kruizing with kikukat
Showing posts with label cocoa. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cocoa. Show all posts

Monday, September 7, 2015

Chocolate Mochi

Today is a holiday!  Yay!!!

Last week was a busy week.  I was thinking all the parent festivities were behind me, but I forgot about senior parent night.  I guess I excluded myself mentally since I'm not the parent of a senior, but I forgot about my other responsibilities.  Anyway, senior parent night was on Wednesday.  The parents were informed about the major activities happening for their children this year.  They were also given fair warning about the $$$ of prom bids this spring.  I already had a parent complain.  Well, prom participation IS voluntary.  And I should note that prom participation costs are a fraction of an iPhone.  I see so many kids at school flaunting their smartphones.  When I went to high school, nobody had phones so we had no choice but to pay attention to the lessons.

The Help went to Honolulu this weekend for some family stuff, so I had the weekend to myself.  My 10-hour day in Kona ended up costing me over $2k.  Of course, this included a car repair.  Ouch!  Since I had some time, I walked around the dealership to look at what my next steps might be.  The new x3s are nice.  I wonder when they began having air vents to the back seat.

Costco was awful.  It was packed.  It took me forever to find parking, and I had to park twice (I bought a bed, had to drive my car to the front of the store to load the bed, then I had to park again so I could go back into the store for other things).  They also didn't have any carts.  While I was waiting, I saw KikukatMom and KikukatDad exiting the store.  I helped them unload in the pouring rain and then took their cart.  While in Costco, I did run into some nice people like Van Gogh.  Van Gogh and I both agreed that Friday after work is the best time to head over to Costco.

On Sunday, since The Help was still away, I baked.  My original plan was to make snickerdoodles for D1 to cheer her up, but since I had recently opened a large container of unsweetened cocoa powder, I decided to make a tray of chocolate mochi for KikukatMom, who is finally feeling better after her surgery.

click on recipe title for printable recipe

     1 box (16 oz) mochiko
     2 c sugar
     1/4 c cocoa powder (not Dutch processed)
     1 tbsp baking soda
     1 can (13-14 oz) coconut milk
     about 1 1/2 c milk
     1/2 c chocolate syrup
     1/4 c butter, melted
     2 eggs

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease a 9 x 13" pan.  Combine first four ingredients in a large bowl.  Pour coconut milk into a large measuring cup.  Add enough milk to equal 24 fluid ounces.  Combine with chocolate syrup, melted butter, and eggs.  Add to dry ingredients.  Use a whisk to mix until smooth.  Pour into prepared pan and bake for 1 hour.  Cut into pieces when completely cool.

Monday, May 14, 2012

Phoenix Chili

In light of my recent trip to San Antonio, this week's featured recipe celebrates the flavors of the southwest.  San Antonio is known as the birthplace of chili, so this is truly a fitting post.

Phoenix Chili is based on a recipe given to me by a friend.  The original recipe used beef instead of chicken, and when I made it, it was unreal salty.  I liked the saucy quality of the chili, something I've been trying to make for years.  After a few changes, I came up with what I consider the perfect chili.

This chili is great eaten over rice with a small scoop of mayonnaise on the side (Hawaii style, which I'm sure some people would find gross) or atop a red hotdog (another Hawaii thing).  I'm sure it would also make a great contribution to mound of tortilla chips.  I like my chili topped with shredded cheese and served with a chunk of sweet cornbread.

If you are pressed for time (or lazy) and cannot possibly throw this recipe together, Don's Grill makes the best chili in Hilo.  Don's chili tastes very similar to this recipe, except they use ground beef.  Their chili is available for sale by the quart (good idea to pre-order if you need gallons), and you can get it hot or cold (if you are serving it later and want the convenience of heating it up when you are ready).  You can always order a bowl of it off the menu too. . .and, yes, they will gladly give you a scoop of mayonnaise on the side (Best Foods, of course).


 click on recipe title for printable recipe
Phoenix Chili

     2 lbs ground chicken
     1 small onion, chopped
     vegetable oil
     1 small can tomato paste
     2 cans (15 oz each) tomato sauce
     1 (15 oz) can tomatoes
     2 tsp unsweetened cocoa powder
     2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
     2 tsp sugar
     2 packets chili mix (Schilling or Lawry)
     2 (15 oz each) kidney beans

Brown ground chicken and onions is a small amount of vegetable oil.  Drain.  Add all ingredients except beans. If using whole canned tomatoes, break up with kitchen shears or smash with a spoon.  Simmer for 1 hour.  Add beans and simmer an additional hour.

Note:  Blue corn chips in the pictures are the Archer Farms brand, available at Target stores.  In a foodie magazine taste test, Archer Farms organic tortilla chips garnered "best buy" honors, second only in flavor to some multi-grain Doritos costing over $2 more per bag.  I found the chips to be light and crunchy and not overly salted.  Although I've made several references to saltiness in this post, I need you to know that I am not sodium-phobic, but some things are just too dang salty.

About my trip. . .I spent 6 nights in San Antonio, staying at the Marriot RiverCenter Hotel.  Overall, I enjoyed Texas.  The food was delicious, and I was able to see my friend Badman Jose.

I took my Nex on the trip, expecting to come home with kick-ass pics.  Unfortunately, something bad happened the day I arrived, which I didn't find out about until I got home when I uploaded the pics to my computer.  Many of my pics had a strange haze in one area.  I was worried it might be the sensor, but The Help noticed grease smudges (likely carried out of the Salt Lick) on the uv lens filter.  The Help cleaned the filter and the hazy spot magically disappeared.  Sheeeeiiittttt!!! 

Anyway, I made a short slideshow of my trip (yes, with the greasy lens pics), so please be sure your speakers are turned on.  I love the song!

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