Warm Days Ahead

Living in Québec means that in the winter we get extremely cold temperatures and a lot (a LOT) of snow. So much so that I sometimes wonder if the snow will ever melt. Well, the snow has indeed melted and gone with it are the days of craving warm soups and cup after cup of hot chocolate. Instead I’ve been making sandwiches and craving lemonade.

To me lemonade has to have the perfect balance of tartness and sweetness. Once again using the trusty Food Blog Search widget, I found the Perfect Lemonade courtesy of Elise at Simply Recipes. Making lemonade couldn’t be simpler and really, I don’t know why I’d never tried it before! The kids totally loved it and they were so impressed that lemonade was something we could make ourselves.

I think its important to show them that a lot of things we find ready made at the grocery store can be made right here in our kitchen. And that homemade beats store bought any day! Summer is only just starting and I can’t wait to try a few lemonade variations. Something to make the warm days ahead a little cooler.

CLICK: The photo at the top is my entry for this month's CLICK event hosted by jugalbandi. CLICK Yellow for Bri is a special edition of the event and you can find out more about it here and here.

Bubbles and Sunshine

Again with something warm and soothing to inspire a little sunshine into the cold of Winter. It seems to me all the snow outside will never melt, there is so much snow this year! One of the only things I truly love about winter is hot chocolate. Up until this year though, I had never made my own. Store-bought packets of “just add water” hot chocolate is all I’d ever used at home. Until yesterday…

I really needed a pick me up as I had just taken down my Christmas decorations (yes, January 28^th and my Christmas Tree was still up, I am not a organized person if you must know!) and I remembered a recipe I saw a few weeks back on Orangette. A wonderful, cappuccino-like hot chocolate, that really was as incredible as she described it. I mixed things up a little though by using milk chocolate instead of bittersweet, decreasing the sugar and adding a heaping ½ teaspoon of instant espresso powder. It was incredible. All the wonderful bubbles... I will never, ever drink packets of instant hot chocolate ever again. I can’t wait to try it again with bittersweet chocolate or even white chocolate! Oh! the possibilities!

And so, since this hot chocolate is both liquid and comforting, the photo at the top is my entry for this month’s CLICK event hosted by jugalbandi.

Hot Chocolate
Adapted from Orangette

1 ½ cups whole milk
2 ½ tbsp. water
½ tbsp. granulated sugar
3 oz. milk chocolate, finely chopped
½ to 1 tsp instant espresso powder

In a medium saucepan, combine the milk, water, and sugar. Place over medium heat and whisk occasionally until the sugar is dissolved. Increase the heat to medium-high and bring the mixture just to a boil. Remove the pan from the heat and whisk in the chocolate and the espresso powder. At this point, blend the mixture. If you have an immersion blender, you can do this directly in the saucepan; if not, you’ll need to transfer it to a traditional blender. Either way, blend for 1 minute (on high speed, if using a traditional blender - and take care(!), as hot liquids expand when blended). The finished mixture should be very smooth and frothy.

Serve immediately.

Note: Should you have any leftover hot chocolate, you can store in the refrigerator for 2 days. Reheat it gently over low heat, stirring occasionally, until hot. Blend for 1 minute; then serve immediately.

Yield: 2 servings