One of the perks of writing a blog is that we are constantly plied with free offers. We get almost daily emails asking us to try a product and review it. Our answer, 90% of the time, is an automatic no. Until we were offered chocolate. Jonathan from See’s Candies emailed us and asked us if we would be kind enough to sample and review their chocolate mix

Can you say absolutely?! I did.

Jonathan sent over a box of milk chocolate and we were all in heaven.  I shared with a few friends, and they all loved it.  The only problem was that the chocolates didn’t come with a guide, so we had to cut in half to make sure we didn’t get anything we hated.

I’m thinking about ordering a box of the peppermints for our office Easter basket.

Apparently we do have a price, lots and lots of chocolate!

There are a plethora of recipes for roasted chicken. I loosely followed this Double Herb Roasted Chicken recipe from MyRecipes.com.  Roasting chicken is very easy and economical.  One chicken provides two meals for two (perfect for newlyweds) or one meal for four (perfect for two couples).  You can also use the leftovers to make homemade chicken noodle soup!

A few tips for a the perfectly roasted chicken:

• Before seasoning, rinse the chicken and then pat dry.  Dry skin equals better roasting.
• Don’t be afraid to season (outside, under the skin, in the cavity).
• Cook at 450 degrees for the first 30 minutes, and then reduce to 350 for the remainder of the time.  This seals in the flavor and creates a crispier outside.
• Remove the skin equals removing fat.
• Use a broiling pan for crispier potatoes and a lower fat dinner.

Any other chicken roasters out there?

Prepare thyselves!  This recipe is seriously coma inducing, even for the most prepared chocolate consumer out there.  I was all “Two ounce ramekins are so small.  They’ll never satisfy the beast.” Then I ate 1/3 of the much larger ramekin size and realized there was no way to finish.

I give you Chocolate Decadence, from MyRecipes.

Ingredients:

• Cooking spray
• 1/2  cup  plus 3 tablespoons sugar
• 1/4  cup  2% reduced-fat milk
• 2  tablespoons  plus 2 teaspoons unsweetened cocoa
• 1 1/2  tablespoons  butter
• 1/2  ounce  unsweetened chocolate, chopped
• 5  tablespoons  all-purpose flour
• 1/2  teaspoon  vanilla extract
• 1/8  teaspoon  salt
• 1  large egg white
• 8  teaspoons  semisweet chocolate chips

Lightly coat 4 (2-ounce) ramekins with cooking spray, and sprinkle 3/4 teaspoon sugar into each of the ramekins, shaking and turning to coat. Set prepared ramekins aside.

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What did I do for our Valentines Dinner?

I moved the laptop to the kitchen to chat with E while cooking.

Mr. Keiller also kept me company while Frank worked on a logo.

I roasted chicken and potatoes.

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