Mrs. Cavenaugh's Chocolate Factory Tour

Because I love chocolate so much, I took another factory tour with my family and friends.  This time we toured Mrs. Cavenaugh's Chocolate Factory, a local "Mom and Pop Shop" located in Salt Lake City.

Mrs. Cavenaugh is a real person.  She began making chocolates by simply experimenting with her family's recipes.  After giving them her own unique flare, she began making them for neighbors.  She quickly gained recognition and popularity, so she decided to go for her dream and sell her confections.  In 1964, she took out a $15,000 loan, even though the banker seriously doubted her success.  But she gave him a box of her chocolates as a "token of thanks" (or bribe?).  He opened them at once and proceeded to eat the entire box.  He loved them so much that he became her very first customer, ordering 200 pounds of chocolate when she opened her shop!

Upon entering the factory, we watched Lori hand-tempering some molten chocolate in preparation for dipping almond clusters.

 It was really fun to watch her literally pick up the liquid chocolate and drop it back down onto the granite stone to cool it to the perfect temperature.  Then we watched her mix in the almonds and drop clumps of it into candy papers.

Have you ever seen that I Love Lucy episode, where she gets a job at the chocolate factory?  Yeah, it's just like that...  (Unfortunately, I couldn't find the one of her dipping chocolate, but this part is still really funny!)

The Top 10 Things I Learned:
1.  The factory makes about 100,000 pounds of chocolate each year.

2.  Mrs. Cavenaugh's most popular item is the Mindy Mint, but the Cherry Cordial is the most popular item sold online.

3.  The Aztec Chief Montezuma supposedly drank 50 cups of dark chocolate liquid every day.  Hmmmm... I wonder how much he weighed?

4.  Liquid chocolate is called Chocolate Liquor, even though it is not alcoholic.  Wait!  Maybe that's why I go into a drunken stupor after eating chocolate!!!  Bring it on!!!

5.  I LOVE I Love Lucy (they showed the Chocolate Dipping Episode at the end of the tour).

6.  Cacao is more successfully grown on small farms rather than on large plantations because they can't handle too much sun.

7.  It takes 5-7 days to dry cocoa beans.

8.  The Spanish learned about the warm chocolate liquid Montezuma drank, tried it, took it back to Spain and added milk and sugar to make it more palatable.  Smart thinkin'!

9.  Only 10% of the cacao pods growing on a tree actually mature into "fruit."

Caramel Popcorn cooling on the fourth table from the front

10.  Marie employed all of her kids in the family business and called them "The Youngest Dippers in Captivity."

The original cash register.  Might be a little out dated now...

Question of the Day:

Have you ever seen I Love Lucy?  What is your favorite episode?

Mine:

This was the first time I had ever seen it, but I was laughing so hard I almost fell off the bench I was sitting on!  I'm still laughing about it!

Dark Chocolate Covered Bananacicle

OH MY GOOBERS!!!  

I CAN'T BELIEVE IT'S SUMMER!!!

Ah, summer: the time of year when it's awesome to swim, bike, bake, hike, and eat popsicles...

One problem: I don't have popsicles at my house (hence the phrase: My mom is the Food Nazi).

We also don't have chocolate... Well, we do, but I don't know where my dear, sweet mother hid it.

[Mom here: all chocolate and peanut butter is banned to the locked safe...]

BUT, we do have frozen bananas.  So, taking a little inspiration from Chocolate Covered Katie, I took the liberty of making my own dipping chocolate and made a Dark-Chocolate-Covered Bananacicle.  (Try saying that 7 times fast!)

They are super yummy and super easy to make...

The nice thing about them is that the chocolate is pretty dark but mellows out nicely with the banana.  It makes a great satisfying snack that isn't super addicting and leaving you hunting for more sugar... or chocolate...

Dark Dipping Chocolate:

2 tbsp coconut oil

3 tbsp cocoa powder

30 drops liquid stevia

2-4 shakes of salt

1/16 tsp vanilla

2 frozen bananas, cut into chunks

Melt the coconut oil in the microwave for 15 seconds.  Mix in the cocoa powder, stevia, salt and vanilla.  Stir until all the clumps are gone.

Dip the banana chunks into the chocolate mixture and allow to cool on a cookie sheet lined with waxed paper.  

Watch in awe as the chocolate mixture hardens in less than 30 seconds.

Eat and enjoy the crunch of "mock dark chocolate magic shell" on the creamy, dreamy freezy banana.

This is kid tested and Food Nazi Mother approved!

Question Of the Day:

What are you excited for most this summer?

Me:

LAKE POWELL!!!  Costa Rica, and Girls Camp!

Sweet's Candy Factory Tour

Who likes CANDY?

ME, ME, ME,ME, MEEEEEEEEEEE!!

Yesterday, I got to go to Sweet's Candy Factory and take a tour of how they make their delectable treats.

Sweet's is most famous for their Salt Water Taffy.  They ship it all over the country.  I saw lots of pallets wrapped and ready to be sent to.... Wal-Mart!  Located in cities I never heard of before...

I was not able to take pictures inside the factory because it was strictly prohibited.  Upon entering the facility, all jewelry, watches, phones, jackets, cameras, etc. were confiscated and stored for retrieval after the tour.  We even got to wear some really sexy blue hairnets!  Again, I don't have a picture for your viewing pleasure.  If I had a beard, I could have gotten to wear a beard net too!  They kind of reminded me of the masks you see dentists wear.  Bummer.  I really wanted one...

Some interesting facts I learned on the tour:

1.  Sweet's uses 75,000 pounds of sugar every 4 days.  

That equals 3.9 million pounds of sugar each year!  

No wonder dentists stay in business...

2.  The shipping area is kept at a balmy 68 degrees because it's the perfect temperature for both the sugar candy and chocolate candy.  It looks like a Costco warehouse in there, but filled completely with candy.  The entire inventory is moved out every 30-40 days.

3.  Sweet's produces about 60,000 pounds of salt water taffy every 4 hours.  Eat that!!!

4.  Sweet's most popular candy is their salt water taffy.  

Can you guess the most popular flavor?  

Peppermint!

5.  Sweet's produces over 250 different types of candies, including about 50 flavors of salt water taffy.  (I'm kind of guessing on some of these figures since I could only take mental notes during the tour).

6.  Jelly candies are cooled in molds filled with corn starch.  Random, maybe, but it makes them not stick to the molds or each other, nor does it alter the flavor!  

Pretty smart!!!

My favorite parts:

1.  During the tour, I got to taste test the quality of some of the candies.  

YUM!!!  

I think I need a tour every day...

2.  The tubes running across the ceilings labeled: chocolate, hot water, and corn syrup.  

I wonder if they tap into that when they get too cold and make hot chocolate?

3.  Picking one of every flavor taffy from the bins:  buttered popcorn, smores, 

coconut key lime pie, huckleberry, cherry Coke, just to name a few...

Question of the Day:

If you were stranded in a candy factory with only candy as a resource, how would you escape?  

(No repeat ideas allowed!)

Me:

Well, I would take a whole bunch of licorice ropes and tie them together.  Then I would mold a grappling hook out of chocolate.  I would throw that hook through the window, allowing it to hook onto the window sill like Indiana Jones, then climb up the licorice rope and swing out the window to safety below.  Then I would have to eat the evidence...  

Mwahahahahahahahahah!

Butterfly Cupcakes

Ok, by now I think you probably know that I LOVE SUGAR!!!

And it so happened that I got to attend a cupcake decorating class for a church activity.  YIPEE!!

We made cupcakes with a big butterfly made out of chocolate.  

I made mine a Monarch Butterfly.

It was really easy.  

Chocolate Butterfly Cupcake Directions:

1. Draw all the different parts of the butterfly on a piece of paper.
2. Place a piece of waxed paper on top of the design and trace it onto the waxed paper.
3. Melt 2 different colors of chocolate in separate baggies.
4. Snip the tip off each bag.  Using 1 color, pipe the outline of the butterfly body and wings onto the waxed paper outline.
5. Using the other color, fill in the body and wings.  Gently shake the waxed paper a bit to get the chocolate smooth.
6. Allow to cool in the freezer.
7. Frost the cupcake.
8. Gently peel the chocolate wings and body off the waxed paper and place on frosted cupcake.
9. Admire for 5 seconds and then devour happily.

Optional:

If you want really cute frosted cupcake edges, gently roll the edge of the frosted cupcake in edible sprinkles.

Question of the Day:

Do you have a favorite cupcake design?

Me:

Any.  As long as they are super yummy!

La Ney Ferme Tour

A few days ago, my mom, a few family friends, my grand parents, and I got to tour a local veggie farm (that's what I call a farm that doesn't have animals) called La Ney Ferme.

It was neat to see how different ways of planing plants can effect their growth.  For instance, he had some plants planted inside mini "caves" or "tunnels" and others planted in normal garden beds.  The plants in the tunnel things grew quicker and faster than the crops growing outside.  It was quite interesting to see how the peas grown in the tunnel were about 3 feet taller than the peas growing outside... and they were even all planted at the same time!!!

My mom gets a lot of produce from the farm we toured.  I'm going to have to say that the strawberries are so good when they are fresh!!!

It's amazing how the "good stuff" at the store tastes absolutely terrible compared to fresh produce from a farm.

Question of the day:
What has been your favorite tour you've ever participated in?

Mine:
There is this ride at Disney World called Living with the Land (sounds boring right?).  You get in a boat contraption thing and it talks about plants and "living with the land/living green".  Anywho, it has an amazing garden place where they grow plants in different ways to see how somethings might grow better than others.  But my mom was able to get us into a behind the scene tour of the place it was absolutely AMAZING!!!

Here are a few pictures from that tour:

Brownies and Ice Cream

Chocolate is the answer to all problems.  

Well... almost all problems.

Ice cream solves the rest of them.

Anyways, as a lot of you know, chocolate is my love.  It is what keeps me sane or insane.  The latter would happen if chocolate suddenly stopped existing.

Yes, chocolate is my love and life.  So, what does a chocolate lover like me do when she is craving chocolate like there is no tomorrow?

She makes Brownies of course!

And to add to the magic of chocolate she makes ice cream too...  

As long as it's not green smoothie "ice cream."

But wait!  What about the Food Nazi dilemma?  (I'm sure some of you were wondering about that).  Since we are all trying to be "good," we took a little inspiration from the Body for Life program and recipe book.  But of course, we had to tweak it a little to fit what we had in the pantry.

Heehee... I love chocolate...  And ice cream..

Brownies:
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup xylitol
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 Tbsp coconut oil
1 Tbsp vanilla extract
6 egg whites, beaten
1/4 cp unsweetened applesauce
1/4 cup water

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Lightly coat an 8"x8" baking dish with cooking spray.
In a large mixing bowl, sift together the dry ingredients (flour-salt).
In a medium mixing bowl, combine the rest of the ingredients.  Pour wet mixture into flour mixture and stir until just well combined.
Pour bater into baking dish and bake until edges spring back when you touch them gently (center will be soft), about 15-20 minutes.
Allow to cool and then cut into 12-16 pieces.

Ice Cream:
1/2 cup almond milk*
1 scoop vanilla protein powder
2 frozen bananas, sliced

Blend almond milk and protein powder together.   Add sliced bananas and blend on high speed until smooth and creamy.
*NOTE:  You may need more almond milk, depending on your protein powder.  We used SunWarrior Warrior Blend and it really congeals liquid, so we used 1 cup of almond milk.

Question of the day:

What food keeps you sane?

Me:

CHOCOLATE!!!