Stealthy Mom: Just Three Ingredients

Showing posts with label Just Three Ingredients. Show all posts

Rich Hot Cocoa (Just Three Ingredients)

Today is a grey, drizzly day. What better time for hot cocoa and popcorn? Instead of analyzing the list on the side of a box of Swiss Miss, you can make your own and keep it simple.

For three generous mugs, gently heat the following:

5 cups fresh milk
1/4 cup cocoa powder
2 tbsp local honey

If you like your hot cocoa sweeter, double the honey. For a lighter cup, more like "milk chocolate" double the honey and use only two tablespoons cocoa powder. Mint exact or vanilla extra can dress it up a little.

[We received a Mr Coffee Cocomotion hot chocolate maker for a housewarming gift a few years back. I laughed out loud because I had always wanted a stirring hot plate for the kitchen like I used in my past life... Here is a simple kitchen appliance that uses the same principle as the laboratory staple: a little magnet whizzing around to stir the contents as it heats. No more scorched milk!]

I shared this recipe with Fight Back Friday, Monday Mania, Slightly Indulgent Tuesday, Full Plate Thursday, Simple Lives Thursday and Real Food Wednesday.

Make Your Own String Cheese!

Homemade String Cheese

String Cheese is fun to make, and the boys will drop everything for a piece. In the final stage of melting the curd, I stretch it like taffy, fold it, and stretch it again to make long fibers that pull apart just like the string cheese from the store. It is not supposed to be aged like cheddar, so if it gets devoured before it completely cools that is a good thing. Bread Making Day often starts like this because the leftover whey makes excellent bread.

Three-Ingredient Frozen Yogurt

Yogurt, maple syrup, and vanilla. This was easy enough that the boys could help from start to finish. The recipe I found originally called for sugar. Maple syrup adds a subtle sweetness and flavour that compliments vanilla so I opted for that instead.

Commercial frozen yogurt may seem smoother and creamier for a variety of reasons. Many add cream. Others have gelatin, guar gum, carrageenan, or agar agar for thickness. The lower the fat content of a frozen dairy dessert, the more tiny ice crystals can form; some low fat brands of ice cream contain ice structuring proteins "borrowed" from fish to prevent the formation of these crystals. I have not encountered these proteins on the labels of frozen yogurt yet but it would not surprise me.

None of those magical additives are in here, so expect something more like a sherbet. I started with a firm yogurt made with whole milk using my favorite culture. The yogurt was given a day in the fridge to "set" before we used it.