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.

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.)