The Best Chocolate Sauce EVER!

I must say, Hubby loves his chocolate milk in the winter time. And LJ will only drink chocolate or pink milk; though this is partly due to us giving him two pediasure drinks each day. For many many years we have always had to have a fairly large container of Hershey's syrup in our fridge for those moments of chocolate need. 
As many of you may know already, I am a pinterest addict! A few months back I started seeing many ladies pinning recipes for chocolate sauce. Many said they would never go back to Hershey's because theirs was loved so much more in the house. Really?! Better than Hershey's? My curiosity was peeked. I had to try it at least one time. Wouldn't you know, not long after finding those recipes, our chocolate ran out. Time to try some homemade chocolate sauce!

I just used one of the first recipes I found. It only has a few simple ingredients and really simple directions. The recipe came from Jillee at One Good Thing by Jillee. 


Homemade Chocolate Syrup

• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• dash of salt
• 1 cup water
• 1 teaspoon vanilla (or less if you like darker tasting chocolate syrup)

Now, In a small saucepan, combine the first three ingredients. Whisk them gently just to mix them well. Now, put away that whisk! Add the water and turn on your heat. Bring the mix to a boil, stirring occasionally. Be careful not to over stir and add too much air. I have made that boo-boo  and while it doesn't change the taste, the air bubbles just don't seem to want to go away even once in the fridge for a few days. Once I even just used the whisk to save on the number of dishes and it worked way too much air in. 

The original recipe says to turn down heat and cook for 1 minute. I change that. I let it bubble (be sure to not let it boil over) on the stove for a few minutes until I can tell that it is thickening up nicely. 

Once it is how you like it, take it off the heat, and add the vanilla. 

Let it cool, then store it in the fridge. This recipe fits perfectly into a pint jar. 

Just look awesomely thick that sauce can be. I do not add quite as much Vanilla as the recipe calls for because Hubby likes the darker flavor of less Vanilla.  

Really, I don't know that we will ever have to buy the chocolate syrup in the store again.  If I use this to make chocolate milk for the kids, I can't help myself but add a little extra syrup to the spoon before licking it off. ;) 

One more way to save the family some hard earned money and make sure I know what we are putting into our bodies. 

Have you ever made your own chocolate sauce? 

What do you make homemade?

Until next time... Happy Cooking!

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Can baking bread really be This easy?

Pinterest is an awesome tool. The one problem is that I can always find a ton of things I really want to pin and remember for later, but never really end up doing. I am working on correctly that. Today I ventured into bread making. Not only bread making, but baking it in the crock-pot. Yes, you read right, the crock-pot. How did it turn out? Pretty tasty!
I will start by providing the pin I used as my inspiration...

Source: tolland.patch.com via Lynanne on Pinterest

Now, the recipe calls for making whole wheat bread. I do not have wheat flour, I have regular unbleached flour in my house. What did I do? Just used the white flour. It worked. Also, I used an equivalent amount of instant (rapid rise) yeast instead of regular yeast, because again, that is what I have. I made sure to reference a few different websites as to how to convert dry yeast to instant yeast before proceeding.

Otherwise, I followed the recipe using my Kitchen-aide mixer. After "kneading" my bread for a few minutes, I put it in my crock-pot, which I had lined with parchment paper to help with removing the bread. Line the lid with paper towels and let it go. When I thought it might be getting close to done, I would check it every 30 minutes or so until I liked the level of brown creeping up the edges of the loaf. 
Please note, that when baking bread in a crock, the top will not brown. When I thought the load was ready to be pulled out of the crock, I fired up the broiler. Then I a transferred the bread, parchment and all onto a pizza tray and put it under the broiler to brown up on top. This is a tip I found while cruising the many different crock-pot bread recipes. When browned, remove it from the oven and let it cool on a wire rack. 

I was going to let it sit on the rack until Hubby got home. I just couldn't do it. I did let it cool completely, but I had to cut into to see what it was like inside (hoping it wasn't a dense mess). It looked good to me, though I thought it might rise a little more, which I may let it do next time. Then I trimmed off a little slice to taste test. Yup, it's good! I have a feeling it will be eaten up tonight and maybe last to tomorrow. Who knows. 
One thing is for sure. Bread making will be happening in this house. And some of that will be happening in my crock-pot! I am thinking of those hot summer days when heating an oven is right out.

Have you ever tried making your own bread? Have you ever used a crock-pot to do it? Will you try?
Let's hear your thoughts, recipes, and ideas in the comments!

Slow Cooker eBook for FREE

I just found the perfect eBook for this time of year. If you are anything like me, the slow cooker gets a lot of use during the cooler winter months. For us that is mostly because it just makes so many great comfort foods.
If you like the Family Circle facebook page, you can then get a 15 Slow Cooker Favorites Cookbook from Family Circle. There are some great looking recipes in there. They even have two desserts. I may have to try out the crab and corn chowder recipe. :)

Annual Fudge Night (Pic Heavy)

Okay, so here is the long awaited Fudge Night post.Like I mentioned last night, There is a lot of stuff that goes in to four batches of fudge. You may remember, 2 pounds butter, 16 cups sugar, 8 bags chocolate chips, 4 cans of evaporated milk and some vanilla extract. Well, This is what that looks like (tins included).

My mom has been making this recipe for about 27 years now. We have found through the years that doing one stick of margarine and one stick of butter works pretty nicely, so that is what we use now.  Again, you can refer to this post for the full recipe.
It all starts with the sugar and milk in a big pot and the chips, butter and vanilla in a big bowl.

I like to break up the butter/margarine a bit so that it melts faster and things get all happy in the bowl quickly. The milk/sugar gets heated up on high until it starts to boil, then we turn it down closer to like 4-5 (just enough to keep a boil but not too much that it boils over). Boiling over is just a total sticky mess!

When the sugar is boiling and someone is stirring constantly for 8 minutes, we make sure we have our tins (or plastic containers) well greased with a cooking spray and ready to go when they are needed. Once the sugar is poured in to the chip mix bowl, things can move pretty quick, so being prepared is a good thing here. :)

My mom is always the one to pour the sugar mix into the bowl while I am at the ready, just waiting to start mixing like mad (without splashing hot sugar on anyone)

Mix, mix, mix until it is all happy and smooth (just make sure you don't take too long or it will start to set in the bowl) :)
Then we pour it all into the tins. Mom pours while I move the tins into place so she doesn't have to move the bowl too much.

When we have things set in their containers, we put them out on the back porch which acts as a second refrigerator in the winter.
Repeat all these steps for each batch. Yes, four batches can be fun and a bit of time. There is a reason we set aside a night to do this. You need a night to do that many batches.
Curious what it all looks like when things are done? Well, my sister and I love to make fudge so that we can lick the bowl when we are done. Here are my closing shots. First, the table of all of the fudge tins. Then Hubby took a picture of Sis and I licking the bowl and the spoon. Then of course he had to take a picture of the bowl when I was done with it.

Baby C loved mommy licking the bowl. She has made me all about the chocolate!






So, there you have it. Our Fudge Night in picture form. I know this may have taken some time to load because of all of the pictures, but I love to share. I hope you enjoyed.

Do you have a recipe you have to make every year? Make a night of things? I would love to hear all about it!

Until next time... Happy Christmas Preparations!

Take time to Share your Christmas Traditions - Recipes

This weeks theme is "Recipes". How yummy! Also, who doesn't have a recipe that they make every year? I know my mother has one that she has been making for over 20 years and now it is to the point that if she shows up to our big Christmas Eve with my Dad's family without her fudge, she can't come in. Yes, fudge. Noone said these recipes would be healthy. Heck, most holiday recipes are exactly the opposite. This is the time of year that everyone lets loose a bit and we all gain weight because of it. I am starting to get my own recipes of note, but I think for now, I am going to share my mom's awesome recipe, that I have now begun to make as well. This fudge is super simple and oh so yummy!

The ingredients:
two sticks of butter (you can mix one stick of butter and one margarine if you prefer, but you need some good old butter in there), cut into pieces (for ease of melting)
two bags of chocolate chips
1 tsp. of vanilla extract
a can of evaporated milk (not condensed)
4 cups of sugar
Tin pans or plastic containers for storage and packaging (well greased)

Directions:

Put butter, chips, and vanilla in large mixing bowl. You want to make sure the bowl is large enough for all ingredients plus room for vigorous stirring. Set aside.
Pour sugar into large sauce pan and add the can of milk. Heat over medium to medium/high until it comes to a boil. Boil 8 minutes, stirring constantly. You may need to adjust your heat from time to time to keep from boiling over, but you need to maintain a good boil as well.
When 8 minutes is up, pour mixture over the chips mixture in the bowl. Stir vigorously until chips and better are melted and mixture is smooth. Pour into containers and allow to cool. We tend to use the 4 or 5 inch decorative tin pans that you can buy at the store. The smaller tins allow you to cool it and then give it as a gift without having to cut it into smaller pieces first. Allow the fudge to cool overnight or until firm. Do not put lids on the containers until the fudge has cooled. This recipe can make about 4or 5 containers of fudge that is about an inch thick.
I will post a follow up to this post with pictures once we make our fudge for this Christmas. It should be just in time for Christmas, as we are planning our Fudge Night for the weekend of the 19th of December. Yes, we do a Fudge Night as we make at least three batches each year.
You may want to keep your eyes open this week as I just may post some more great family recipes throughout the week. ;)

Until next time...Happy Cooking!

Tips Tuesday

So, I thought I would post what I do for my first try at making my own flushable baby wipes. I know that there are a lot of recipes out there for making your own baby wipes solution. I wanted one though that I could make with things I have around the house, especially those that I may have more than enough of from my baby shower and gifts. So, I found a recipe that uses all baby products and water.
So, here is the run down of my first attempt at flushable baby wipes with a review to follow.
The recipe is:
1 C water
1 T baby oil
1 T baby lotion (I used the nighttime lotion to make it calming)
1 T Baby wash/shampoo

Then I cut a generic select-a-size roll of paper towels in half. Remove the cardboard core (this can be done after soaking, this can be easier after moisture has been introduced). Place the paper towels in to your container and squirt some of the wipe solution over the wipes, giving ample time for saturation to occur before use. 

I actually doubled this recipe when making my first batch. I used hot water and then mixed in the baby oil and the lotion and shampoo. By adding the oil in first the lotion and shampoo just slide right off the measuring spoon and into your mixture. When making the mixture you want to make sure to use a wide mouthed glass bottle. I tried using a plastic bottle, but the hot water can make the plastic warp a bit. Once the mixture is all cooled, then you can put it right into a bottle that will make it easy to squirt it on the wipes. I used an old water bottle we were going to recycle and put on one of the sport caps we had around the house from another old water bottle. When reading the recipe sites, they said the solution might only last a couple days, but mine has lasted a week or so with no problem (musty smells, molding, mildewing).
I want to make sure to note that using cheaper generic paper towels is not always the best. If you want to use paper towels  for flushable wipes, try splurging on either Viva or Bounty towels. They hold up a bit better. The wipes I now have are a little small, but that doesn't bother me as much as the thinness and their propensity to tear when I try to remove them for the container or while I am cleaning LJ's bum.
I hope you found my first attempt of a Tips Tuesday post helpful.