Chocolate Coated Vodka Infused Strawberries

Summer is finally here in VANCOUVER! It's been a pretty sad summer with the sun peeping out for a few days at a time.  At least for the long weekend, Mr. Sunshine has decided to come out :)

You know what that means...BBQ time!! I'm actually getting ready to head out to a beach BBQ with my Chocolate Coated Vodka Infused Strawberries but am waiting for the hubby to come back from an errand run first.  In the meantime, I figure I'll post what I just made for the BBQ!

First off, the BBQ is for a friend's bday and the food theme appears to revolve around alcohol in various forms.  There are people making vodka infused pineapple, watermelon, fruity jello shots, and various other alcoholic delicacies :) Last night, I was surfing on the internet trying to find ideas as to what I can bring to the BBQ and came across chocolate dipped strawberry recipes.  It was very intriguing so I started to search for "Alcoholic chocolate strawberry" and pages of ideas popped onto my screen.  YAY!

As I was reading, a lot of different coating methods and alcohol suggestions were made by various people but here's what I used which I haven't seen anything similar online yet.

This is my first dessert posting so I hope you guys like it!

Ingredients:

- 1 bottle Smirnoff Marshmallow flavoured vodka (yes, they do come in marshmallow flavour!) You can also use Chocolate vodka (most popular type of vodka found on online recipes but I couldn't find it at the Liquor Store that I went to.

- 1 500g bag of Herseys Chipits, semi sweet
- 2 cartons of starwberries (they are the smaller ones from Safeway)
- 1/2 cups of shredded coconut, unsweetened
-  parchment paper or wax paper

 Super short list of ingredients!

Directions:

1. Wash and drain strawberries and place in an air tight container.  I used a Pyrex baking pan with a lid.  Do not overload the pan as the lid needs to be able to secure tightly.

 2. Pour the vodka into the baking pan with the strawberries and rearrange so that each strawberry is at least 80% submerged into the alcohol.

3. Seal the pan tightly.  I put plastic wrap over the glass baking pan first then the lid.  Put it in the fridge over night for at least 12 hours (up to 24 hours).  The longer you let it soak, the more alcohol you'll taste in the strawberries.

Look how beautifully submerged they are! <3!

4.  The following day, line your plate with paper towels  and air dry your strawberries.  I actually saved the Vodka for my next batch and poured it back into the original bottle :) It turned the Vodka into a pretty pink that has a hint of strawberry flavour (yep...I tried a shot at 10am :S) You want to remove as much liquid as you can from the strawberries so that the melted chocolate will stick properly. Chocolate has oil in it so if your strawberries are too wet, it'll repel the chocolate and will coat properly. I used chopsticks to transpose it from the glass pan to the towelled plate.

5. Pat dried some of the strawberries to speed up the process :)

6. While the strawberries are drying, prepare the chocolate chips for coating.  I used the microwave method in a small bowl and refilled my chocolate mixture about 3 times for all of the strawberries. 

7.  Starting with about a cup of chocolate chips, pour into a microwavable bowl and microwave it on low for about 1 minute.  Depending on how strong your microwave is, you may want to use shorter time intervals, stirring with a metal spoon inbetween each interval.  Make sure NO WATER gets into the chocolate.

 8.  Note that chocolate tends to hold its shape even though it is melted so be sure to keep stirring to break it down.  Below is a picture of how the chocolate looks like out of the microwave and though it looks like there are still chunks in there, it is actually thoroughly melted.  It was just perfect for the coating process.

9. Prepare other garnishes for the strawberries (ie, coconut, roasted peanuts, or anything else you may have in the pantry that you think will go well with it).  I had shredded coconut in my pantry so I used this as decorations :)

10. Line a tray or large plate with parchment/wax paper.  This is where you will place your dipped strawberries while they are cooling.

 11. Gently holding the green parts of the strawberries, roll each strawberry in the chocolate and sprinkle your decoration while the chocolate is still wet.  This will allow it to adhere to the chocolate while it cools.

 12. Repeat making the chocolate coating as you use up the dip, microwaving in short intervals and mixing well.  The chocolate mixture should not be too hot nor too runny.

13. Voilà! You are done and they are beautiful! They have a light alcohol taste that is bitter sweet <3.

Enjoy!

Baked Spaghetti Bolognese with Ground Turkey Sauce

This is another one of hubby's recipes :) He found this online and we made a few modifications to it.  The first time we made it, we used ground beef and it was really good but we wanted to cut down on our red meat intake.  The second time we made, we decided to use ground chicken instead but it was pretty dry (so we don't recommend it).  Finally, we decided to use ground turkey and it worked surprisingly well.

In this recipe, we had precooked our ground turkey the day before because we had already defrosted a tray of meat but we got called to dinner at my in-law's for home cooked Pho...oh so YUM!!  How could we turn down such a yummy invitation!?  Hence, the precooked turkey that sat in the fridge overnight :)

As you can see, this recipe is quite versatile from the type of meat used, to whether the meat is fresh or precooked. You can even swap the pasta to your favourite type.

Here are the ingredients we used for this recipe :)

 Veges & Meat:
- 5-7 button mushrooms, chopped
- 1 small yellow onion or half of a large one, chopped
- 5 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tray of turkey meat (I buy the four pack from Costco) or 2-3lbs of ground lean beef or chicken
- 1 can diced tomatoes
- 6 oz pasta sauce (use your favourite one!)
- 1/2 can tomato paste
- 1 medium carrot, shredded
- 1-2 cups of shredded mozzarella cheese
- 1.5 cups ketchup

Spices
- 1 tbsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp red pepper flakes
- 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
- 1 tbsp soy sauce
- 2 tbsp brown sugar or raw sugar
- 2 tbsp olive oil

Pasta
- Spaghetti, whole wheat, cooked and drained.

Directions:
1. Shred carrot, mince garlic, chop onions, chop mushrooms.

2. Heat up a large sauce pan on med/high heat with some olive oil.  Cook carrots, onions, and mushrooms until soft.  Add minced garlic last.

3. Add the cooked ground turkey to the mixture.  Lower heat if needed.

4. Add the diced tomatoes (along with the liquids in the can), tomato paste, ketchup, and pasta sauce. Mix well.  You can increase the heat a bit so that all of the liquids are properly mixed together.

5. Add in the rest of the spices so that everything is the pan (except for the cheese and spaghetti of course).  If you don't like it with a little kick, skip the red pepper flakes or use less.

6. Stir and let the sauce simmer for a few minutes.

7. Cook pasta according to box directions.  It tastes better if you make the pasta fresh so don't cook too much in one go!  You can always refrigerate the leftover sauce for another day.

8. Place drained pasta into a baking dish and spoon sauce over it.  I use just enough to cover all of the pasta.

9. Load up the dish with cheese sprinkled on top.  Looks familiar doesn't it?  Hong Kong Style Baked Pork Chop on Fried Rice perhaps?!

10. Bake at 400 degrees for about 10-15 mins until the cheese is melted and yummy!

11. Plate and serve nice and hot out of the oven!

Enjoy!! <3