I think she left a bruise!

This morning a chocolate muse hit me...

It all started with a phone call to the phone company







Everything was in a perfect position yet again for a muse to strike... everyone was in a good mood the kitchen was clean, we had gone to the grocery store the night before so the cabinets had a selection...So I decided to make the Evolving Sandwich of MMMmmmmm! Then I saw the jug of chocolate milk and the Evolving Sandwich of MMMmmmmm evolved again!

Evolving Sandwich of MMMmmmm!
2nd evolution

10 slices of Texas toast
6 eggs
1/4 cup of chocolate milk
1 tsp of cinnamon
1 tsp of sugar (will use 1 tbps if for kids )
bag of mini chocolate chips
1/4 block of cream cheese softened

I mixed up the egg batter for french toast using the eggs. cinnamon, and chocolate milk. Scramble it all together in a shallow bowl... I like using pie pans or my french toast batter.
Turn the Griddle on to 350-375 and run a little butter over it when it is hot.
Dip the Texas toast in the egg batter for about 10 seconds each side... while they cook on the first side :
Mix together the cream cheese and sugar with a fork till well mixed.
spread on one side of the remaining slices. Sprinkle the mini chocolate chips on the cream cheese.
Flip over the pieces of french toast that are cooking when the bottoms are golden brown. Once they flipped you can carefully dip bare side of the cream cheese bread pieces into the egg mixture for about 10 seconds. Lay them Cheeses side down on the pieces on the griddle.
The cream cheese will soften as you cook and the chips will begin to melt.
Flip the sandwich over carefully when the bottom is golden brown.
Remove from the griddle when both sides are golden brown.

As you can see this one very from the original sandwich and the kids and I have already decided on a few evolutionary steps to take the next time this sandwich wants to be made.
The two younger ones thought the cream cheese was not sweet enough and the eldest thinks it wasn't thick enough! I think we need to figure out a way to get the chocolate into the cream cheese more, beyond the melted chips.

Oh but the muse was not done yet!
She had hit The Thunderous one as well!
He saw the jug of milk and set about making his own inspiration

Heavenly Mix

pour 4 servings of chocolate milk into CocoMotion machine add hot chocolate mix for 4 servings then add 1/4 cup of White Hot Chocolate Mix. Turn the machine on and let it mix and heat till hot and frothy.
Trust me this hot chocolate needs whipped cream and chocolate shavings on top!

Make this meal for some on you love... Yourself!
and feel completely spoiled!

Chocolate Rice Pudding

This happens to be one of my favorite found recipes!
There is a problem with the recipe though... it gets eaten too quickly for a picture to be taken.
I honestly can not remember where I found this recipe, it was not the Hershey's cookbook, I think it was a magazine... how embarrassing! I can't give credit on this recipe!

I experimented with this recipe quite a bit, so I can say with confidence that it can be made with any kind of rice and the milk can take many forms as well.
I still hold that the best way to eat it is cold out of the fridge while the kids are asleep!

I learned that if you add more rice you get less custard in it's own layer, so don't add more rice then the one cup, and be sure you are measuring already cooked rice. This last time I added cloves, a cinnamon sticks, nutmeg, and allspice to a tea bag and put it in the rice while it cooked. It added a nice flavor to the dish, but next time I think 2 cinnamon sticks and less cloves.

Chocolate Rice Pudding

prep :20 mins. Bake 1 hour


4 eggs, slightly beaten
2 cups Half&Half, light, or whole milk
1/3 cup Sugar
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup cooked rice, cooled
4 oz. semi-sweet chocolate, chopped
1 recipe Molasses-Chocolate sauce

Preheat oven to 325. In a large bowl, beat eggs, half&half, sugar, cocoa, and vanilla with a rotary beater or wire whisk. Stir in rice and chocolate. Pour custard mixture into 1 1/2 or 2 quart casserole dish. Place dish in a 13x9x2-inch baking pan and set on oven rack. Carefully pour 1 inch of boiling water into baking pan.
Bake, uncovered, for 60-65 minutes or until a knife inserted near the center comes out clean

To serve: Spoon warm pudding into bowls. Pour 1-2 tbsp of molasses-chocolate sauce over each serving.


Molasses-Chocolate Sauce: In a saucepan, stir together 1/4 cup packed brown sugar and 1 tbsp cornstarch. stir in 1/3 cup water, 2 tbsp chocolate flavored syrup, and 1 tbsp molasses. Cook and stir mixture over medium-low heat for 2 mins or until thickened and bubbly.

Peanut Butter Cut- Out Cookies

For Easter Monster wanted to use all our spring cookie cutters. We wanted a recipe that she could make herself and really I don't have any good sugar cookie recipes...mostly because I find sugar cookies dry and boring. I let her pick a cookie recipe out of the cookbook with the guide line that it have a roll-able dough and this is the one she wanted to try.

Good choice!

Here is a link to the recipe on the Hershey's Kitchen Peanut Butter Cut-Out cookies
As usually I wasn't able to follow the recipe perfectly and had to make it up as we went along.
We had no peanut butter chips or pecans... I am looking forward to making these again following the actual recipe.

I am also really impressed with Monster, Hershey has this recipe listed as Skill Level: Advanced

We substitute creamy peanut butter for the peanut butter chips and creamed the peanut butter and butter together instead of melting it in a pan. We skipped the pecans altogether. Nuts are tricky in my house. I happen to love all of then (except pistachios) and My Love happens to avoid all of them. So adding them is the equivalent to saying,"MaWHAHAHA! They are all MINE!" Hence, they are often skipped.

Monster did most of the mixing...and her arms got tired holding up the hand mixer.
Then she rolled out the dough. The dough was soft so we worked in small batches. It was pretty easy to explain to her how each time you re-roll the dough you want to keep it about the same thickness every time. Also the shapes could be pressed back into shape most of the time if you accidentally broke off a piece... we had a few ducks lose their feet and some poor ear-less bunnies.... But don't worry! She rescued them!

She discovered that the cookie cutters didn't stick if we dipped them in sugar first. I had nothing to do...Monster was able to do this all herself! When she was having trouble moving them from the counter to the pan she solved it herself by getting a frosting knife and using that as a spatula!

The cookie cutters she used were tiny so it made alot of tiny yummy cookies, perfect for popping in your mouth.

I am sure she could do the stove top one with a little more watching over, but I see no reason your kids can't do the recipe the way she did, perfect for a Saturday afternoon "I'm bored!" cure.