By Bernadette Kathryn, LMT, IHLC

Guidelines for the Game or days off the sanctioned meal plan. It’s an important factor because we all need a days off — to recuperate and regroup. Doing the same things day in and day out will set us up for a disaster. While routine is good and healthy, we all need boundaries, we also need change, excitement and fun!

 

We need a day off of work, day off of exercise, dieting —

 

we need a little naughty mixed in with our nice 🙂

 

 

That’s what this is all about, having some fun on our day off!

 

Making your own Spicy Chocolate Bark is a great way to have some fun with your family and friends. You can spice the nuts to suit your taste and roast them off in the oven while melting the chocolate on the stove.  You get to manage the project by choosing organic chocolate and organic nuts, ensuring that you and your family get the quality you want and deserve — while creating the anticipation of the fun when it’s all set!

 

This is a great project to do with your kids or make ahead for a dinner party — everyone becomes a kid again when you are faced with a big plate of chocolate bark and you get to break it into pieces.

 

making chocolate bark - Living Fit Lifestyle

 

Bonus — there is lots of evidence that Chocolate is good for you, dark chocolate!  That doesn’t mean go out and eat the whole tray of spicy chocolate bark all by yourself — it means that eating a good quality chocolate in reasonable quantities (thumb size piece daily) can be good for your heart health. The study claims that daily consumption of dark chocolate can reduce the risk of stroke and heart attack in some high-risk patients.  The study only applied to Dark Chocolate and found that daily consumption of 3.5 ounces of chocolate over a period of ten years could possibly reduce the risk of cardiac events.

 

 

Here’s what I did:

 

  • Preheat the oven to 350•
  • Gather my spices — cinnamon, nutmeg & cayenne
  • 1 egg white, whipped with 2 T agave nectar and spices
  • Toss the nuts in the egg white and spice mixture
  • Spread the nut mixture out on a sheet tray and place in the middle of your preheated oven
  • Roast in the oven at 350• for approx 15 mins — may vary with your oven, pay attention to the smell
  • Chop the chocolate with a serrated knife
  • Melt over a double boiler — place a bowl over small amount of simmering water to steam the chocolate, do not let the water boil or touch the bowl… simmer
  • Once the chocolate is melted and the nuts are roasted, put the nuts into the chocolate
  • Then pour onto a sheet tray covered with parchment paper and set aside to cool
  • You can put this into the fridge for quicker results
  • Once the chocolate is set — break and enjoy!!