PALEO CHOCOLATE “PEANUT” BUTTER CUPS AND COOL PEOPLE IN PEORIA, AZ

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By Lisa

This is an awesome recipe and will satisfy your sweet tooth like no other; however, I need to warn you about something. Before we get to the recipe, I’m going to get a little misty-eyed and weepy. Keep reading if you’d like or just skip to the recipe – it’s your choice. Remember: I warned you!

When Brian and I began to put our dream of CrossFit Incendia into motion last summer, we knew that we would have to move across the city to make it a reality. We had two friends that owned CrossFit gyms nearby to where we lived and just didn’t feel right about opening a gym close to either of them, so we moved about 45 minutes away to our new home in Peoria, AZ. For Brian, the move was a breeze. He grew up in the Northwest Valley and had many friends on this side of town from the Fire Department. For me, it wasn’t so easy. My family has been from Buckeye, AZ for five generations. I went to the same high school as my mom, dad,  grandma, many aunts/uncles, and most of my cousins. My family is the type of family where everyone lives in the same town, many members work in family businesses, you can’t stop in any of the establishments downtown without running into a cousin, and everyone is buried in the Buckeye Cemetery. That’s just the way it is. When I was younger, this felt incredibly restrictive and I vowed to get as far away as I could….so I moved from Buckeye to Avondale, AZ after college graduation. (Pretty far, huh?) I was still pretty close to my family, but everything changed once I started having children of my own. I felt the desire to get back to my “small town” roots and we moved to Verrado in Buckeye when Colton was a toddler. Boy did I love living there! I had my bestie for over 20 years, Jama, right around the corner and we could walk to each other’s houses for a NorCal when I was stressed out from being alone with the kids when Brian was on shift or she was alone because her hubby was on the farm. My girls were always there to help me on the days I was “single momming it,” whether it was picking up the kids from school because I worked late or running to Basha’s because I ran out of formula and my infant was sleeping. Colton had a little crew of boys that he began hanging out with when he was three years old and we became good friends with their parents. It was so cool for me because so many of the “old time” Buckeye folks lived in the community and there were new people to meet every day. It was definitely hard to leave.

I’m a total introvert (which some of you might find surprising). If we wouldn’t have had the gym when we moved to Peoria, I wouldn’t know anyone. I’ve never been the type of girl to chat someone up at the pedicure place/in line at a store/or anywhere where you do the small talk thing. I’ve never been the life of the party. Big cities and traffic freak me out. I get depressed when I can’t see desert or mountains. Honestly, it’s been tough being here without the support system of family and long-time friends. But, I know that it’s going to be ok. I’ve had so many situations in the past 10 months  where I’ve needed help with the kids or with the gym or the air conditioning or whatever, and you know what? I’ve met some awesome new people who have selflessly stepped in to lend a hand, many times without my even asking. I am so appreciative for the new people in my life. A couple of days ago, one of my new friends made me these awesome “peanut butter cups” and gave me a bottle of my favorite tequila because she was thinking about me. She said that she knew it had been a rough week for me. It doesn’t get much better than that. I’ve learned that it isn’t where you live, but who you surround yourself with that makes the difference. It took me 10 months, but I’m very optimistic about the future. Thank you J, for the gifts and for helping me come to that realization:)

Now, who’s ready for the recipe? These Paleo Chocolate “Peanut” Butter Cups come from one of my favorites, PaleOMG.  OMG they are delish! Try these. They are totally worth it.

Paleo Chocolate “Peanut” Butter Cups

Ingredients

1/2 Bag Dark Chocolate Chips

1/2 Cup Barney Butter Chunky Almond Butter

2 Tbs Raw Honey

1 Tsp Cinnamon

1/2 Tsp Pure Vanilla Extract

Pinch of Salt

Directions

  1. In a bowl, mix together your almond butter, honey, vanilla, cinnamon and salt.
  2. In another bowl, melt your chocolate. You can use the microwave or double broiler.
  3. Place 6 liners in your muffin tin.
  4. Use a spoon to spread some of your chocolate in the bottom of your muffin tin.
  5. Spoon almond butter into each cup.
  6. Freeze for an hour.
  7. Pour rest of chocolate on top, covering all the almond butter.
  8. Repeat in all cups.
  9. Place in freezer for another hour.
  10. Pull out of liners and enjoy!