Peanut Butter+ Hot Chocolate= Perfect Marriage

I was sitting in a mechanic's shop during an oil change and picked up a LIVING magazine. A recipe for hot chocolate popped out at me!

 The best combination in the world of food is CHOCOLATE AND PEANUT BUTTER!My dear friend, Lindsay, made rockin' cupcakes- Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcakes. Check it out!

I came home and got busy with the recipe. I used organic peanut butter which is a bit oily and left a small about on oil on top. Other than that, it is incredibly rich and I put the leftovers in the refrigerator which I reheated the next day and it was just as yummy!

Peanut Butter Hot Chocolate - serves 4
3 cups milk
1 cup light cream
8 oz. chocolate bar, chopped
1/4 cup creamy peanut butter
pinch of salt
In a medium pot over medium heat, warm the milk and cream. Add chocolate car, stirring until dissolved. Add peanut butter and salt. Stir until hot and serve immediately.  *As the hot chocolate cools, it separates.

Spiced Chai Recipe-updated

Chai is one of my favorite drinks during the cold months. I first learned I could MAKE it 4 years back when a friend made it for our group in Taiwan. It was heavenly!! I was really missing Chai since they don't sell it at any coffee shop in Taiwan but with a few spices, it can be done right in in the kitchen!

Cardamom is native to India and it is very expensive. I had a hard time finding this but you won't want to make Chai without it! You will need the pods for this recipe. Otherwise, whole cloves and cinnamon sticks should be easy to come by.

UPDATE: a friend told me her way of making Chai is to use GROUND cardamom and even add pumpkin pie spice but you'll need to strain it through a cheese cloth to get rid of the ground spices.

Spiced Chai- serves 6

3 cups water
4 cardamom pods
5 whole cloves
2-3 cinnamon sticks
Bring this to a boil, reduce to medium-high and cover for 8 minutes.

Add:
4 black tea bags of your choice
(I cut the stems off and let them float in the water)
Stir occasionally for 5 minutes.

Add:
1/4 cup sugar
Stir until dissolved. Adjust heat to LOW.

Add:
3 cups milk
stir and heat thoroughly.
Adjust sugar and milk to taste.

A cup of Chai and a pumpkin cookie- a match made in heaven!

Blended Fruit "Duo Duo"

Ideal Meals for the “Wai Guo Ren” (Foreigner)
Living in Taiwan for a few years has taught me how to make foods I am familiar with back home but with limited resources and on a budget. If you have access to a COSTCO, than your options broaden, but for the most part, we eat simply and this recipe is a part of a collection for the American teachers living in Taiwan with a simple stove, toaster oven and small grocery store in town.

Today’s Recipe: Blended Fruit “Duo Duo”- Serves 2

The fun thing about this recipe is how creative you can be. People are always giving us fruit that’s in season and sometimes we just have way too much to eat while it’s fresh. I freeze lots of bananas before they go brown and will blend them up with milk and chocolate syrup or peanut butter. It’s a real creamy treat! But stores have a variety of drinkable yogurts which add a delightful flavor to any smoothie.

Items Needed:

• Blender
• Cutting board and knife
• Two large glasses
• A suntan

Ingredients Needed:
1 ½- 2 cups of any variety of frozen fruit. I love using bananas and mangoes but whatever is in season will work. If you use frozen fruit, you won’t have to look for ice cubes!
2 cups of Drinkable Yogurt (see picture), juice or milk.

Directions:
1. Cut frozen fruit into smaller pieces
2. Pour your choice of liquid in the blender
3. Add fruit and blend until smooth

This is DELICIOUS on a hot day and we have plenty of those here in Taiwan!

Spearmint Tea- Hot or Cold

I walked into the courtyard of our apartment and smelled MINT! Sure enough, my neighbor was ripping them up saying they were overgrowing the area and just had them piled up to whither and die! I rescued them and found a more useful for them to die. Here's what I did with them and if you have access to fresh mint, give it a try! It's such a refreshing drink: hot or cold.

I pulled all the leaves off and rinsed them. It came out to about 1 cup of packed leaves. Once in a pot with a few cups of water, bring to a boil and immediately turn off the heat, keeping the lid on for about 10 minutes. This will keep the valuable oils from evaporating. Run it through a strainer and add 1/4 cup of sugar to the warm tea; stir until dissolved. This mixture is in a concentrate form, so you can either keep it hot by adding a few more cups of HOT water, or ice it like I did by adding a few cups of COLD water and ice cubes.

A friend of mine said she's heard of adding Ginger ale to it- that sounds amazing but I don't have access to that marvelous stuff here in Taiwan.