Chocolate Syrup & Fun Teacher

Today I found a new blog site that I was very impressed with and found a super recipe for homemade chocolate syrup for milk or sundaes.
It was easy to make, very rich and the kids all approved after sampling it in a glass of cold milk.

Here's the recipe:

1/2 c. cocoa
1 c. water
2 c. sugar
1/8 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. vanilla

Mix the cocoa powder and the water in a saucepan. Heat and stir to dissolve the cocoa. Add the sugar, and stir to dissolve. Boil for 3 minutes over medium heat. Be careful not to let it get too hot and boil over! Add the salt and the vanilla. Let cool. Pour into a clean glass jar, and store in the refrigerator. Keeps for several months, but trust me it will be gone before then. Yields two cups.

The result is very rich, so I only use a teaspoon for a glass of chocolate milk.

I also found a cool new teaching resource site with all sorts of things like free worksheets, coloring pages, flashcards, songs for kids, educational videos, fun activities & teacher tools.

Go here and check it out:


http://www.havefunteaching.com/

Sunday Fun-day

Today has been a great day. It's Sunday fun-day for us. Church was great & afterward we came home for lunch and just fended for ourselves. I decided to take on a new chili recipe I found on Rachael Ray's website called BBQ Chili.
I added a little to it, if you really know me you know I rarely follow a recipe exactly.

So here's the link to Rachael's recipe:

http://www.rachaelray.com/recipe.php?recipe_id=3189

~I didn't have thick sliced bacon so I used 6 slices of regular.
I used 3 palmfuls (3TBS) of chili powder
~1 half palmful (1/2 TBS) cumin powder
I put in the whole bottle of beer
We always have petite diced tomatoes in our chili so I drained an extra large can of those & put them in last.

It slow simmered on the stovetop for several hours & my goodness did it smell heavenly in the house. Wow!
The end result was tantalizing. We girls gave it a 5 out of 5 star rating however the guys gave it a 4 out of 5 star rating because they said even though it was really good, it didn't have a lot of heat to it. They're right, this chili is not a heat setter but has incredible flavor for a mild chili which was exactly what I was looking for.



Daddy & Chloe were buddies today. She rode with him to church in his truck then right after they hotfooted it over to Lowes for more plywood for our garage shelves. She was most interested in watching the Lowes man operate the giant saw however got a bigger treat when she was able to ride the shopping cart around the store all by herself. (No pictures of that, I was at home, remember?)
Another big deal today was; When Chloe & daddy made this trip to Lowes they forgot something on the counter they had paid for so another trip had to be made. This trip was made on the motorcycle & Chloe was so excited because she's grown over the winter months & now can touch the foot pegs while holding on to daddy so she made the trip back to Lowes on the back of the bike! Wooo Hoo!! I was gone to the BX (Base Exchange) so there is not a picture of this milestone either.

Now our cats give us a lot of joy & one of our funny pictures of the day is featuring Graci, Jimbo's cat.
It's not "Black Friday" but she's in line already!



After our wonderful supper time, we kicked back in front of the television and watched Extreme Home Makeover, made some popcorn with our new air popper then watched the new season of The Amazing Race.





It's not looking too good for our Oklahoma cowboys, Jet & Cord, but we're still cheering them on & will until Phil says, "Jet & Cord, I'm sorry but you have been eliminated from the race." We're also cheering for Margie & Luke, Flight Time & Big Easy (Harlem Globetrotters), and Kisha & Jenn.

Never Say Never

Lots to blog about today:

This morning I made a new waffle recipe. I watched Rachael Ray make it on her show. I thought, "wow! that looks easy & I have all those ingredients", so I tried it. Was okay but not anything to spectacular. Keith & the girls liked it alright but didn't give rave reviews so I think, we'll find another waffle recipe to try.




This afternoon, we cleared out the front corner of the garage. Keith built some shelves & I must say, he did a great job! Can't wait to see what else he comes up with using his new tools. Now, I just have to get out there, unpack the rest of our boxes we've had out there since the move here from CA in April of 2007! Yikes!




Also this afternoon, I took Lauren to a birthday party at the Warren Theatre in Moore. She had a great time with friends while at the party & watching the movie; Never Say Never~The Justin Bieber Story.





Chloe, being the big Justin Bieber fan, would have been absolutely heartbroken if I had not taken her to see the movie when her sister saw it so we stayed for the movie as well. We all loved it. Was a great memory to make with my girls.

Jimbo came home from his debate tourney with 2 trophies in hand! He's so great at debate, it's one of his gifts. Notice the year "98" on them? They are "recycled" trophies to save money for the club. This made us laugh & well...just makes for a great story. He placed 2nd in DEX & Top Speaker {the bigger of the 2}. We're so proud of him.