Relieve Heat with Frozen Hazelnut Hot Chocolate

By admin, July 23, 2010

First off…welcome to the new site! What do you think of it? I’d love to know. Send me an email or comment.

Second, don’t forget to vote for me for the Anthony Bourdain contest. Voting has been embarrassingly low with the amount of readers and followers I have. Get to it people! Vote. You can vote once a day for the rest of the month! Tell your friends too! Anyone in the world can vote.

Annie's Old Beach

It is going to be another scorcher in Chicago. Heat index will be between 100-108. Am I in Phoenix? Right now I wish I still lived on the Indiana-Michigan border a mere 5 houses from my own private beach. How spoiled was I? Today would be a day to hit the beach in the morning and then again after dinner with lots of hydration and a nap in between. We do have beaches in Chicago which surprises a lot of people. Nice beaches. Not the same though. I used to live in a small building just behind those two red high rises. I’ve been very lucky.

Chicago's Lakefront

I’m upset about the casualties of this heatwave. Not only the people who have no shelter, but for my dozens of chocolate bars that had to make for the refrigerator. Chocolate does not like to be put in the refrigerator or freezer. Heat, cold, frozen…it doesn’t like any of that. I guess chocolate is more of a Northern California/Pacific kind of resident. It doesn’t like extremes.

Unhappy Chocolate (Bloom)

When it gets this hot I don’t even like to eat. I make sure everything is cold. Breakfast was just some puffed brown rice cereal with amaranth milk and a side of strawberries. Lunch is a cold turkey burger left from last night with a salad. Not sure about dinner yet. But my snack? I’ve got that covered too. I found this recipe today on Healthy Delicious. She always has recipes that interest me. What’s this one for? Frozen Hazelnut Hot Chocolate! I have everything in my pantry. I’m ready to go. I’m going to use my handy martini mixer cup thing for this…shaken, not stirred. Think of me sweltering in this Chicago heat while you enjoy your Frozen Hazelnut Hot Chocolate. Says it serves 2, but I’m pretty sure it’s just going to serve me!

Frozen Hazelnut Hot Chocolate

Serves 2 (or me)

Ingredients:
3 tablespons sugar
3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1-1/2 cups skim milk (I’m using a grain “milk”)
1/4 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 tablespoons hazelnut spread, such as Nocciolata (I’m using Nutella)
1 tray ice cubes (about 12 cubes)

Directions:
Add the sugar, cocoa powder, milk, vanilla, and hazelnut spread to a blender. Pulse a few times to combine. Add the ice and blend until the mixture is slushy.