Granny's No Sh*t Hot Chocolate

I'm a purist when it comes to hot chocolate.  Those mixes all have dry powdered stuff which I am inclined to doubt is really milk or even chocolate. There is no doubt that the recipe I'm about to give you is hot chocolate.

Get a mug and fill it with milk.  Add some cream or half & half if you have it to make it even richer. For goodness sake please don't use any of that 1% stuff. But if that's all you have, you can enrich it with whipping cream.(The low percent milk is just regular milk with the cream skimmed off the top so all you are doing is adding it back in.)   

Pour the milk in a pan and add a couple of squares of dark chocolate.  If you don't have a bar of chocolate handy you can use chocolate chips.  Heat this then stir with a wire whisk until the chocolate is melted.  The chocolate doesn't disburse easily until the milk is hot and you might even need an electric mixer.  Otherwise the chocolate will stay in tiny clumps.  Add a dash of vanilla--about 1/4 teaspoon per mug of milk.  Pour it all back into the mug. Top with the little tiny marshmallows if you have them.

Oven S'mores

I was skeptical at first but can now tell you from making a batch of these yesterday that they are PERFECT for an open house.  I AM somewhat of a purist when it comes to my S'mores with all my Girl Scout and Youth Group camping experience. Yes, they are infinitely better around a real camp fire.  But these are just as tasty and can be prepared a whole day in advance.

Preheat over to 400 degrees.

line cookie sheet with aluminum foild.  Place about six or eight graham crackers on the foil.  Top each one with a regular size marshmallow.  Heat in the oven for 5 minutes or until the marshmallow is lightly brown on top.

Add a half of a  bar of chocolate and top with the second graham cracker.  Mash lightly to set it all together..  If you're short on chocolate a quarter of a bar will work.  Put back into the oven to heat the chocolate a bit.  Watch carefully because you don't want a melted mess on your hands.  Just a little softening of the chocolate is best.

For some reason I can't explain it takes a really long time for the chocolate to set up once you take it out of the oven.  This is one time it actually is better a few hours later than eating it immediately.  Plan ahead. If you make them a day ahead you can even cut them into fourths for bite-sized pieces.

Home Brew Vanilla

Times are hard.  Who would ever think violence in Mexico could affect the quality of PTA cupcakes?

Last year's mission trip to build houses in Reynosa got cancelled because of the drug war violence.  This year's trip still is up in the air.  And these trips weren't just to build those houses.  Nosiree bob.  The trip also furnished me with a year's supply of cheap but great vanilla.  And now, dearhearts, I have officially run out of the good stuff.

Three years ago I took a cooking class here in the sticks where the average housewife does not make annual trips to Mexico nor can afford a gourmet shipment of Martha Stewart-grade vanilla.  She either settles for the stuff at Walmart or she makes her own.  The cooking teacher told me to go out and buy a pint of cheap vodka and throw in 3 or 4 vanilla beans.  This lady had won more than a few State Fair ribbons for her pies and cakes so I figure she knew what she was talking about.

She told us the vanilla would be ready in three months.  I wrote the date on the bottle and for a few months I would check it from time to time, unscrewing the bottle then sniff and swirl and sniff.  It just smelled  like vodka.  Which, if you have noticed, doesn't have much of a smell.

I went back to  using the Mexican stuff since I had it.  But tonight the bottle was enpty and things got desperate.  And there was a cake to ice.  I had no other option.  I prayed and opened the vodka vanilla.  To my happy surprise, three years later it is every bit as good as what I was buying in Mexico.

I remembered that the cooking teacher said I should give the bottle a little shake every single day.  But there is a huge "Out of Sight, Out of Mind" factor in my kitchen and I never tended to the brew.  So, I'm thinking it might not have taken three years to produce decent vanilla if I had been a smidge more attentive.

Get your vodka and beans.  It may take you some time but I've learned it will be worth it. At least until we can get the drug wars in Mexico to die down.

Peanuts

I love to take warm, freshly roasted peanuts in my pocket when I go walking in the cold.  Not only is it a tasty and healthy snack but it keeps your hands warm.  The added bonus is that if you encounter any elephants on your walk you can make friends with them.  It's always nice to have something for elephants.  You never know when you'll bump into one.

Buy raw peanuts.  Set the oven on 350 degrees.  Roast them on a cookie sheet for about ten minutes. Use a cookie sheet with a lip around it so the nuts don't fall off. You may like to roast them longer so check one to make sure you're ready to take them out.

Pack a handful in your pocket and start walking. Watch for elephants.