Cardboard Classic Cocoa

No pictures today.  I am a bit under the weather with all sorts of stuff.  I would really rather be hosting a Cardboard Classic. 

That is where we invite all the kids we know to build a sled out of cardboard and meet us at the sledding hill (or back yard depending on where the snow is).  We sled and play until the cardboard falls apart.  Then we all have cocoa. 

I always start with whole milk and heat it up.  I add in plenty of cocoa mix.  Even if all that I have is the kind you add to water, I start with milk.  I also add sweetened cocoa powder.  Right now we are working our way through a can of Starbucks.  I will replace it with Ghiardelli or whatever happens to be on sale.  I want the cocoa to be creamy and rich and dark chocolate color.  None of the thin watery stuff for us. 

After all, we've just spent the afternoon outside. Climbing up.  Sliding down.  Climbing up.  It is a perfect treat. 

You can have awards for the sleds if you like.  Encourage the kids to bring their adult.  It makes it much more fun. 

It is a snow day.  Go out and live it! 

Swamp Water

This is Lilypad quilt v.2.  I made some Sangria swamp water go with it.

2 small cans pineapple juice
Juice of 1- 1/2 oranges
Juice of 1 lemon
juice of 1/2 lemon
1 bottle of Muscato (I use Barefoot 'cause I got a case on a deal.)
Sweeten to taste with honey

Mix and chill.  Toss in orange and lime slices and a few berries for pretty.

Amaretto Punch

One of our guests brought a couple batches of leftover punch to the potluck last night.  Both were amazingly simple.  At least the instructions were.  The proportions may have to be adjusted to suit your needs but I don't think you can go wrong any way you mix it up.

Amaretto Punch

1 Carton orange juice
2 Cartons lemonade
enough Amaretto to make you happy
1 box orange sherbert.

It tasted like a dreamsickle or an Orange Julius.

Chocolate Mocha Punch

Chocolate milk
Coffee
Vanilla ice cream

*You could add Kahlua or brandy or something if you wanted to give this one a kick.


(Crossposted at randp.)

Russian to Make Tea

This was a submission for the Carnival of the Recipes... I am re-posting it here in the interest of collecting my recipes spread across the intertubes into one place.

The deadline fast approaches and I MUST submit a recipe. I’ve pondered long and hard and thought about all of the things I’ve made using tea or coffee. I then thought about the things I’ve made for which I have fond memories. (I can recall several “OMG what is in this?” and “You call THIS coffee?”). By now you can probably tell I’m not much of a coffee or tea drinker. I like my caffeine with some carbonation and phosphoric acid.

When I do make tea it is for tea parties around the fire. I always use Red Rose brand (decaffeinated for the kids). I have one of those lovely teapots with a candle to keep it warm. I prefer lemon. (I can hear the groans from my elegant tea-drinking comrades starting in on everything I am doing wrong. But I’m not going to care about that.) For tea, the coffee table is spread with whatever tidbits and goodies we can pull out of the pantry and freezer. There is usually a cheese tray with a good cheddar and probably a havarti. There are good crackers. Sometimes there is bread with artisnal balsamic and olive oil. Sometimes there is bread with homemade jam. Some times we have an assortment of deli meats, roasted peppers, and marinated veggies. Fruit and veggies are often found. (Some of my littlest friends love strawberries and cherry tomatoes and we hate to disappoint.) There are always pistachio nuts and cookies. Any sort of cookie you want to make or buy. I’ll share some of our favorites at another time as I see from the little clock on my screen that I now have even less time than before.

Tea. At any rate. I’m not a big tea drinker. I didn't like it much as a kid until I was sick one year. My best friend and neighbor would always bring a chicken pox box, the invention of one of the neighborhood moms to save the sanity of another mom during an extended bout of chicken pox. Since I was a bit older than the traditional crayons and coloring book my friend included tasty treats. One of them was Russian Tea Mix. (Fingers in ears trying desperately to ignore the screams from the tea drinkers.) I don’t know if I’d drink it these days but my kids would. It is a fond memory and now I am going to share it with you.

Russian Tea

2 cups sweetened lemon tea mix
1 1/2 cups Tang
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp cloves

Mix together. Store in airtight container. Put 2-3 tsp in a mug. Add one cup boiling water. Stir. Sip. Enjoy.

I usually go light on the cloves. You
can use 1/4 cup tea mix and 1 1/2 c lemonade mix if you don’t have the flavored tea.

Grandma's Recipes: Orange Julius

As written:

Orange Julius

1/2 of 6 ounce can = 1/3 cup frozen orange juice concentrate
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
5 or 6 ice cube

Combine in blender till smooth about 30 seconds. Makes about 3 cups.

This one is pretty straight forward. The only thing to note is that her ice cubes would have been the big square ones that came out of the aluminum trays with the lever to separate the cubes.

The Orange Julius is likely one of the precursors to today's smoothie craze. As far as I remember, Orange Julius was a covered mall phenomenon. It was one of the first food stands inside the newfangled indoor malls which started opening where we lived in the late 60's or early 70's. Getting an Orange Julius to sip on while strolling around the shops was a very special treat. There was something about them that was just a bit different. I remember trying many times and many ways to recreate them at home. This was one of those knock-off recipes that circulated at the time. The ones I tried were never the same. I'll have to try Grandma's version to see if it is close. Amazingly enough there is an Orange Julius shop at the local mall where I live now so I'll be able to do a comparison.