Easy Homemade Hot Chocolate

 This morning it was downright cold outside!! Brr!  I know what all you Northerners are thinking...what a baby! There's certainly no snow down here and you guys would probably think it felt like a nice spring day.  But for us Houstonians..it was time to break out the Hot Cocoa!!

It's so so beautiful where we live and there's nothing our family likes better on a chilly morning than to have a cup of hot chocolate on the deck and listen to the birds chatter and the frogs sing.  Every now and then we even see a deer off at the edge of the woods....

I grew up with so many memories of cold mornings when I woke up to a pot of hot chocolate simmering on the stove. This was usually accompanied by the smell of a whole cookie sheet of cinammon toast heating up in the oven. This was, by far, family's favorite breakfast!!

It occurred to me that in this busy age of instant everything, including instant hot chocolate, that you may not have even tasted real hot chocolate.

Well, this is totally unacceptable in and I intend to remedy it. If you have never done this you have missed out on one of the greatest pleasures of every day life that you could ever experience!

All you need for enough hot chocolate for two is about 4 T.  of cocoa powder, 4 T. of sugar,1/2 t. vanilla, dash of salt and two cups of milk.

First, stir or whisk all the dry ingredients with about 1/4 cup hot water from the faucet until it's pretty well mixed. Then zap it in the microwave for about 30 sec.  Stir again until the powder is all dissolved.

Then pour in enough milk to go to the top of the two cup measuring cup..this doesn't have to be exact at all.

Stir again and put back in the microwave and heat another minute or two until it is the temperature that you want it to be.  You could use the hot pot to heat your water as well.

Ahhh...now just sip a little bit of heaven...real homemade hot chocolate!  (My hubby's favorite drink!)

Here is the recipe for a whole pot of hot chocolate:

1/2 cup sugar, 1/4 cup cocoa,1/3 c. hot water, 4 c. milk, dash salt, and 3/4t. vanilla extract.

1. Mix sugar, cocoa and salt in saucepan; stir in water.
2. Cook and stir over medium heat until mixture boils. 
3. Stir in milk and heat. DO NOT BOIL.
4. Remove from heat; add vanilla.