Sunday, November 25, 2012

Farm "Flowers" and a Cocoa Mix Recipe

After an amazing Thanksgiving holiday, it's time to get back in the saddle.

If I had a saddle anyway.

Of course, then I'd need a horse too. Maybe I should just say, "It's time to get back into the routine of normal life."

But then, I'd have to define normal.

Monday may be harder than I expected.

Thanksgiving for me is an excuse to overeat. Because apparently, a person is only allowed to have roasted turkey, cranberries, stuffing, and pumpkin pie once a year. I think it's a law or something. So I indulge. Which leads to guilty days spent lying on the sofa, wearing dirty yoga pants, and watching Christmas movies on Lifetime. It's only on Sunday when I awaken from my turkey-induced stupor and begin to function again.

Since I had worked so hard on our Thanksgiving dinner, my Mister decided to bring me home the farmer's equivalent of a bouquet of flowers.


Meet Flower. He's a rooster. As in, a boy chicken. And yes, that is my kitchen table and I am inserting a little sarcasm here. (Because we now have 6 boy chickens.) Flower was living a life of luxury in town when his owners discovered his incredible singing talent. Since town-dwellers are only allowed 3 hens inside the city limits, Flower had to go.

Somehow, he ended up here. As my gift. My Mister is either a softie at heart, or he just gets me. Chickens, cows, and chocolate...that's all I need.

Speaking of chocolate...

I love it. Especially hot. What I don't love is all of the ingredients on the can of mix. For the life of me, I cannot figure out why partially hydrogenated anything should be in cocoa mix. It makes about as much sense as the anti-caking chemicals they also add. Seriously? Is caking cocoa really a problem? Could it be because there is hydrogenated fats in it?

Hmmm....something to ponder.

Before you go and buy another can of chemically-laden hot chocolate mix, give homemade a try. And because there are only 5 ingredients in this version, I'm calling this a health food.☺


  ~Hot Chocolate Mix~
 
The Players
 
1 (26 oz.) bag of Bob's Redmill Non-fat Dry Milk Powder
~or~
5-1/2 cups dry milk powder of your choice
1-1/2 cups organic sugar
1 cup unsweetened organic, fair-trade cocoa powder
1/2 cup mini chocolate chips (I get organic in bulk at Whole Foods.)
1/4 t. sea salt
 
Into a large bowl, mix all the ingredients. Put 1/3 of the mixture at a time into a food processor and pulse until chocolate chips are powdery. (They will cease to make that obnoxious racket that chocolate chips in a food processor does!) Pour mixture into another bowl. Continue to process 2 more batches until all of the mix is done.
 
 
Pour into a lidded canister or jar.
 
To make cocoa: Add 3 tablespoons of cocoa mix to a cup of hot milk or water. Stir well.
 
Don't forget the whipped cream!
 
Enjoy!

This post is linked to The Homestead Barn Hop.

5 comments:

Unknown said...

Monday will definetly rough after all this food and fun...the cocoa looks so yummy..maybe a consolation!

Candy C. said...

Only a true Farmgirl would appreciate your Flower, he's a handsome fella! :)
Love the cocoa mix recipe! Whenever I can make something from scratch instead of buying a "gourmet mix" full of all those questionable ingredients, I'm a happy girl! Thanks!!

Jocelyn said...

When my husband brings me home a chicken, I know I will have really changed his life. That'll be a good day.

Maybe one day....

Susan said...

Has Flower adjusted to life on a farm? Are all the other boy chickens making fun of his name? I love your hot chocolate mix recipe. I am going to put it with my other favorite Kim recipe - GF Cornbread!

Kim said...

Flower is adjusting very nicely...in fact, he has a BFF roo named The Lone Ranger who I guess is not so alone anymore! :)

Susan~I'm glad you are liking the GF cornbread! We have it several times a week~yum!