More cocoa recipes. (pt 2)

Oh, my. Mocha Cocoa

combine:

• 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
• 1/2 cup superfine sugar
• 1 1/2 Tbsp powdered vanilla
• 2 packets Starbucks Via Extra Bold Italian Roast
  

in a mixing bowl.

To enjoy, mix 2-3 Tablespoons into 1 cup of hot water or milk.

Just a heads up, if you're sensitive to caffeine this cocoa packs a bit of a kick. You might consider using the Decaf Via instead of the Italian Roast.

More cocoa recipes.

Plain Jane Classic Cocoa

combine:

• 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
• 1/2 cup superfine sugar
• 1 Tbsp powdered vanilla
  

in a mixing bowl.

To enjoy, mix 2-3 Tablespoons into 1 cup of hot water or milk.

My friend Ann told me she doesn't like fancy cocoa, and it occurred that I never posted the basic recipe that all my fancy cocoas start with.

Another Convert

A while ago, I bought my friend Lisa a stick of Crystal Rock Deodorant. I gave her some time to give it a try and asked her the other day what she thinks of it. SHE LOVES IT. That is all.

I spent my snow day on Cocoa (pt 3)

Candy Cane Cocoa

combine:

• 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
• 1/2 cup superfine sugar
• 2 Tbsp finely crushed (almost to powder) peppermint candy

in a mixing bowl.

To enjoy, mix 2-3 Tablespoons into 1 cup of hot water or milk.

Crush your candy canes or starlight mints in a coffee grinder, or food processor to get to a powder quickly. I did mine with a mortar and pestle and it took forever. (My coffee grinder make everything taste like cloves from using it to grind spices a few too many times.)

I spent my snow day on Cocoa (pt. 2)

Gingerbread Cocoa

combine:

• 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa
• 1/2 cup superfine sugar
• 1/4 cup Sugar in the Raw (crushed to powder)
• 1/2 tsp ground ginger
• 1/2 tsp ground cloves
• 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp powdered vanilla

in a mixing bowl.

To enjoy, mix 2-3 Tablespoons into 1 cup of hot water or milk.

Sugar in the Raw comes as rather large crystals and will need to be crushed down somewhat for this recipe to make sure it dissolves completely. It's added for it's molasses content and could be replaced with superfine sugar without sacrificing much taste.

I get my powdered vanilla at Kitchen Krafts in Quakertown.

I spent my snow day on Cocoa

First off, any day spent creating and sampling homemade gourmet hot cocoa recipes, automatically qualifies as awesome. Plus the snow was gorgeous and hubby was home to share it all with me. Or I should say, I was home to share it with him. It's unusual for me to have a Saturday off.

Anyway, here's the cocoa recipes.

Deep Dark Cocoa


Combine

• 1/2 cup dark cocoa
• 3/4 cup superfine sugar
• 1 Tbsp powdered vanilla
• 2 Tbsp grated dark chocolate (70% or so cacao)

in a mixing bowl.

To enjoy your cocoa, mix 2-3 Tablespoons in 1 cup of hot water or milk.

I like to use the side of the grater normally used for cheese to grate my chocolate. Something like Ghirardelli's Twilight Delight (72% cacao) works great for this.

If you're local to the Allentown area, I got my powdered vanilla that Kitchen Krafts down in the Quakertown Farmer's Market (Q-Mart) I haven't seen it anywhere else.

Ecos Natural Detergent

So a while ago when I was at Sam's Club, I saw a bottle of natural detergent with soy based fabric softener, fragranced with Lavender oil. It's by a company called Ecos, and it was about the same price that all of the other detergents. Since I'm allergic (sneezing, watery eyes, etc) to the perfumes in a lot of laundry detergents, and whatever chemical they normally use to make fabric softener, I thought we'd try it.

It's been awesome. No laundry-related sneezing. The laundry smells good, it's really clean, and it seems to be pretty gentle on our black workpants. Definitely worth checking out.

Ecos Liquid Detergent