Melanie Mendelson

Yummy beautiful dessert that is really easy to make - no cooking skills required!

Ingredients:

10 strawberries
1 8oz chocolate bar

Wash strawberries, and dot with paper towels to dry. The strawberries have to be really dry, otherwise the chocolate won’t stick to them.

Put the chocolate in a microwave-safe bowl, and microwave for several minutes until melted.

Put a piece of parchment paper on the counter (so the chocolate strawberries don’t stick). But if you don’t have parchment paper, you can use a piece of foil or a large plate.

Dip strawberries in chocolate, and lay on the parchment paper.

Refrigerate for 30 minutes, so the chocolate hardens.

Enjoy!

Melanie Mendelson
http://www.goforyourdreams.com/

16 oz dark chocolate
1 cup heavy cream
1 tbsp liquor (optional) (if using, coffee liquor goes really well here)

Break up chocolate into small pieces.

Heat the cream just to the point of simmering.  Watch it the whole time, since boiling cream can overflow the pot!  Remove from heat right away once it starts to simmer. 

Stir in the chocolate and liquor (if using), and keep stirring until the chocolate has melted completely.  Let cool, then put in the refrigerator. 

Check the consistency of the truffle mixture after 2 hours in the refrigerator.  You should be able to roll balls from it.  If it’s too soft (impossible to roll balls), put it back in the refrigerator and check again after 30 minutes.

Line the baking sheet with parchment paper.  Once the truffle mixture is the right consistency, use a spoon to put some of it on your hands, roll into balls and put the balls on the parchment paper. 

Put the baking sheet with truffles in the freezer for 30 minutes.  After you remove them from the freezer, put on a plate and enjoy!  Store the truffles in the refrigerator.

Melanie Mendelson
http://www.goforyourdreams.com

 

Ingredients:

2 lbs skinless boneless chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch pieces
oil for frying

Sauce:
1 cup orange juice
5 tbsp white vinegar
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
4 garlic cloves, minced
1-inch piece of ginger root, grated
1/2 tsp red pepper
1 tbsp cornstarch

Coating:

4 egg whites, whisked
1 cup cornstarch

Directions:

Combine all sauce ingredients except cornstarch and mix well. 

Put chicken pieces in a bowl and pour 1 cup of the sauce over the chicken (reserve the rest of the sauce).  Mix it with your hands so all the chicken is covered with sauce.  Leave to marinate at room temperature for 30 minutes.

Put the remaining sauce in a sauce pan and bring to a boil.  In a small bowl, whisk 1 tbsp cornstarch with 1 tbsp of water.  Add cornstarch mixture to the sauce and stir for 2 minutes, until sauce is thickened.

Fry the chicken:

You will need to fry it in batches, so the chicken pieces are not crowded in the pan - they need to fit in a single layer without much touching.

Heat the oil (enough to cover the bottom of the pan) in a large frying pan over medium-high heat.  Put 1 cup of cornstarch in a large plate.

Coat the first batch of chicken pieces - dip them in the egg whites (so they are covered in egg white all over), then remove from egg whites and roll in the cornstarch (so they are covered with cornstarch all over). 

Put the chicken in a frying pan.  Fry, stirring occasionally, for about 3 minutes, until golden-brown all over.  Remove from the frying pan. 

Add more oil to the pan (enough to cover the bottom of the pan).  Repeat coating and frying with the remaining batches of chicken.

If the sauce got cold, reheat it.  Pour the sauce over the chicken, stir so it’s coated, and serve.

Melanie Mendelson
http://www.goforyourdreams.com

This recipe is for true avocado lovers!

We want to enjoy the pure taste of avocado that we love so much!

No mixing it with lame fillers like tomatoes or onions - just the pure succulent taste of tender, buttery avocado that you can roll around with your tongue and enjoy every moment of it!

Take 1 ripe avocado. Cut it in half, remove the pit, scoop out the flesh with a fork. Make sure the avocado is fresh and does not have any brown in it - spoiled avocado is a no-no for us, true avocado lovers! Mash it with the fork, and sprinkle with some salt. Make sure to taste it before putting too much salt - we want the salt to bring out the taste of avocado, not overpower it.

That’s it! Avocado and salt - everything genious is simple. Enjoy! You can just eat it with a big spoon… without anything else to interfere with your avocado-eating experience!

Melanie Mendelson
http://www.goforyourdreams.com

Gooey warm melted cheese inside of crispy hot tortilla! Only takes a couple of minutes to make!

For each quesadilla:

1 large flour tortilla
A large handful of shredded cheese

Heat 1 tsp of oil in a frying pan over medium-high heat.  Put the cheese on the tortilla, then fold the tortilla in half (so the cheese is inside) and put folded tortilla on the frying pan. 

After 2 minutes, flip the quesadilla and cook the other side for another 2 minutes.  Remove from heat and serve.  Enjoy!

Melanie Mendelson
http://www.goforyourdreams.com

Yummy breakfast!  Great with maple syrup!

10 slices of bread
2 cups of milk
2 eggs
2 tbsp sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tbsp oil

Heat the old in a non-stick frying pan over medium-high heat.

Whisk the eggs, milk, sugar and cinnamon in a bowl. 

Dip a slice of bread in the milk mixture, then turn it, dip the other side and put on a frying pan.  Repeat with the remaining slices (that fit in a frying pan).  Cook for 2 minutes, then flip the bread, reduce heat to medium and cook for another 4 minutes.

Note: I like to cut the bread slices diagonally (like a triangle) before dipping and frying.  This way more bread fits on a frying pan.  I also use 2 frying pans at once.

Melanie Mendelson
http://www.goforyourdreams.com