Cold and Wet and Soup

Well, Hurricane Sandy is causing a fair amount of rain here today.  And it all started before lunch!  In fact, we woke up to rain this morning.  Normally during rainy season, the rains start in the afternoon.  But it has been cold and wet today.  In fact, it's colder here than it is in Michigan today!  When I say cold, I mean 68 Fahrenheit, but with no central heating in cinder block buildings and windows and doors that aren't air tight, 68 and rainy is cold. 

Which really, is just fine by me.  It is October after all, and 30 years of living at a latitude where it could be snowing this time of year makes it seem as if you should be in long sleeves and jeans in October. 

In the spirit of all this rain and damp and cold, I made a couple of things, hot cocoa mix and tomatoe soup.
My mom posted the hot cocoa recipe this morning on Facebook and low and behold, I had everything in the pantry!  And while I don't have a food processor, I found that the food mill attachment to my mixer does just fine grinding up chocolate chips!

So, here it is...

Hot Cocoa mix
3 cups powdered milk, 
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1 1/2 cups cocoa 
1-1/2 cups white chocolate chips (I used dark chocolate chips because they are the only ones I can find here.)
Process in food processor until it becomes a consistent powder (or you can mix with a spoon if your chips are ground up)
Mix with boiling water and enjoy. 

The great thing about this recipe is there is actual nutritional value unlike store bought or the coffee creamer/nestle quick version.  There's about 8 grams of protein per cup as well as calcium from the powdered milk.  There is also antioxidants from the dark cocoa.

The other thing I made today was tomato soup.  I had 4 giant tomatoes hanging out in the fridge and they needed to be used up.  And with all this rain and cold, I thought grilled cheese and tomato soup with rice would be a lovely dinner tonight.  You know, indulge in the cheese we pay an arm and a leg for!  Seriously, a 2 pound block of cheddar is over $10 USD here.  

I had never made tomato soup before and this worked out so nicely.  I used stock from the freezer and everything came together very nicely.  And oh, how sad is that measuring cup?  We only have three casualties on the way over, my 2 cup and 4 cup glass measuring cups and a glass milk jug.  The measuring cups are still usable for this sort of thing, but without handles they aren't going to be much good for hot things.

And now, I do believe that all three boys are tucked away in their rooms for rest time.  I think Quinn finally settled down to sleep, and the others are playing quietly.  Now to enjoy a few minutes of the rain pounding on the roof.