Chocolate Covered Strawberry Puppy Chow

Not only did I not tell you what I got for my birthday but I forgot to tell you one major change. I dyed my hair! I rarely do anything with my hair -- cut or color. I usually follow the same pattern: don't cut my hair for about 2 years, get annoyed with how long and heavy my hair gets and chop it off :) But this time, I was craving something different. I have been seeing this ombre hairstyle floating around and it caught my eye. But being of a darker skin tone -- the bleached blonde ombre was just not something that would look good on  me and would be too drastic of a change.

After doing a little research I found a picture of someone who did a black to dark brown ombre. It looked really cute and like something that would fit me well. I love it! I read a lot about this look being high maintenance but so far it's been great. I do think it looks nicer with curled hair, so I try to do that more often (in fact I just bought my first curling wand). I know some people curl their hair with a hair straightner but it just does not work for me....I find the curling wand really easy to use and it make much nicer curls and waves!

On to the last puppy chow recipe of my Day 4 Valentine's Day countdown :) Since I had some strawberry cake mix left from the Strawberry Puppy Chow, I decided to make a similar version of puppy chow. All I kept thinking about was the dark chocolate covered strawberry cake balls I made. And voila -- there you have it -- chocolate covered strawberry puppy chow! These were different from the dark chocolate covered strawberry cake balls, which had a subtle hint of strawberry. Instead the puppy chow had a strong flavor of strawberry with a subtle hint of chocolate. I think this puppy chow would look really cute if mixed half-and-half with the Strawberry Puppy Chow.

CHOCOLATE COVERED STRAWBERRY PUPPY CHOW

Slightly adapted from from Your Cup of Cake 

INGREDIENTS

5 c. Rice Chex cereal
1 c. chocolate chips

1 c. strawberry cake mix
1/4 c. powdered sugar
Valentine's M&Ms

DIRECTIONS

In a large tupperware (or mixing bowl with lid) measure out 5 c. of Rice Chex cereal. In a separate bowl, sift and then whisk together strawberry cake mix and powdered sugar -- set aside.

Microwave chocolate chips until melted, be careful not to burn the chocolate. If the microwave just does not work for you, you can try a double broiler.

Pour chocolate over Rice Chex cereal. Then using a spatula fold the chocolate into the Rice Chex cereal, until well coated. Dump strawberry-powdered sugar into the tupperware and seal with lid (alternatively you can use a large ziplock freezer bag -- which is easier for clean up). SHAKE....put on some music...dance with it...but SHAKE IT LIKE A SALT SHAKER ;) Just keep shaking....

Once Rice Chex cereal is well coated in strawberry-powdered sugar mix, dump onto large cookie sheet and let cool. Mix in Valentine's M&Ms and serve :)

Enjoy,
Chika