Italian Hot Chocolate

ZANE AND ABBIE DRINKING ITALIAN HOT CHOCOLATE!

Have you been throwing your cold, leftover, coffee out? We discovered how to make Italian Hot Chocolate with the cold coffee left in the coffee pot! Even Zane and Abbie like it! I can't afford the roadside latte stands or Starbucks coffee, unfortunately, but this does the trick for me! :) You can also make iced coffee at home, I have heard, but don't know how to do that yet! :( I think they put Icecream in the Frappucinos, that I like. With Fall coming, though, the hot coffee/chocolate mix in this recipe satisfies my sweet tooth, and wakes me up! :) We really like the Kirkland brand coffee from Costco!

ITALIAN (MOCHA) HOT CHOCOLATE (Phipps family version):

3 cups cold coffee (use a measuring cup because the marks on coffee pots are not always accurate).
3/4 cup Ovaltine Powder, or other instant Hot Chocolate Mix.
3/4 cup half and half or milk
1/8-1/4 cup powdered sugar (optional)
dash Cinnamon and vanilla extract

Add all ingredients to a medium saucepan. Whisk and simmer until hot. Ladle into cups, and top with Whipped Cream or a handful of Mini Marshmallows. Makes about 4 small coffee mugs full.

The Italians make a much thicker Mocha Hot Chocolate and thicken it with cornstarch, but us Americans make it much thinner, even at the Espresso stands! :) Enjoy!

Just Some Recipes

We have found out that home-made smoothies and milk shakes make a wonderful snack and sometimes even a meal, and can be fit into a tight budget. We rarely have ice cream at our house much, anymore. Colt brought over a half gallon the other night to go with our dessert, and left it with us. You can use yogurt instead of ice cream, if you don't have any at the time. Here are two of our newest recipes. We have a lot of other ones that we like, and I will probably put more on here, eventually.

*Peanut Butter Banana Milk Shake*

3 cups of milk, or 1 cup powdered milk and 3 cups water
2 or more Tablespoons peanut butter
2 cups vanilla ice cream
1-2 ripe bananas

Makes about 5 cups, or 4 servings. Put all ingredients in blender and process until smooth. Add more ice cream, or vanilla yogurt, if too thin. If you add chocolate syrup it's a Banana Split Shake, but we never have that either...


*Orange Sherbet Milk Shake*

2 teaspoons finely grated orange zest
1 cup chilled orange juice
1/2 cup milk
1 cup vanilla ice cream
a few teaspoons sugar or honey, to taste

Makes about 2 1/2 cups, or 2-3 servings. Put all ingredients into blender and process until smooth!