Found a new recipe at Allrecipes.com called Snow Flake Cocoa which was a huge hit at our annual Halloween bonfire last night.  Although I did decide to change the name to Hot [White] Chocolate.  If I would have told everyone I had made some Snow Flake Cocoa they would have said, “What?”.  So I decided to avoid any confusion and give it a more descriptive name.  Speaking for all of my neighbors, we have decided to give this recipe a rating of five stars. (I can speak for them since they drank my entire batch!)  I will definately be making this again and look forward to tweaking it to see what other flavors we can come up with.  Although you could just follow the link above I’m going to repost it here to make things a little easier on you.  I’m also going to share the tips I learned throughout the night.

INGREDIENTS:
2 cups whipping cream
6 cups milk
1teaspoon vanilla
1 (12 oz) package white chocolate chips

OPTIONAL INGREDIENTS:
whipped cream
candy canes or peppermint pieces
bailey’s mint chocolate irish cream
peppermint schnapps

DIRECTIONS:

1. Stir together the whipping cream, milk, vanilla and white chocolate chips in slow cooker,
2. Cover and cook on low for 2 to 2 1/2 hours, shirring occasionally, until mixture is hot and chocolate chips are melted.  Stir again before serving.  Garnish with whipped cream, candy and/or liquor as desired.

I doubled the recipe which fit perfectly in my 6 qt slow cooker.  The initial batch did take 2 1/2 hours to melt the chocolate chips, with multiple stirs.  Once melted I filled a 3 litre thermos with the hot chocolate, leavng a small amount in the slow cooker.  Since I had picked up a few more bags of white chocolate chips I decided to go ahead and add one more batch to the slow cooker.  Since it had been on for 2 1/2 hours this second batch melted the chocolate much faster.  Turned out by the time we had emptied the first thermos full the second batch was ready to go!  

Oh, and by the way, I highly recommend adding the Baileys Mint Chocolate Irish Cream.  It was soooo good!  The whipped cream and one small peppermint piece just topped it all off.  YUM!

Popularity: 16% [?]

If you haven’t checked out the Pioneer Woman’s blog yet, you need to right away.  She writes beautifully and has a variety of content that is unique and definately her own.  Why am I talking about someone elses blog?  My answer; to give credit where credit is due.  One section of her website is about cooking where she shares recipes I believe she mostly creates herself.  She is in the process of writing a cookbook, one I will definately be adding to my bookshelf!  Awhile back she posted a recipe for Pico de Gallo and Guacamole.   The Pico de Gallo recipe especially that I’m addicted to this summer.  So much so I feel I need to share with you all.  If you want to see her original posting, feel free to check it out here.  

Since this is quickly turning into my signature dish for this summer (I believe I have made it no less than 10 times already and it’s only the end of June) I’ve decided to repost it here.  Depending on the “audience” of this dish I will alter the way I chop the jalapeno’s and the quantity.  Personally I love spicy, hot dishes.  I love leaving all the seeds in the peppers.  However, I have noticed a few more people shy away from it when I use all the seeds.  So, to be “people friendly” I make adjustments accordingly. 

This recipe is so much more than salsa to be used with chips.  I’ve put it on top of grilled chicken breasts.  On top of grilled steaks.  On fajitas and tacos.  Tonight we are having baked potatoes with “goodies” on top.  I’ve got yummy meat, cheese, sour cream and yep I’m adding Pico de Gallo!  It’s a simple recipe to make and is cool and light.  Give it a try and please give Pioneer woman’s blog the credit (alright, you can mention mine too!).

As added benefit I’m including the Guacamole recipe as well.  It’s all one in the same.  Not many of my family members like’s quacamole.  Personally I love it so this makes me so happy.  I get to eat it all!

PICO DE GALLO INGREDIENTS:

5 Plum (Roma) Tomatoes
1/2 large or 1 small onion
3 jalapeno peppers
Cilantro
Lime Juice
Salt
Quantities are appropriateDIRECTIONS:

Chop jalapenos, tomatoes and onions into a very small dice.  (Leave seeds in your jalapenios for a hotter pico.  Adjust amount of jalapenos to your preferred temperature).  Next, chop up a nice-sized bunch of clilantro.  Just remove and discard the long leaf less stems before chopping.  No need to remove the leaves from the stems completely.  Place all of these ingredients together in a bowl and give it a good stir.

Squeeze the juice of half of one lime into the bowl.  Add salt to taste and stir again.

GUACAMOLE INGREDIENTS:

3 Avocados
Pico de Gallo
Lime Juice
Salt

DIRECTIONS:

Start with buttery-soft avocados.  Halve them lengthwise and remove the pits.  Next, with a spoon scrape the “meat” out onto a large plate.  Next, with the bottom of a clean cup (or with a fork) mash the avocados, making sure to leave it relatively chunky.  Add just a couple of shakes of salt to taste.  Next, add a generous helping of Pico de Gallo.  Fold together.  Lastly squeeze the juice of half of a lime over the top.  Give it one last stir.

Popularity: 1% [?]