the best vegetarian meals.

Unfortunately, like most college students would tell you, all food on campus gets old in about two weeks.

So like every student, I would venture off campus for a little bit of a change up and it wasn’t until I went to my friend’s house for dinner that I found one of my favorite vegetarian dishes.

The vegetarian chocolate chili that my friend’s mom made for me will be one that I will remember forever.

The besides the chocolate, my favorite ingredient in this chili would have to be the orange zest.

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The zest adds a sweet acidic flavor that hits you at the end.  It is just the refreshing kick that this dish needed.

The chocolate itself only makes the flavor of the chili richer as a whole.

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If you are interested in this recipe you can find it here.

 

Tofu Mole Enchiladas

Last semester I decided to try something new and become a vegetarian.  I didn’t really have a specific reason, maybe I was bored and wanted to make a drastic change, but I think I mostly just wanted to try it out.

It didn’t last for very long, it lasted around 4 months, because I couldn’t stay away from meat for long. But it was a lot easier than I thought it would be because I discovered some new foods that made the journey enjoyable.

Surprisingly, tofu was one of those foods.  By itself tofu is tasteless, but I soon learned that tofu takes the taste of whatever it is cooked with.

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After learning that fun fact I began mixing the tofu into foods that I used to eat.  I discovered that my favorite taste to mix the tofu with is something spicy.

Then found this recipe for tofu mole enchiladas and fell in love.

Of course I had to make sure that there was some sort of chocolate in it to make the recipe even more perfect.

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The flavors of this dish mostly consist of spice but it is also a bit sour and sweet.

If you’re a vegetarian and love tofu and spicy foods then this is the dish for you.  It makes being a vegetarian fun.

If you’re interested in this recipe you can find it here.

 

Jollyrogers’ Chilaquiles

My last entry was the simplest dish that I have posted on this page, so this time I decided to counter it with my most complex dish.  The name itself, Jollyrogers’ Chilaquiles, is complicated enough but the ingredient list is even more complicated.

But don’t get scared off too easily because complex usually means the best combination of flavors.

If the name didn’t give it away, this is a Mexican dish.  No, it is not the typical tacos or burritos.

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No. This is even better. This is CHILAQUIES!  For those of you that don’t know, chilaquiles is kind of like a nacho dish but usually served for breakfast with a fried egg, beans, and your choice of meat.

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This particular dish is for dinner, not for breakfast.  So basically just take away the egg and add a whole bunch of other stuff including our beloved chocolate!

One bite of this and it will make your taste buds on earth.  It’s sour, spicy, salty, savory, and a tad bit sweet.  The bittersweet chocolate is a small contributor to the sweet section of the flavors, but without it the dish would be completely dish.

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The perks of this entrée keeps coming when you find out that it only takes one hour to prepare.

If you’re ever trying to impress your friends at a dinner party, this is the perfect recipe to whip out.  Everyone at that dinner table will be raving about your cooking skills for days.

This would have to be my number one recommended dish on my blog, for now.

If you are interested, you can find the recipe here.

 

Where’s the Beef?

In my household, my mother is not the typical stay-at-home mom that cooks dinner for the family every night. No, actually my mom probably cooks maybe 3 times out of the year.  Instead my dad is the chef of the house.

My dad doesn’t mind being the cook in our house.  He has always had a love for cooking and once he married my mom, she became more than just his wife more importantly she became his guinea pig and when my brother and I came into the picture my father gained two more.

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Now that im in college it is easy for me to say that my dad’s cooking is what I miss most about home.  One the most memorable dishes of my father’s repertoire would have to be his beef stew.

Every super bowl Sunday we invite a bunch of family and friends over to our house to share my dad’s wonderful beef stew and scream at the TV.

After cooking down the meat for about 5 hours the meat is tender, the carrots sweet, the chocolate perfectly melted into the broth.

 

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I think this is one of my favorite dishes because each bite unveils each layer of flavor.  I don’t think I have ever been able to stop myself from getting seconds whenever my dad put his stew on the table.

This beef stew will be perfect for the cold months that are coming up.  I know that I will be craving it till the day that I go home and see the stew sitting on the table.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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You can find the recipe for this beef stew here.

 

Cinnamon, Chocolate and Ribs? OH MY!

When people think of braised short ribs, they think of tender meat that falls off the bone surrounded in a pool of savory sauce that the meat absorbs to make for the perfect bite.  Just the thought of such a meal is enough to make my mouth water.

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To stay true to my chocolate theme, I did a little digging to find the perfect recipe. The Braised Beef Short Ribs With Chocolate And Cinnamon uses the magnificent power of chocolate to better the taste of such a great dish, and yes it is possible.

The name of the dish might throw you off a little bit, but when you stop to think about it, some of the weirdest things turn out to be the most amazing things.  For example, yams and marshmallows make for the best thanksgiving side dish, right?

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After reading the recipe I was afraid that the chocolate and cinnamon would over power the dish but they actually served as perfect compliments to the dish.

Truth is, the chocolate and cinnamon take the short ribs to the next level.

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My first bite into this dish is an experience that words will never be able to justify, but I’ll try to explain it anyways.  Simply put, It was the perfect combination of savory and sweet.

The cinnamon added a little spice that hit the back of your throat just right.  The chocolate, oh the chocolate, added the perfect hint of sweetness that made this dish to die for.

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The only two down sides to this whole experience are the length of the preparation and the fact that it isn’t the healthiest meal.

If you’re the type of foodie that isn’t afraid to try something new and different, then this is the meal for you.

Will you take the risk?

You can find the recipe here.