Instant Hot Cocoa

I should just restrain myself.  I keep turning over long-enjoyed food products and finding things on the ingredients label I just don't like. Most recently it was hot cocoa mix which contains sucralose.

I'm just not a fan of artificial sweeteners.  They are all created as a sugar alternative to be sweet but to have no (or less) calories.  In the first place I don't believe it is calories per se that are the enemy to good health, and secondly if I wanted to find a replacement for sugar I would go the other direction on the processing spectrum and instead choose to replace it with honey or maple syrup.

So after returning the canister of hot chocolate to the store shelf, we returned home to revisit Alton Brown's "Art of Darkness II: cocoa" to seek out our solution, and were not disappointed.  It's a yummy mug of hot cocoa very rich and dark--very un-American. It's a nice big batch that we can store in a canister for quick and easy use.   A frugal replacement for something fairly overpriced in the store(especially if you buy individual packets) and one in which I can control each of the ingredients. 
 

Homemade Hot Cocoa Mix

• 2 cups powdered sugar 
• 1 cup cocoa (Dutch-process preferred) 
• 2 1/2 cups powdered milk 
• 1 teaspoon salt 
• 2 teaspoons cornstarch 
• 1 pinch cayenne pepper (if you like that kick)

Combine all ingredients in a bowl and sift together (we use a whisk). Seal in an airtight container.

To use, fill your mug one third to half full with the hot cocoa mix and pour in hot water.

Note: LDS Cannery dry milk is a little different than the "instant" powdered milk they sell at the grocery store.  If you are using cannery milk use only 1 1/2 cups dry milk.  Then the amount of mix you'll add to your cup will probably be on the lower end as well.  Just experiment with it--we always do!

Melonade

We bought a honeydew melon that wasn't super sweet, so we decided to turn the rest of it into melonade.  I love the bright green color that it is.  It would be perfect for some goblin green drinks.  I might have to go buy another honeydew and freeze the juice for Halloween. It's pretty viscous as well so Jeremy wants to try floating some of those giant tapioca pearls in it--to make it look more creepy.

We just made up the recipe but here it is if you want to try.


Melonade Recipe:

1/2 large honeydew melon, seeded
3 large lemons
1/4 cup sugar (more or less to taste)

Slice honeydew into chunks and place in blender, or use an immersion blender.  Puree until smooth.  Squeeze lemons into the melon juice.  Pour through a strainer to remove fibers and lemon seeds (it takes a little while).  Chill in fridge.   Serve cold.

Horchata

Horchata- Mexican rice drink


1 1/2 cups rice
2 cinnamon sticks
1 can (14 oz) La Lechera (from Mexican section)
or sweetened condensed milk
1 tsp. vanilla
1 quart water

Put rice and 1 ½ cups water in a blender. Blend about 1 min to break up the rice. Poor into a bowl, add cinnamon sticks and microwave on high for 2 minutes. Let stand at room temperature for an hour.

Return rice and water to blender, add La Lechera and 2 more cups water and blend until smooth. Strain into a pitcher with a fine mesh strainer, or a strainer lined with cheesecloth. Discard rice. Add vanilla and 1 quart (4 cups) water to fill pitcher.

Serve immediately over ice, or refrigerate up to 2 days and stir before serving over ice.

Snow Cones

We got snow! Last night. And this morning. And supposedly it's going to keep coming down all evening.

Luckily we just picked up snow boots for Owen yesterday, so he had to go break them in.

He put a lot of concentration into making tracks all over the back yard.

And when he was all tuckered out, it was time to come in for a snack.

Snow cones can't be made every day of the year--they're a special treat! My dad used to make them for us when we were little. Fill a bowl with fresh snow that is "clean" and above ground. I got the top layer off the snow on our patio table.

Pour syrup over the top. My dad used to use fruit-flavored pancake syrups. I used fruit juice concentrate.

Add a bit more fresh snow and mix up.

The boys loved these. It's all about the novelty, what kid wouldn't?!

Homemade Root Beer

I've always loved family traditions. It's great to anticipate the events, activities, decorations and food that come year after year with predictability.

Our family adopted the German celebration to mark the beginning of fall.

OKTOBERFEST!

My family got to enjoy some of the festivities each year while we lived in Germany, and since getting married Jeremy and I have been particularly keen to continue to celebrate the fest.

Generally our celebrations will include some assortment of the following:

• Bratwurst
• Senf (That's mustard, but not the sissy yellow American stuff, it must be brown, speckled, and contain horseradish. . . mmm. . . )
• Kaiser rolls
• Sauerkraut
• Lebkuchen
• Rootbeer

And the most fun kind of root beer is homemade! We enjoyed some this past weekend at our annual celebration.


We've tried homemade rootbeer a number of times, and have found a recipe that gives us good success.

1 bottle Rootbeer extract (2 oz)
5 gallons water
5 pounds sugar
5 pounds dry ice

It's easy to remember the 1-5-5-5 recipe, but usually we only actually use 4 pounds of sugar. (And this time, since it was a small party we halved the recipe.)  Also, we've tried substituting some of the sugar for the more natural, but very flavorful honey.  (Either way at least it isn't high fructose corn syrup.)  I'm sure maple syrup though would be interesting as well, and one day I will make my own root beer extract from my own collection of roots and barks and spices.  But until then. . .

I boiled the sugar in part of the water to dissolve it. This is the first year I've done this but feel it's necessary because the sugar never fully dissolves in cold water.


The water will hold more fizz if it's cold to begin with. So chill it and pour the water, and sugar water into the cooler.

We used some sassafras flavoring this year for the heck of it as well.

Pour flavorings into the water and stir.

Add dry ice and RUN!!! I mean put a lid on it.

You need to make sure the vessel you're using is large enough that the syrup doesn't start splashing and bubbling out over the sides when you drop the dry ice in. (We and the kitchen floor of "The Burrow" learned that one the hard way.) Also, if you're afraid of your cooler blowing up you can release pressure every once in a while. In about 20 minutes, you have delicious homemade rootbeer.

And I know that our kids will remember this tradition!

Watermelon Basil Lemonade

I've been planning Fourth of July food for weeks. I have binders and piles and stashes of recipes I have clipped from magazines. There's a number of things I've been waiting for the "right occasion" to try.

Be it good or bad for us as a whole, most holiday celebrations in our society center closely around food. Thus the traditional 4th of July barbecue was the occasion I'd been waiting for. I went grocery shopping Monday and bought all the food supplies I needed. Mid-week we were at Target and found some bright red paper lanterns on clearance--perfect for a patriotic celebration. By the end of the week I realized we had a party planned with no guest list. So I made a few invitations to friends not thrown-off by a last minute invitation.


One big hit was the watermelon-basil lemonade. We served it with frozen watermelon chunk "ice cubes".

We sat around for hours. Talking, letting the kids run around and play, and watching Jeremy singe his fingertips entertaining us with fireworks. I haven't had that much fun in a long time.

And Sunday morning as we showed up for church poor little Jonas looked like he'd been through a crazy night of partying, his right eye swollen shut from the effects of an unfortunately positioned mosquito bite.

Ah, summer!

Watermelon-Basil Lemonade

1/4 C Basil Leaves
1/2 -3/4 C Sugar
4-5 Lemons
3 Cups pureed watermelon

Place basil leaves in a heat-proof pitcher. Bruise the leaves with the back of a wooden spoon. Pour in Sugar and add 4 cups boiling water. Juice lemons to make 1 cup of juice, reserve rinds. Add lemon juice along with pureed watermelon and lemon rinds to the pitcher. Chill in the fridge for 3 hours. Strain and serve garnished with fresh watermelon slices.