Chocolate Fondue Gone Wild

Okay, there's nothing new about the idea of melting chocolate chips and dipping things in them but still I wanted to share with you a list of things that we recently covered with chocolate that were a big hit in this little kitchen smack dab in the middle of sunny California.

Before we get started dipping though I want to share with you an easy way to melt the chocolate that is a lot more kid-friendly than the traditional method of using a double-boiler on top of the stove.

Dump a bag of chocolate chips into a microwave safe bowl. Nuke it for 1 minute. Stir and nuke it for another 30 to 60 seconds. Stir and start dipping.

Tip: if the chocolate seizes up, nuke it for just a few seconds. If that doesn't work, it's likely that you have a low quality chocolate. But don't despair! The fix is easy. Butter. Yea, I said it - butter. Pop a bit of butter into the chocolate and stir until it's melted and your chocolate is creamy smooth.

• cheddar goldfish crackers (Surprise! The kids LOVED them. The adults thought they were edible.)
• pretzels
• potato chips
• strawberries
• cherries
• bananas (We cut the bananas into coins, dipped then and froze them. These are REALLY GOOD frozen.)
• all kinds of cereal (We mixed different cereals in a bowl, poured the chocolate over and spread it out on wax paper until it had hardened, then broke it into pieces. You could of course do this with just one type of cereal.)
• mini-marshmallows (Again, a big hit with the kids AND most of the adults.)
• orange slices (Freeze these to keep them from devolving into a juicy mess.)
• Ritz crackers
• rice cakes
• bacon (I think the kids ate this only because of the gross factor.)
• toasted pecans (although you could use any kind of nut, even a mix of nuts)

And if you get bored with chocolate chips try butterscotch, peanut butter or mint chocolate chips. It's a whole new thing!