Cocoa, Tea, and Jammies.

Last Night’s Treat—Hot Cocoa:  Tastefully Simple Malted Cocoa

What makes a cold winter night better? Hot cocoa! Xyra cheated; instead of warm milk, she added ¼ cup dry milk powder to the cocoa mix then added hot water. Topped it off with whipped cream. *sighs* DREAMY!

Sadly, this mix is no longer offered by Tastefully Simple. All the really good ones get retired. Oh, well. They have plenty of good ones to choose from. Or you can make your own instant hot chocolate mix…you’ll need a jar or other airtight container for storing it.

Homemade Instant Hot Cocoa

• 2 cups powdered sugar
• 2 ½ cups powdered milk
• 1 ½ cups cocoa powder (Hershey’s or Dutch processed)
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• pinch of cayenne pepper

Combine ingredients in a mixing bowl and whisk until well mixed. Transfer dry mix to jar or other airtight container.

To enjoy: Put 1/3 cup of mix in a mug and fill with hot water or warm milk. Top with whipped cream, marshmallow cream, or marshmallows (big, regular, or mini). Enjoy! 

Tea of the Day:  A Trip to Germany

This morning we started the day with Alnatural Energie Tee. You may be thinking, “Did she spell that right?” Yes, that is correct. Alnatural is a German company. Xyra’s friend in Germany sent her a adventskalender box last year. It has 6 bags of 4 blends which equals one for each day from December 1 – December 24. The box is cool…everything is in German!

We’ve tried each guessing at the ingredients based on what we smell, the flavors we taste, and words we can pick out. For example the Energie Tee contains: zitronengras, ingwer, pfefferminze, zitronenverbena, süßholz, and zitronenschale. Can you guess any of those ingredients? (Translation at the bottom of the post.)

This is bag tea so we poured hot water over the bag, let is steep for 4 minutes, and sweetened it with 2 teaspoons of honey. It was really good while hot, but not so good cold. When reheated the honey was overwhelming. I’ll stick to 1 teaspoon next time.

Wardrobe Time! 

My Pajamas! Not AG…Oh, My!

What is the main item you need to pack for a slumber party or sleepover? Pajamas!

Mine are not AG. That’s right. Not all of my clothes are “name brand.” Do I mind? Nope! You can get really cool things that fit, look great, and are less expensive from other places. My pajamas are from Michael’s.

This pink and white striped set is very comfy. The pink stripe matches the pink in my bunny slippers ears (not pictured; slippers also from Michael's).

Other places to find great clothes: craft shows and county fairs. There are two key things to look at when buying non-AG clothes.

First, the display. Are the outfits just laid out on a table, bagged in Ziploc, or hanging on a rack with no model in sight? Those might not fit so well. But if the person has a few models you can see if they are too big or fit well.

Second, workmanship. When you find something you like, look it over closely. Are there loose threads? Does the material pattern line up or is it crooked? Are the stitches straight? Turn it inside out, are the seams pressed open?

Since you can’t return these items, you can be a little picky. Just be polite if you decide against the item.

More tomorrow! Have a great night!

* In order: lemongrass, ginger, peppermint, lemon verbena, licorice, and lemon rind.