Hot Chocolate & Marshmallows

When the weather outside is cold..

..it's definitley the perfect time to enjoy hot chocolate.

My little family loves their hot chocolate, and we go through quite a lot of it.  We have too may flavors to count, and each person like their own little concotion of warm chocolatey sweetness.

But with hot chocolate you need marshmallows, and finding that we were all out, we decided to make our own.  The kiddos couldn't believe that you could actually make them yourself, and they were so easy to make!!

We used this great recipe, and cut some into shapes (like hearts, and snowflakes) but found that they were more fun to eat in plain old squares.  The best part of homemade marshmallows are how light and fluffy they are, and sweet, oh my!! The recipe made about 100 1" squares, so that should hold us till next week (grin)

Dave and I have recently stumbled upon a great find here in Seattle, Chocolati.  They make their hot chocolate with melted chocolate and warm steamed milk.  It is so rich, and absolutely divine. Unfortunately you can only get it at their shops.  They do sell a mix, which even they say is close, but not nearly as good as the real thing. 

In an effort to re-create it, or get somewhat close, I found this recipe for Truffle Hot Chocolate Balls.  Again, a super easy recipe, with great results.  Perfect for another snowy day like today.

The BIG Snow!!

It snowed a couple of mornings this past week, and although it didn't stick around for long, it reminded me of the big snow we had in January..

We had heard that we might get some snow, and were delighted when we came home after some family adventures in Seattle to find snow on the ground..it wasn't much, but we rolled out some large snowballs and put together our first snowman in our new home.  We had no idea we were in store for much more snow!!

By Sunday morning we had over 6", and it was really coming down.  Church was cancelled (the first time ever in my life) and we spent the day indoors making homemade marshmallows, and filling our bellies with hot chocolate, and watching the snow fall.

Monday was a holiday, and the kiddos took full advantage of the weather with neighbor snowball fights, sledding, and playing in the fluffy white stuff.  Dave headed into work (thank goodness for that 4 wheel drive, they didn't even plow the freeways), but by afternoon most of the place was empty, and he decided to work from home for the rest of the week.  By that evening we had 3 more inches, and we received the email confirming that school was indeed cancelled.

Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday meant even more snow, and by the time it stopped snowing on Thursday we had over 12 inches (and yes, I measured).  School was eventually cancelled the entire week mostly because the buses couldn't get through.  Seattle isn't equipped with snow plows, and because of environmental reasons they don't even salt the roads.  So when it snows, everything just shuts down. We had known we might get some snow, so I was fully stocked, and we didn't leave the house for an entire week (except of course to walk up the street to do some sledding down the hill). 

It was such a fun adventure, and I loved looking out the windows each morning at how beautiful our big cedars, and oaks looked laden with snow.  The kiddos got great use of their snow gear, and we spent so much time outisde playing in it.  It was almost like vacation..but at home in the snow.