Dark Chocolate Cherry Fondue

Ah, Valentine’s Day.  The yearly love-it or hate-it kind of holiday.  Oddly enough, I’ve always had a hate-it kind of mentality towards this cupid-friendly day, only celebrating it once or twice in my 30+ years (besides getting the Valentines cards in the white doily-decorated paper bags in the days of elementary school.  Which I did really love.  Especially if the Valentine came with some sort of small chocolate candy, of course.)

This year, there’s a little bit more excitement and so-called *love* in the air.  I have met someone incredible, and I do have plans to spend a romantic evening with him on the night of.  (I find it incredibly convenient that Valentine’s Day does happen to fall on a Friday this year.)  Otherwise, I would (as I usually would in years past) be spending the evening at home with a pint of Ben and Jerry’s, some take-out, a good bottle of wine, and a full queue of girly shows on Netflix (not necessarily in that order, though.) rolling my eyes at every flower commercial, engagement ring ad, or “OMG-my-boyfriend/husband/fiance is the most wonderful person ever in the universe” posts on Facebook or any form of social media.  Christmas has it’s Grinch.  Valentine’s Day had its own curmudgeon in the form of a single, 33-year-old Midwest girl eating a whole sleeve of chocolate cookies.

So, as a small contribution to Earthbound Organic Bound as part of my partnership with Earthbound Farm (want more details?  Click here or here).I came up with a romantic (cheap) do-it-yourself treat to share with the one you love on the Big Day (even if it’s just yourself on the couch watching Girls.)  The nice thing about this recipe is that it’s fairly simple and straightforward, using Earthbound Farm’s frozen sweet pitted cherries (hello?  Who ever wants to pit cherries…and who wouldn’t want to enjoy some cherries in the dead of winter when a fresh cherry is nowhere in sight) chopped chocolate, cream, and a little extra boost  of almond-cherry flavor.  I’m loving that a company that I traditionally always connected with plastic clamshells and fresh spinach now has a complete line of frozen foods in the freezer section of my local grocery store, including these cherries.  How convenient is that? (also….bonus that I didn’t have to pit a single cherry.)

For the recipe, please head on over to Organic Bound and check out the program for yourself!