Holy Cow Chocolate Syrup

Its my cheat weekend and I will drink chocolate milk if I want to. But I'm at home at 8 p.m. and I want my favorite chocolate milk, which I can only find at my grocery store, not anywhere closer. I once saw Alton Brown make a homemade chocolate syrup so I looked it up. Like my husband said, Alton Brown is a genius.

Here is his recipe: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/cocoa-syrup-recipe/index.html

I don't usually have dutch processed cocoa regularly in my home, but I always have cacao powder. (see my banana milk smoothie recipe that I have almost daily). If you don't know much about cacao, here's some good info for you featuring Drew Canole. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXflcI7YtEk&feature=g-u-u

Here is my recipe:
1 cup of sugar
1/3 cup cacao powder
1 cup of water
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
2 teaspoons of light corn syrup
pinch of salt

Bring the water and sugar to a boil, then mix in the remainder of the ingredients until dissolved. Reduce sauce until slightly thick. Strain and cool, then enjoy!

My chocolate milk was delicious! It's almost as good as or BETTER than the store bought kind!

Green Smoothies

I revamped my old green smoothie recipe into something that seems more filling. It was time for a change. I had taken the same dark green smoothie drink to work for over two years. Same old taste, same old strange looks when I brought it out of my lunch bag.

Here is my old recipe:
1/4 or 1/3 cup of frozen pineapple
1/4 or 1/3 cup of frozen mango
1/3 slice of frozen banana
1/2 cup of orange juice
1/4 cup of spinach
1/4 cup of water
1 teaspoon of spirulina powder
1 tablespoon of hemp protein powder

Blend the spinach and water together until completely blended. Then add in the rest of the ingredients and blend.



I throw my new recipe into the vitamix

Yummy green goodness

New recipe:
2 slices of frozen peaches
4 cubes of frozen pineapple
4 cups of frozen mango
1/3 slice of banana
1/4 organic french vanilla yogurt
1/3 cup or splash of almond milk
1/4 cup orange juice
1 teaspoon spirulina
1/3 cup pecans
1 kale leaf

Chicken's Chicken Cacciatore and Veggie Cacciatore

My husband and I purchased a cast iron dutch oven (see link below) that sat on our stove and looked beautiful sitting there for several months. So I looked up recipes and I found this lovely youtube video: Chicken Cacciatore - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5MCjC3vd-sA

I made different variations on these two, one vegetarian version. Here is what I did. I apologize for the sometimes strange directions, I know I usually don't measure.

Ingredients:
Three or four boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 diced tomato
1 medium diced onion
8 oz sliced mushrooms
1 diced bell pepper
2 tablespoons garlic
1 can of tomato sauce
Vegetable and Chicken broth
Red wine vinegar
Flour
Salt and pepper
Olive oil

Cook the chicken breasts in the pan with the oil on high heat after covering them in flour and adding salt and pepper to them. After the breasts are browned, remove them from the pan and start cooking the onion in the remaining oil, you may have to add more oil if needed and lower the temperature. After the onion has softened a bit, add one tablespoon of garlic, the bell pepper, mushrooms and tomato sauce into the mixture. Then add the chicken back into the pan. Add about two tablespoons of redwine vinegar and 1/2 cup of chicken broth. Cover and let simmer for twenty minutes or so.

For the Veggie Cacciatore: Since I'm making this at the same time as the chicken cacciatore, I use some of the same ingredients in a smaller pan, since this will only be for one. I start with olive oil and onions, then add garlic, mushrooms, tomato sauce (no bell pepper for me). I usually use 1/4 of what I've diced for the chicken cacciatore for the veggie cacciatore. I then add about a half a tablespoon of red wine vinegar and a tiny bit, maybe 1/4 cup of veggie broth if needed. This only needs to cook for roughly 10-15 minutes.

Serve over egg noodles:




Chicken's Chicken Cacciatore

Veggie Cacciatore