Nostalgia in the Making

Sometimes I wonder what my kids will remember about their childhood. What will be those significant yet small things that make them smile nostalgically?  I remember little things from my childhood: hot chocolate after fireworks on the Fourth of July, the Wonderful World of Disney on Sunday nights, staying up late to watch figure skating competitions, 1000 piece jigsaw puzzles with my mom, grandma, and sister. Those are the little things that made my childhood magical. 

What will my children remember? Maybe one day, they'll smile when they remember that we always had hot chocolate on rainy days. With marshmallows, that's essential to hot chocolate if you ask my kids. 

It didn't rain much this morning, not enough to truly justify a hot chocolate event. But it was Grandma's last morning with us, and we're going to miss her. 

I've been tinkering with my hot chocolate recipe, and I think I've finally perfected it. I'm lazy on rainy days, so I use a 4 cup Pyrex measuring cup and make it in the microwave. The secret to truly rich hot chocolate is the splash of heavy cream at the end. Don't skip that step!

The following recipe serves 3. 

Perfect Rainy Day Hot Chocolate

3 cups milk of choice

2 Tablespoons dark cocoa powder

4 Tablespoons honey

Splash of heavy cream

Pour the milk into a microwave safe dish and microwave 3 minutes. Add the cocoa and honey and stir well. Microwave another 2 minutes. Add a splash of heavy cream, stir well and pour into mugs. Top with marshmallows!

So maybe one day, my kids will look out the window at the rain and smile: "Mom always made hot chocolate when it rained."

Sharing

It's getting close to a year since I shared a blog post.  It's just been a crazy year with lots of changes and struggles trying to figure out the rhythm of our family. It's hard to find to find the desire to share when everything feels like it's going wrong. Lately, though, we are finally hitting a groove. At least in some things. So I've been thinking it's time to start sharing again. Maybe some of the things that actually work for us will help others, and maybe along the way I'll share some of the things that haven't worked, and that will help, too. 

So, since some one, I won't say who...

...decided that 5:30am is a great time to wake up, I have decided to start by sharing something simple that DOES work. 

S'mores Dip.

Yep, I'm sure you've seen versions of this recipe floating around Facebook or Pinterest. It's been very popular lately. But I've got to tell you that Omar and I have improved upon the original recipe. It doesn't seem possible; who could top chocolate, marshmallows, and graham crackers? But we have done it! This recipe is perfect for a late night snack after the kids are in bed at the end of a particularly stressful day. 

S'mores Dip with a Twist

Ingredients

Semi-sweet chocolate chips

White chocolate chips

Cinnamon chips

Large marshmallows

Graham crackers

Apple slices

Instructions

Preheat oven to 450F. Pick an appropriately sized dish that can take the heat. I like to use my 6 inch cast iron skillet, but sometimes that's too much, so I'll use a 4 inch corningware casserole dish. Pour in enough semi-sweet chocolate chips to cover the bottom of the dish. Add a small handful of white chocolate chips, and a slightly larger handful of cinnamon chips, and mix them all up. Cut the marshmallows in half (I use the kitchen scissors), and arrange on top, cut side down, with about 1/2 inch of space in between. Bake in oven for about 7-9 minutes. Stick close and keep an eye on them; they are done when the marshmallows are nice and brown and toasty. Remove from oven and set on hot pad on coffee table. Grab a cup of coffee or glass of milk, and turn on your favorite show. Enjoy the s'mores dip with graham crackers or apple slices! Yum!