Homemade Cocoa Mix

OK. I hope you're ready for the most valuable recipe I own. This recipe was handed down to me from my mother and now, I am handing it down to you. And I demand that you use it. If you don't... there will be terrible consequences!

When I was a kid, children played outdoors in both summer AND winter. Mothers would bundle their little darlings in snow pants, stocking hats and warm woolen mittens and then shove them out the door calling, "Come back when it gets dark!"

Later, when the Eskimos returned home, Super Mom would fix them a nice hot cup of cocoa and serve it along with buttered toast. And that is the best treat a freezing youngster could have.

This recipe is the very same one that Super Mom uses. I personally guarantee that once you try it, all other hot cocoa will be drastically inadequate.




Homemade Hot Cocoa Mix
From: "Super Mom"
This is the best hot cocoa I've ever had.

Servings:
75

Ingredients:
2.5 lb Nestle Quik Powder
1# Coffee Creamer
1 8qt box dry milk
1C Powdered Sugar
4t Cinnamon
1pkg Mini Marshmallows

Directions:
Mix all ingredients (except mini marshmallows) in a very large bowl or Rubbermaid container.
To serve add 1/3C mix to 1C hot water.
Top with Mini Marshmallows.

Footnote:
Makes a swell gift. Just package the cocoa in a nice tin or jar and include the recipe and the instructions for serving and BAM! you have a lovely gift for anyone who appreciates delicious chocolate flavor. One batch is quite large so you will have plenty for sharing, or not.

black bean salsa dip

er something....I have a pot luck at work tomorrow....here are my dilemmas....
1. I bought brownies to make and they turned out NOT quite as well as I had hoped.....
2. I am poor and cannot afford to go back to the store and buy something else....
So I was left to rummage through the miscellaneous ingredients that riddled my cupboards and refrigerator...I came up with this....
1 pkg liptons spanish rice
2 cans black beans (rinsed)
1 can whole kernel corn
some homemade salsa
1 container sour cream
some sprinkles of mexican cheese( you know the cheapie stuff)
mix....eat....
I hope it turns out ok....I'll let you know!

Vegetable Cheese Soup

Crystal's dad gave me this recipe and so I figured, with colder weather coming soon, it would be a nice one to share with you! There's nothing like a steaming bowl of soup to warm you from the inside out!

Vegetable Cheese Soup
From: "Uncle Norman"

Ingredients:
1 qt chicken broth
1C chopped yellow onion
1C chopped celery
2 & 1/2 C peeled & diced potatoes
1 pkg frozen California Blend vegetables
2 cans cream of chicken soup
1/2 to 1 pkg Velveeta
1t black pepper

Directions:
In a large stockpot, simmer chicken broth, onion, celery and potatoes for 10 minutes.
Add California Blend vegetables and simmer 10 more minutes.
Add 2 cans cream of chicken soup (unprepared) stir until smooth consistency.
Add Velveeta chunks and stir until melted.
Add Pepper.

Footnote:
Probably the best soup ever. But then again, anything with a brick of Velveeta in it is bound to be good!

Spinach and Artichoke Dip

So this is really good and I wanted to share......


1 can (14 oz.) artichoke hearts, drained, finely chopped
1 pkg. (10 oz.) frozen chopped spinach, thawed, drained
3/4 cup KRAFT Grated Parmesan Cheese
3/4 cup KRAFT Light Mayo Reduced Fat Mayonnaise
1/2 cup KRAFT 2% Milk Shredded Reduced Fat Mozzarella Cheese
1/2 tsp. garlic powder


HEAT oven to 350°F. Mix all ingredients; spoon into 9-inch quiche dish or pie plate.
BAKE 20 min. or until heated through. Serve with TRISCUIT Reduced Fat Crackers and assorted cut-up fresh vegetables.

Keep the creamy, cheesy flavor of this popular dip by preparing with both Parmesan and mozzarella cheeses instead of 2 cups mozzarella cheese, and using 3/4 cup KRAFT Light Mayo Reduced Fat Mayonnaise. These simple tweaks will save 50 calories and 5.5 grams of fat per aserving when compared to the traditional recipe! ( I use these ingreedients and it still rocks!)

They took it away...

Can you believe that they would do this to our precious chocolate. i couldn't believe it. now everytime i go to buy chocolate i am going to check. because i am a chocolatier. i love it, but i didn't notice, or did i just not pay attention. goes back to learning how to love your food. but, that's another blog...

chicken alcatta

so i made this up yesterday it's between chicken alfredo and chicken picatta. both very delicious, i may say, super easy and delicious.

chicken, grilled or baked or boiled. ( i boiled 5 skinless boinless chicken breasts, because i was in a hurry, also added salt and pepper, garlic powder, rosemary, to the water. doesn't matter though)

garlic
shallots
veggie broth or chicken broth
capers
mushrooms
artichokes
parsley
alfredo sauce
cream of mushroom
water
salt and pepper
noddles

cook the chicken, add it to a dutch oven or what you have sautee with olive oil and shallots, sweat the shallots, add the mushroonms, when they are done add the garlic. cook these until the oil is gone, then deglaze the pan with broth or even wine, preferrably white. or water works too
when that has cooked down to 1/3 of what you have, then add the cream of mushroom soup, alfredo sauce, salt, lots of pepper, capers artichokes, parsley, basil if you life. i use fresh herbs, much better.when the noodles are done add then into the saucce, add about a cup of the starchy noodle water. stir together, eat and enjoy with bread or salad!

Bizarre foods

I have been randomly catching this show lately on the travel channel, that i have become very intrigued yet horrified by. I don't even really know when its usually on but they seem to have reruns on late at night when i am up. Its "bizarre foods with andrew zimmerman". I don't know if any of you have seen it before, but its pretty cool. The guy just travels around to different countries, and even just different areas of the U.S. and seeks out whatever weird random food they have thats sort of culturally specific. its interesting to see something that is a delicacy somewhere that i wouldn't even poke with a stick. I cringe a lot while watching it, because this dude will eat pretty much anything. So yeah, this is not a recipe, i was just curious if anyone has ever caught this show, and to say that you should if you can.

a salad from my backyard!

we have a garden that brian does an excellent job maintaining. :-) i take care of the flowers around here.
Anyway he made a fabulous salad that came almost entirely from our garden.

lettuce
green onion
cucumber
avacado- we got it from the neighbors tree
baby bela mushrooms
Ramono Ceasar Dressing- from trader joes
grated parmesean cheese- from trader joes

slice it, dice it, mix it all up...and then enjoy the super healthy flavor explosion. sorry i'm not super specific with directions. i am not the cook in the household and i'm pretty sure you all can figure out the amounts that will work for you.

bean salad

I came up with this salad, be cause costco ran out of the one i like, and i always have the ingredients handy!

1 can kidney beans
1 can of green beans
1 can of garbanzo beans
( rinse all of these under cool water and strain)
1/2 sliced red onion
dressing:
olive oil
red wine vinegar, champagne vinegar is another great option.
crumbled feta cheese
chopped olives, green or black, or any fancy olive. your choice!

erins' potato salad

this is my take on a healthier and yummier version of potato salad. if you are partial to what you grew up on, do not try this. but, it's really delicious and a change of pace, and boy will you fool the peeps.

potatoes of any kind, diced and boiled just to partially done, i believe we all know how to do this.

chopped black olives
parsley
celery
capers
sweet pickles
dill pickles
red onion
( chop all these ingredients, use the amount and you believe would be sufficient to your potatoes)

dressing:
non fat-plain yougurt( greek style) if you want it creamier, put into a fien sive or a flout sack towel, strain over a bowl. after a couple of hours, squeeze out any remaining water.
sweet pickle juice, honey, or sweet rice wine vinegar, you can use all or just one, depending on the taste you like. or if needed a sugar substitue as splenda, or plain sugar. experiment
digon mustard
salt and pepper
lemon zest
lemon juice
this recipe is great on a really warm evening with your favorite bbq item. enjoy!

c-c salad

i am adding this recipe for those who have recently gotten your tahini paste, something else to use it in, other than hummus. i haven't tried this recipe yet. so if you do let me know. i am researching some vegetarian options for my life. so i got this recipe from a veggie cook book from my dad.

1/2 cup currants
1-2 tsp. tahini paste
2 tsps. honey or brown rice syrup( sweetner)
1 tsp. lemon juice
dash of cinnamon
2 c. finely grated carrots
1/2 c. water

soak currants in a 1/2 c.boiling water for and hour or up to overnite. strain, these and reserve the currant water. you will end up with between 2 tblsp. to 1/4. you don't really have to do this other than to rehydrate the dried currants, if that is what you use. and to make them sweeter. the reserved water is used to sweeten the dish, but you can increase the sweeter and just add plain 1/2 c. water to dressing. to accomodate.
use the currant water or plain water, tahini, honey lemon juice, and cinnamon together in either a blender or food processor, until smooth and creamy.
put the carrots and currants together in a bowl, mix in dressing. top with sunflower seeds.

kabobs

I LOVE kabobs....of any kind really...they're AWESOME because you can put so many great things on them...the other night I had pineapple, zucchini, red potato, purple onion, chicken, and green pepper on those bad boys and I'll tell ya what...they were freaking DELICIOUS!

Black bean pizza stuff

I recently found a recipe for making my own pizza dough from scratch, and its so much better than the mix stuff you can get, so i have been experimenting with pizza. It makes enough for two and i am never making two at once so i always have leftover dough. I used some of it last week to make and experimental pizza that turned out really awesome.

Basically, i used salsa as the sauce, then took a can of black beans and just sort of sprinkled them around, as few or many as you'd like. I added some red peppers that i had, some red onion, and some frozen corn. I used mostly mozzarella and i think a little cheddar cheese. It actually came out really well in my opinion.

If you want the pizza dough recipe i used i can put that up too, it came from a little pocket italian cookbook i got at a booksale, pretty basic but turns out really good.

CHIPOTLE ROCKS!!!!!

peach sauce

i used this sauce for going on top of my grilled pork chops. yummylicious!

1/4. chopped sweet onion
1/4. chopped red onion( for bite and color)
2 garlic cloves chopped finely
1/4 tsp ground ginger or 1/2 tsp. finely grated fresh ginger
1 can of peaches or 2 whole peaches
salt and pepper to taste
( if you use fresh peaches, you may want to use cornstarch to thicken the sauce, because the syrup from the can will do this for you and also if you use the peaches in water and not syrup, you still want to add the cornstartch mixture, make sure you mix it with cold water before adding to the sauce).

Heat up a sauce pan on med. high add 1 tbsp. oil, of your choise
add chopped onions, garlic, ginger, you will want to sweat this out, not sauted or browned, just softend enough to go with the peaches. add the chopped peaches, you may saute these depending on the type you used. add the syrpup or cornstartch mixture from the can. salt and pepper to taste. you will want to bring this to a boil. then simmer to till a thickened consistency of your choise, this will concentrate your flavors and be a great addition to your grilled porkchops or chicken, even seafood! enjoy!
p.s. adding fresh herbs, will heighten the flavors of your dish, including basil, thyme even rosemary will be eathy undertones to the sauce, so mix it up and be creative and apples would even work in this!

Another blog about hummus

Just wanted to share that i finally located some tahini and was able to make my own hummus, it was super easy and turned out awesome. although i may have gone a bit heavy on the garlic, which was okay because i love garlic, but for others it may have been a bit much. Also threw in some cayenne pepper and curry powder to give it some kick. Damn good stuff. That is all.

pizza casserole

this is a simple recipe to make. it's fast, easy and you can use as many ingredients as you have on hand or want to use! enjoy

1 can refrigerated biscuits
pizza sauce
mozzarella cheese
romano/parma cheese
veggies of your choice
meat of your choice
additional seasonings, such as salt and pepper, italian seasoning, your taste

cut each biscuits up into 8 pieces, put into bottom of greased casserole dish
top with tomato sauce, homemade preferred, not so runny, i think. then top with your type of meat, i used pepperoni and ground sausaage, shallots,garlic shitake mushrooms, and i saute these all together before in the oven, then top with your favortie type of cheeses, i used romano and parma for added flavor and italian seasoning on top. i baked for 25 minutes, until golden brown and bubbly, serve with your favortie salad or by itself! delicioso!!!

broccoli salad

Chopped broccoli florets
shredded carrots
bacon
dried fruit( i used raisin, cranberries, cherries, blueberries and golden raisin) but any that you have or use will be great!
chopped red onion

Dressing:
lemon juice
olive oil
curry powder
salt
black pepper( to taste)

I made this salad and i ate most of it with in a day. it was absolutel the best sald in the whole entire world. i just put up the ingredients and i am not good with measurment,i never measure unless i am baking, so you will just have to estimate. and i actually added shredded romano cheese, but that is optional, just have fun, it's all served cold, except for chopping and cooking the bacon( always chopped the bacon before you cook it, works much better) and the more curry powder you use, the better it taste, because curry and broccoli, it's great, so i hope you all enjoy. oh and i have to give my friend sarah for inspiring this dish! thanks!

Breakfast pizza!!

OK...so I made this with a client and it ruled!

A breakfast pizza..pre-heat oven to 350.get those cresent rolls, place them on a cookie sheet, lay them flat, stir up some scrambled egg mix, pur it on top, brown up some sausage in a skillet. Bake the flat rolls with the egg mixture poured on top for about 20 minutes, about 15 minutes into it, place the browned sausage, and shredded cheese, I used colby jack on the pizza, then place back in oven for about 5 more minutes.
It totally rocks with some hot salsa, I didn't have red hot with me or that would have been ideal! You dont have to put those on it tho, its good without any sort of sauce thing. The eggs come out spongey....so good, you can reduce the fat by using low fat cheese, and cresent rolls. I had some cut up cantaloupe and grape juice with it. I ate 3 pieces...not a good thing, I so had to nap afterwards, good thing I had a break between peeps!!

Quesadilla madness!

i have decided that you can take pretty much anything, put it between two tortillas, fry it up in a pan, and it will be pretty awesome. I made a pretty kickass spinach quesadilla the other day, which was just thawed spinach and mozzarella/cheddar cheese. Tonight i made a breakfast one, just scrambled a couple of eggs, then threw them together with some bacon bits and cheese, throw that between a couple flour tortillas, use some fat free cooking spray and brown each side in a pan, make sure everything is all melty, deliciousness. I have made taco ones before with my leftover taco meat, just throw in some cheese and maybe salsa or whatever. Basically, the possibilities are endless. Good stuff.