Mmmm, hot chocolate. That sweet nectar of the gods. That velvety feeling of goodness warming you from the neck down. Perfect on those cold winter and fall nights or when you get a chill in the summer.
We have fans. It’s very difficult to regulate a uniform temperature in my house.
Anyway, if you’re not already sold on hot chocolate, you must not like chocolate, and since I don’t know how to imagine that, I cannot sympathize with you. Now. On to the recipe!
We are making hot chocolate from scratch. I think that contrasts nicely with the pasta dish we made from a bottle the other day, don’t you?
Ingredients
- 2 tsp unsweetened cocoa
- 3 tsp white granulated sugar
- 1/2 tsp brown sugar
- 1 pinch salt
- 2 tsp hot water (or cold, it doesn’t really matter, I just had hot water on hand and hot is easier to work with than cold)
- milk
- ~1/2 tsp vanilla
- creme or half and half or evaporated milk
Instructions
1. Mix cocoa, white sugar, brown sugar, and salt into the mug of your choice.
The cocoa is for chocolate flavour, the white sugar is to sweeten, the brown sugar is to sweeten with flavour, and the salt is to bring out the sweet taste. Ironic, but it’s a trick I learned. It works, trust me.
2. Pour water in cup and turn into a wet paste.
You’ve got to make sure you rub it all in, because the cocoa likes to stay a powder. This takes a couple of minutes, and it’s very tempting to add more water, but don’t do it. You can walk around, humming to yourself, and show your progress to your boyfriend who is watching the Lakers win, but Doug! Doug! Look! Look what I did!
3. Add milk in your cup, filling it but leaving room at the top, and mix until relatively smooth.
Milk expands about 5% when heated, according to the Internet. If you can’t get your creamy chocolaty mixture to mix completely with the milk, don’t worry too much about it. I sure didn’t. When you heat your cup up, it’ll all melt and you give it a stir then anyway.
Don’t forget to rub your hands together in anticipation, because it’s a-gonna be gooooood.
4. Stick in microwave for 2 minutes 1 1/2 minutes.
Watch it to make sure it doesn’t boil over. Boiling is bad. You don’t want to boil. I had it boil over. Bad Thérèse. Bad, bad. So is putting the spoon in. Do not put a metal spoon in the microwave. It’s a bad idea. Metal + microwave = sparks. Well, that’s when there are pointy edges. But still! Your spoon might be snagged, so just avoid it.
5. Add vanilla and creme.
I didn’t add the creme, but that was only because it was 11:00pm and I didn’t have any on hand. I totally would have though.
And voilà. Hot chocolate for one.
Note. I like my hot chocolate a little bit bitter. Add more sugar if you want it sweeter.
Filed under: Dinner
Today we are making pasta for one, and lo and behold, it is non-fancy, pasta-out-of-a-jar. Oh the humanity. This dish doesn’t take long. If you’re a turtle, 20 minutes. If you’re normal, 15, start to finish.
Ingredients
- olive oil
- 1 very small onion, or one third of a large onion
- 5 baby carrots, or one small carrot, or one half of a large carrot
- one celery stalk
- 1/4 a green pepper (if you have a whole one, cut it up and save the rest for another recipe; it keeps, and sandwich bags are your best friend if you cook for one)
- 1/2 bottle of pre-made tomato sauce (I like Healthy Choice’s Chunky Italian Vegetable Pasta Sauce, because it needs very little addition of anything and has zucchini in it)
- salt, pepper
- 1 cup of dry pasta of your choice ( I am currently obsessed with radiatore), or 1 1/2 cups if you are very hungry and not adding a salad as a side
Instructions
1. Splash some olive oil (~ 1 tbsp) into a very, very small pot, on medium-low heat. This pot will be for the pasta sauce, and you are only making enough for one, so the smaller the pot, the better. It is far too easy to add too much stuff to a large pot and be left with too many leftovers.
2. Dice and chop up vegetables. This means the onion, green pepper, celery, and baby carrots. If you like them chunky, as do I, cut them up chunky. If you prefer them minced, mince ‘em. You’ve only yourself to please. Note that as much as you want to, make sure you’re not adding too much. If you are left with too many cut up veggies, place in sandwich bag and refrigerate.
3. Plunk the onion, celery, and carrots into the olive oil. It’ll sizzle. Let it sizzle. Stir it up a bit, but let it sizzle. Some sizzle is gooooood.
4. Fill another pot with 5 cups of water, add salt and a small splash of olive oil (2 tsp), and set on high heat and cover. This is for the pasta. You add the salt so that the pasta will not be flavourless. You add the olive oil so nothing sticks. Plus, it adds flavour as well.
5. Have a look at the veggies. If the onions and celery are starting to look clear, add half the jar of pasta sauce, and the rest of the veggies. If not, wait a couple of minutes and then add veggies and pasta sauce. Give the sauce a stir, making sure that nothing has stuck to the bottom of the pot. Cover sauce and set to simmer on lowest heat.
6. Once the water boils, add the pasta. Set timer for 7 minutes (this is for the radiatore I used; if using different pasta, check the box for al dente boil time). Pour yourself a drink of wine. Red wine goes really well with pasta.
7. Once the pasta is ready, drain and place in a dish. The pasta sauce should now be ready, so pour that over the pasta. Sprinkle mozarella or parmesean cheese if that is how you roll.
8. Bring wine and pasta to the table, or to your favourite spot in front of the T.V. Serves one. Enjoy!
One of my all-time favourite breakfast foods consists of liquefying morning fruit. It’s easy, it’s delicious, and it’s refreshing. Goes really well with a couple of pieces of buttered toast, or jam and peanut butter if you swing that way. Equally delicious as a late-night snack.
Did I mention it’s guilt-free? Really can’t go wrong.
Ingredients
- 1 ripe banana
- 3 cups frozen fruit melange (I like to use sliced strawberries, or a peach/mango/strawberry mix)
- 2 cups orange juice or orange/tangerine juice
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1 tbsp sugar
I will suggest here that you mix frozen fruit with any fresh fruit you have lying around. If you have no frozen fruit, ice works all right to get it to be a refreshing iced drink.
Instructions
1. Peel banana, cut into three chunks and put in blender.
I do this step first because my blender is finicky and likes to get jammed. With the amount of frozen fruit I like, it happens every time if I don’t soften it up with a little banana first. If you’re adding more fresh fruit, like grapes or raspberries (I like blackberries, but the seeds are irritating) this is the time to dump it in.
2. Dump frozen fruit in blender.
I like to smash the fruit against the counter to break it up as much as possible, because again, finicky blender, and also? Stress relief. If you’d like to wake up that neighbour who sleeps in all the time, be extra vigorous.
3. Add vanilla and juice.
I prefer orange/tangerine Tropicana juice. I’ve tried this recipe many a time, and this is the flavour that I prefer. Orange works just as well, or if you like, go on and switch it up with a combination of strawberry/orange, grapefruit/orange or wildberry/orange. Heck, you can put any juice you like.
This is the point where some people would tell you to add milk, soy milk, yogourt, or some other milk-based product. I’m telling you now that this is a mistake. It dilutes the taste of the fruit. Yogourt has a strong flavour, and that is what you will taste, more than anything else. And if they argue with you that it’s for consistency, I reply that this is the reason you put in the banana. It makes it all smooth, and makes the ice not taste like ice. If you actually really like yogourt though, you can add it. I won’t know.
4. Add the sugar. Go on. It’ll be okay.
I know, I know. A healthy drink shouldn’t want for sugar. You went and got the “no added sugar” juice. You can choose to omit this step if you like, but I like my mornings a little sweet, so I add. It’s not much. And besides, everything else in there is unreasonably healthy. You deserve some sweet.
5. Blend, baby, blend.
You’re going to want it to get smooth, so that the colour is consistent throughout, and the top of the smoothie makes a funnel that pulls all of the liquid through. I like my smoothies thick, and that is what this will make. If you’d rather have more of a juice than an icy cold drink, only use fresh fruit, or add more juice. I added more strawberries, because it was too juice, not enough slush.
This is a good time to put the toast in the toaster, by the way. Blending takes a couple of minutes.
6. Pour and enjoy.
Voilà. Smoothie for one. (Makes two normal-sized glasses.)
