Sunshine's Hot Cocoa Mix

I loooove hot cocoa. I mean. It's so yummy. And warm. And chocolatey. And with my formerly-known-as-the-Sunshine state having SNOW days lately, I figured it's pretty appropriate to post this recipe now. But don't worry, we'll be back to beach weather in no time flat. This is Florida, after all, and she is one indecisive state. (Don't judge me for the rough looking marshmallows…)

Makes about 2 dozen cups of cocoa

2 cups dry milk

1/2 unsweetened regular cocoa

2 heaping tablespoons unsweetened dark cocoa

Scant 1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup powdered coffee creamer, any flavor

2 tablespoons chocolate milk powder (Nesquick, etc.)

1/8 teaspoon salt

1/4 - 1/3 cup 60%+ cacao chocolate chips

Directions:

Place chocolate chips in food processor and process until they are a fine powder. Add remaining ingredients and process until smooth and well combined. Store in airtight container. To make cocoa, stir 2-3 tablespoons of mix into a cup of warm milk, water or a combo of both. 

I like to keep a big container of this on hand at all times during the colder months, and I usually have a couple of different varieties going also. (This makes a GREAT gift. All six of our teachers as well as one of my besties received big jars of this for Christmas last year.) You can change the flavor based on what flavor powdered creamer you choose. My favorite of course, is hazelnut, because I am a total hazelnut addict. My "usual" at Starbucks is a grande hazelnut mocha. Soooo good. My kids like peppermint (I'm not a mint fan at ALL so when I make it peppermint flavor, I make sure I'm not making any more batches after that one since everything will taste like mint after that…) and the hubs likes French Vanilla. Really, you can't go wrong with any of the flavors. And if you don't have a food processor, a blender will work just fine. (And if you don't have that either, you can always leave out the chocolate chips and just mix it all by hand or shake it in a ziploc.) You can use regular chocolate chips if you want, just know you will have "floaty bits" (technical term there…) in your cocoa. You may have them with the higher cacao content chips also, but typically the higher quality the chocolate, the smoother it melts. I've made this hot cocoa with and without the chips and I like it both ways. I just love how much more decadent it feels to have "real" chocolate in my cocoa. Hope you enjoy. :) Stay warm, friends! 

Summertime Eats!

I really can not believe it's summertime again already! Don't get me wrong, I LOVE summer. I love having my kiddos home with me and we always make a summer bucket list of things we want to do and try to do a different thing at least 4 out of the 7 days in a week, if not more. We also love taking road trips together. One of my very favorite type of vacation is a road trip. I just love seeing the country; all the different cities and states and scenery and stopping at lots of different restaurants and local eateries, visiting museums and state parks and even playing all the silly car games. I love it all! ABC license plate? You got it! Ahem, back to my point: so summertime gets really hot and humid in my lovely state of Florida. So we try to eat a lot of sandwiches and cold salads and we do a bunch of grilling and eating outside. So we hardly ever eat a big, hot dinner that requires a lot of oven and/or stovetop cooking--it's just too darn hot for that! So I thought I would share some of our favorite Summertime Eats. I'm always on the lookout for new favorites and we like to mix those in to our traditional standards.

Summer Meal #1: Meatball Hoagies with a big garden salad.

This is pretty quick and easy and won't heat up your oven for long--the hoagies only need to bake for 15 minutes or so. I usually make some homemade ranch dressing to go with it--I love Pioneer Woman's version!


Summer Meal #2: Chicken Salad Focaccia Sandwiches with Carrot Sticks, Potato Chips and PW's Ranch Dressing.

Again, the focaccia doesn't take long to bake and you chill the chicken salad, so you've got a nice, cool but filling meal that even the kids love!


Summer Meal #3: Grilled chicken with macaroni salad and corn on the cob. (Recipes Coming Soon!)

I love to make a quick marinade for chicken in the morning, put it and the chicken in a ziploc in the fridge in preparation for the hubs to grill it later that night. My mom's Basic Macaroni Salad is always a popular side dish in the summer and there's just something about pairing it with grilled chicken that brings back all the memories of my childhood during the summer.


We love to wash all our food down with a big glass of ice cold sweet tea or my Homemade Strawberry Lemonade and serve up some delicious Blueberry Cobbler for dessert--made with fresh from the farm blueberries! We go blueberry picking every summer and freeze enough fresh blueberries to last us until the next summer. This delicious bounty leads to muffins, pancakes, cobblers, ice cream...and just blueberries eaten by themselves accompanied by little bluish purple faces and fingers. :)

Here's a recipe that is quick and easy as well as SUPER delicious. I mean, it's got bacon in it, you just can't go wrong. If you love BLTs like I do, you'll go gaga over these roll-ups. They're great to serve for lunch, as a snack, or to bring along with you to those summer BBQs where everyone brings a dish to share:


BLT Roll-Ups

Makes 12-14 Servings

8 oz cream cheese, softened 
1/2 cup mayo 
16 slices of bacon, cooked & crumbled 
1 cup of chopped, seeded tomatoes 
4  8" flour tortillas
1 cup shredded romaine lettuce 

Directions:

Mix cream cheese and mayo in a medium bowl. Add bacon and tomatoes and mix well. Spread evenly onto tortillas and top with lettuce. Roll up tightly, place on a plate, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes or more. Take out and cut each wrap into 7 one-inch slices and serve.


Another easy one we love to make for parties:


Ham Roll-Ups

Makes 10-12 Servings

8 oz cream cheese, softened
1 (2 1/4 oz) can chopped black olives, drained
1/2 cup thinly sliced green onions
8-10 slices fully cooked deli ham

Directions:

Beat cream cheese until smooth. Stir in olives and onions and mix well. Spread evenly over ham slices and roll up tightly starting with the short side. Chill for at least an hour or overnight. Cut into 1-2" slices and serve.


Well, I hope that gets you started on some yummy summer food. I've already made a few items on this list and have plans to make the rest of the list and then some. I LOVE summer! Happy dance!!!

Strawberry Lemonade

Makes about 1 gallon

10 lemons
1 lb strawberries
1 1/2 - 2 cups sugar
1 cup water
+ additional water and ice

Directions:

Wash and slice strawberries, slicing the leaves and stems off the top. Place in a blender and blend for 2-3 minutes until pureed. Slice 8 lemons in half and juice them; you can squeeze the juice out using your hands or a citrus juicer. You will get about 1 1/3 to 1 1/2 cups of lemon juice. Place sugar and 1 cup of water in a glass measuring cup or bowl and microwave for about 5 minutes until sugar is dissolved and water is clear again. (You can do this on the stovetop if you prefer.) Whisk to dissolve any remaining particles. This will be your simple syrup. Pour strawberry puree through a mesh strainer into a 1 gallon pitcher, pressing with a spoon to get all the puree through--I also pour cups of water through towards the end when it gets thick and stubborn. Rinse the strainer and pour the lemon juice through it into the pitcher, again pressing with a spoon to get all the juice through. Pour simple syrup into the pitcher and stir well to combine. Add cold water and ice as needed to reach the top. Slice remaining 2 lemons and stir slices into the lemonade. Serve over ice. 



It's summertime!!! And that means lot of sweet tea and lemonade here in the south. This is one of our very favorite drinks and it really doesn't get any better than homemade strawberry lemonade straight from the strawberry patch and lemon tree. Of course running on down to Publix to pick up some strawberries and lemons is just fine too, which is what we did today. There's not much that's more refreshing that a tall, icy glass of homemade strawberry lemonade. And soon I'll be sipping mine from the new wood deck in my backyard that my husband is working on right this very minute. Can't wait! This is so easy and quick to put together! There's no reason to buy that expensive storebought stuff anymore when it's so cost-effective and easy to make your own, not to mention it's healthier too! I LOVE this, it's pretty and delicious, making this Southern girl one happy mama! Smiling faces are coming in right now from helping daddy in the yard to fill up their glasses with this treat. If you like yours more tart, juice another couple lemons and stir it in. Likewise if you prefer it sweeter, add another 1/2 cup of sugar to your water before boiling it into a simple syrup. Drink up!