Family Night and Recipe: Best Ever Hot Cocoa

Christmas is in the Air!

Big Sis had a BIG project to do for school.  

Well, I should say that it started out as a little project and then things got a bit carried away!  

She had to journal about a run-a-way Gingerbread Man and before I knew it I had promised her she could take over the kitchen and make cookies.  Yes, I did forget that Daddy was working late and I had 3 other Little people to take care of too.  I decided to turn it into a Movie Night in the kitchen!  

The 3 Littles laid on the table with their blankets and pillows, watched a really fun Christmas Movie starring Tim Allen and sipped on some Hot Chocolate!

I have heard that this is the best Hot Chocolate in the World and I'd like to claim the recipe as my own, but once again the product packaging stole the show! You can find it on the side of the Hershey's Cocoa Powder Container.

Here it is...now invite some friends over and WOW them with your crazy Hot Cocoa Making Skills!

Hot Cocoa

You can find the Original Recipe HERE

Ingredients
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup HERSHEY'S Cocoa
Dash salt
1/3 cup hot water
4 cups (1 qt.) milk
3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
Miniature marshmallows or sweetened whipped cream (optional) 

Directions
1 Stir together sugar, cocoa and salt in medium saucepan; stir in water. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture comes to a boil. Boil and stir 2 minutes. Add milk; stirring constantly, heat to serving temperature. Do Not Boil.
2 Remove from heat; add vanilla. Beat with rotary beater or whisk until foamy. Serve topped with marshmallows or whipped cream, if desired. Five 8-oz. servings.

VARIATIONS: Add one of the following with the vanilla extract:
SPICED COCOA: 1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon and 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg. Serve with cinnamon stick, if desired.
MINT COCOA: 1/2 teaspoon mint extract OR 3 tablespoons crushed hard peppermint candy OR 2 to 3 tablespoons white creme de menthe. Serve with peppermint candy stick, if desired. 

CITRUS COCOA: 1/2 teaspoon orange extract OR 2 to 3 tablespoons orange liqueur. SWISS MOCHA: 2 to 2-1/2 teaspoons powdered instant coffee.
COCOA AU LAIT: Omit marshmallows or whipped cream. Spoon 2 tablespoons softened vanilla ice cream on top of each cup of cocoa at serving time.
SLIM-TRIM COCOA: Omit sugar. Combine cocoa, salt and water; substitute nonfat milk. Proceed as above. With vanilla, stir in sugar substitute with sweetening equivalence of 1/2 cup sugar.
CANADIAN COCOA: 1/2 teaspoon maple extract.
MICROWAVE SINGLE SERVING: Combine 1 heaping teaspoon HERSHEY'S Cocoa, 2 heaping teaspoons sugar and dash salt in microwave-safe cup or mug. Add 2 teaspoons cold milk; stir until smooth. Fill cup with milk. Microwave at HIGH (100%) 1 to 1-1/2 minutes or until hot. Stir to blend; serve. 

Recipe of the Week ~ Salted Caramel Popcorn

Salted Caramel Popcorn

Yield: About 8 cups popcorn

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 12 minutes

This sweet and salty popcorn treat is a super yummy to snack on 

while enjoying a night at the Drive-in with friends!

ingredients:

6 cups plain popped popcorn
2 cups coarsely chopped salted pretzels
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon sea salt, plus more for sprinkling
1/4 cup water
1/3 cup heavy cream
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup miniature marshmallows
Drop of red food coloring
     -if you want to make the popcorn pink for Easter
1 1/2 cups Easter Pretzel M&M's

directions:

1. In a large bowl, combine popcorn and pretzels. Set aside. In a
medium saucepan, bring sugar, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and water to a
boil over medium high heat. Boil, undisturbed, until mixture is
amber in color, for about 8-12 minutes. Remove pan from heat
and slowly pour in the heavy cream. Be careful because the mixture
will bubble up. Stir until smooth and add vanilla extract,
marshmallows, and drop of red food coloring-if using. Stir until
marshmallows are melted and mixture is smooth.

2. Pour caramel mixture over popcorn and pretzels and gently
stir with a rubber spatula until popcorn is well coated. Stir in
 the pretzel M&M's. Transfer mixture to a large baking
sheet and sprinkle with sea salt. Let cool completely.

I found the original recipe HERE!

Grammy's Birthday Party

We just celebrated Grammy's Birthday!  Lil' Bro was very excited to go.  

He was ready and waiting for everyone else in the family!

 I spent time coloring, refereeing kiddo's and talking and forgot to get my camera out.  

I did grab a few shots though!

 Lil' Bro is enjoying his little cousin and Great Grandpa!

 Grammy needed help blowing out the candles on her cake!

Happy Birthday Grammy!

We Love you!

Family Night ~ Backyard Campout

Hi Everyone!  It's me, Middle Sis!

Two weeks ago, Daddy called home with some pretty exciting news!  Are you ready for it?  Daddy got a job as a Middle School teacher!  We wanted to celebrate so Momma and all of us came up with a fun plan!  We decided to surprise Daddy with a Backyard campout! We set the tent up and everything!  We made our own little campsite! When he got home we told him we had to show him something in the backyard...he thought it was going to be Big Sis's bug collection!

 Here is the checklist for our Surprise Campout!

Tent, Camp Chairs, Fire Pit, Hammock, Sleeping Bags, Ice Cream Maker, Ingredients for Homemade Ice Cream, Borrowed Projector, Library Movie

 We celebrated with a Pizza party! 

(Frugal Mom tip: Pizza Hut has been running a $10 any size unlimited toppings deal for the past couple years.  You have to ask specifically for it and pick it up.  They also have had a coupon in the Sunday flyer for $6 off if you order online. Plus, they gave us a key tag for $1 off any purchase. This amount of food equals 2 meals at a little less than $2 per person.  Not to shabby for Pizza Party night!)

 We made Homemade Ice Cream by stretching an extension cord to the Backyard!

 Here is Lil' Bro showing off his moves! He is so funny!

 We also tried a Campfire treat that Mommy has had her eye on all summer.  She found it on Pinterest.  She loves Pinterest because it makes being creative easier!  This recipe though, was a complete FLOP.  No one wanted to eat it.  At least the Homemade Ice cream was good!

 Don't get me wrong, this was fun to make!

It was just so gross that no one wanted to eat it!

Here is the recipe if you want to try it...I just do NOT recommend it! hahaha! 

Ingredients

Banana, Chocolate Chips or other Chocolate, Mini-Marshmallows

You can add other additions including chopped pecans, coconut, peanut butter chips, etc.

Directions

Combine on tin foil, fold the tin foil over and place on fire for a few minutes until the marshmallows are "melty"!   The bananas were mushy and gross.  I never thought I'd say that!  The chocolate didn't melt right.  Let's just say that the ice cream couldn't cover up the grossness!  It was downright EEEEEWWWWWW!  ...and we are not picky eaters here!

 It was fun to make it!

 Deserts done!  I just wish it was good!

 Next, on to some fun!  Momma stretched the extension cord into the tent!  We used a borrowed movie projector and Disney's Have A Laugh 4 DVD that we checked out from the library.  The best part is that the Have A Laugh movies are the shorts and shows from when Mommy and Daddy were little.  

They are so funny!  I laughed and laughed!

 What's funnier than Donald Duck's tail feathers on fire!  We were laughing so hard.  

Daddy told us to laugh quiet so we wouldn't wake up the neighbors!

Daddy's Surprise Celebration Camp out....Success!  

He absolutely LOVED it!

We love you Daddy!  We are so proud of you!

Project of the week ~ Glowing Jars

Glowing Jars

Step 1: Cut the end of a glow stick

Step 2: Shake the liquid into a jar.

Step 3: Place Saran Wrap on the jar and screw on a jar ring. 

If you have canning jar lids they would be more durable with little 

fingers that may be tempted to poke the Saran Wrap.

You now have a cool night light!

***Beware of glass inside the glow stick tubes.***

The Glow sticks have a shorter life span once they are opened compared 

to keeping them as bracelets and necklaces.

Family Night ~ Night at the Museum

Tonight we asked Grandpa and Grandma to go to the Toledo Museum of Art with us.  It is always a super fun time!  The Museum has activities planned throughout the week, but Friday night activities are a little extra special.  There is so much to do that we didn't get to everything in 4 hours!

One of our favorite stops is the Family Center.  They supply art projects, drying racks, smocks, and the best part is....the staff cleans everything up and restocks your supplies as you work....a Mommy's dream come true!  Everyone paints a half dozen pictures and the fun continues without a mess to clean up! I just wish these people could live at our house!

Middle Sis had to paint a picture of Rapunzel and a rainbow!  It turned out really cute!

Everyone Foam painted! This is Grandpa and Grandma with their favorite picture! Check out the details of this project HERE!

...And everyone kept painting!

...and painted some more!

Daddy read some art themed books.  

Our favorites were:

The Red Dot by Peter Reynolds

I Ain't Gonna Paint No More by Karen Beaumont

White Rabbit's Color Book by Alan Baker

and

Pantone Colors

Lil Sis played with some very neat building blocks.  

These are great to figure out balance when building a tower.

These are made of hollow wood that is very smooth. 

The blocks have a ring of felt on the top and bottom.

We had free play time in the family center. It is a lot of fun to play with trains and trucks! I still am not used to boy play yet!  Lil Bro now makes sound effects all of the time.  It is really funny to hear boy sounds and play with boy toys when I am used to dolls, tea sets, tiara's and sparkle!

We panted with marbles!

This painting was here when I was little!  

I am sure Big Sis is tired of the "When Momma was little..." stories!

Everyone loved watching the glass blowing demonstration! It is amazing that a shape that resembles a pencil eraser that is about a 1/2 cup size can turn into a beautiful vase!

What is more fun than running up the steps? 

The answer is: Running down the steps...and then running back up again!

I have always loved the columns out front of the Museum!  

We always have to stop for a picture!

Had to get Grandma and Grandpa's picture too!

Thank you Toledo Museum of Art for a fun Family Night!

Check out their website HERE!