Dairy free chocolate sauce with tree sugar and a sexy vegetable

In case you didn't know, avocados are awesome. Now that we're avoiding dairy, avocados crop up everywhere to replace the creaminess of full fat dairy. Think about it, if you had to use one adjective to describe avocados, what would that adjective be? Creamy. No two ways about it.

Also, it's maple syrup season here in Canada and I got an awesome deal on something like a 4 year supply of maple syrup. Every can comes up to about $6 Canadian. If you don't feel like converting that, just trust me when I say that it's a great deal since here cans usually cost $9.

So here's a great, simple recipe for a versatile chocolate sauce.

Mix together 1 ripe avocado, 1/4 cup coco powder and 1/4 cup maple syrup. That's it. Now you can spread it on fruit, on toast (especially if you add a bit of hazelnut butter to the mix), on cupcakes, on your face and have your spouse lick it off. Go nuts! It only took like, what, 3 minutes to make?

Maple Syrup, Ancho Chili and Rum Caramelized Salmon

Sugar, spice, booze and arguably the best fish ever to swim in water are a match made in heaven. Or in my kitchen.

There's nothing too complicated about this recipe. I fried salmon in a bit of canola oil, flipped it over then poured in some maple syrup, a generous few pinches of smoky dark ancho chili powder, and a splash of white rum (be careful if you have a gas range...you don't want to flambé your forehead). I then turned the salmon in it, letting the edges caramelize as it cooked, making sure not to overheat the sauce thus causing it to burn. Maybe a bit of garlic would have been a good addition. But this worked nonetheless. Simple and yummy.

Baked Brie & Maple Syrup

The building I work in caught fire over the weekend and so I'm off till Thursday with pay. It's really going to be the best week of "work" ever. And best of all I get to cook breakfast, lunch and supper while listening to Bénabar and company.

I started off the day with a white grapefruit sweetened with a bit of brown sugar and a coffee. What you see in that little boat-like dish is the best breakfast you could ever make. I got the recipe from Déjeuner Chez Cora, a Québec chain of breakfast restaurants famous for serving mountains of fruit with every single plate. Though delicious, breakfast there usually sets you back at least $40 for two. So making this dish at home is not only convenient and delicious but gives the old wallet a break too. Anyways, enough about the virtues of being a cheapskate, here is the recipe for the baked brie & maple Syrup.

Fill the bottom of a small ovenproof dish with nuts of choice (I serve it with walnuts but it's great with any nut or nut mix). Cover nuts with slices of brie and then with slices of apple. Top the whole thing with about 3 tablespoons worth of pure maple syrup, none of that fake syrup c*!p. You should have enough maple syrup to sweeten but not make your head spin in a crazy sugar rush. After all ingredients have been combined, place prepared dish in 350 degree oven for about 10 minutes and eat hot. You'll never want to eat bacon and eggs ever again. Oh, and don't forget the fruit.