Hot Cholcolate

This morning, Erin, Noah and I were the only ones at the park in this 50 degree weather (it wasn't that bad with heavy coats on). Oh, and don't worry, Sean was home with the sleeping little one.

When I noticed that their fingers were turning pink, I decided to lure them home with the promise of hot chocolate.

Once home, I looked in the pantry for my very old box of Swiss Miss. As they were downing the chocolatey goodness, I took a look at the ingredient list:

Sugar, Corn Syrup, Modified Whey, Cocoa (processed with Alkali), Hydrogenated Coconut Oil, Nonfat Milk, Calcium Carbonate, Less than 2% of: Salt, Dipotassium Phosphate, Mono- and Diglycerides, Artificial Flavor, Carrageenan.

Not good. Not good at all.

(I looked up Carrageenan. It's a thickening agent obtained from seaweed. Large amounts of it have harmed the colons of animals, according to foodfacts.com)

So from now on, I'll be making my own.

Hot Chocolate

for one serving: 

1 cup milk (skim, 2% or whole)
1 tbsp baking cocoa
1 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla

(maybe try adding cinnamon or nutmeg)

Heat milk in a saucepan on the stove on medium heat. Stir often to not scorch. When hot (but not boiling), dissolve cocoa and sugar. Mix in vanilla.

to make it extra creamy, add a splash of half and half.