Best Nutella Carolina Trash/Puppy Chow Ever

One of my favorite things to make is puppy chow, otherwise known as muddy buddies and Carolina trash. This treat is so easy to make and it taste amazing! Chex Mix has now created their own version, but nothing taste better than the homemade one.

Ingredients:

¾ box of Chex (either Rice or Corn)

2 cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 cup of nutella or peanut butter

1 tspn vanilla extract (optional)

Approximately ½ cup powdered sugar (may require more or less)

The Recipe:

1.       Melt the chocolate in either the microwave or on the stove top, then add the vanilla extract, and peanut butter or nutella. (WARNING: if you use nutella you need to move very quickly with the next step, because the combination of melted chocolate and nutella cause the mixture to “seize up” to where it cannot be moved) (if this happens, you can make molten cakes…recipe to follow)

2.       Pour the chex into a bowl; then cover with the warm concoction prepared in step 1. Mix until all of the chex are completely covered in the chocolate mixture.

3.       After this, pour the contents into a bag with the powdered sugar. Shake the bag until the puppy chow looks like the above picture. Be careful because too much powdered sugar does not taste very good. I usually try to slowly add the sugar by maybe ¼ a cup or so until it is my desired thickness

*Note: Sometimes the quantity of chex or powdered sugar can vary based on the consistency of the chocolate and peanut butter/nutella mixture. The nutella makes a thicker liquid than the peanut butter so it is sometimes harder to combine with the chex. This is one of those recipes that will never taste bad if you like the ingredients

Delicious Eggplant Tower with Pesto, Mozzarella, and Tomatoes

One of my favorite things to make recently has been this little creation that contains sliced eggplant covered in pesto with a tomato slice and mozzarella on top. This tower is perfect on top of a salad with a little balsamic vinegar and olive oil or on top of grains like quinoa with a soy sauce dressing. Since I am a vegetarian I like the heartiness of the eggplant with the fresh tomato on top. Not to mention this recipe takes only approximatly 25 minutes!

Ingredients (serves ~4)
2 eggplant
2 tomatoes (any kind will do, in the pictures I used a yellow Brandywine heirloom tomato)
1 fresh buffalo mozzarella
4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
4 tbsp pesto
1 pepper sliced
1/2 Onion sliced
Balsamic vinegar*
More evoo*
Lettuce*

Recipe

1.      Preheat the oven to 400^o F

2.      Slice the eggplant into ½” to 1” thick slices. Slice the tomato and mozzarella into ½” slices.

3.      Place the eggplant in a glass oven container similar to the one shown in the picture below. The size depends on the quantity of towers created

4.      Put a little bit of the olive oil on each eggplant slice, spread across entire eggplant

5.      Place a ½ tbsp of pesto (or more if so desired) on top of the olive oil on each eggplant slice

6.      Top the pesto with one slice of the mozzarella then one slice of the tomato

7.      Top the tomato with the sliced peppers and onions (or you can place onion slices between each layer to add extra flavor)

8.      Cook the towers in the oven for approximately 10 minutes; then change the setting on the oven to broil

9.      Broil the food for approximately 3 minutes, just long enough so that the mozzarella begins to melt (as you can see in the following picture)

10.      After this take the towers out and place them on a bed of lettuce or grains or eat by themselves

11.      For my example I sliced up the remaining tomato and pepper, added sprouts, lettuce. Then I drizzled a little balsamic vinegar and extra virgin olive oil on top. Delicious!