Plus calcium and no hydrogenated anything! Well, maybe a more accurate title would be Healthy DIY hot chocolate mix with calcium- just add water or coffe for an instant mocha, but that would be a bit wordy. I am not terribly creative yet with my food recipe titles. Hopefully that will come with time.

I am pretty excited about this “recipe.” Currently, I am a working mom and I am almost always rushing in the mornings. I pretty much need one cup of leaded coffee to really get my day going, and lately I have been putting in a hot chocolate packet to make a quick instant mocha. It’s no Starbucks, but it’s decent. However, the other day I decided to look at the ingredients on the aforementioned hot chocolate packet and what was right there at the top? The dreaded “hydrogenated… something or other.”

I was crushed. I am not a health nut by any means, but I really try to stay away from anything where the first few ingredients are either something I can’t pronounce (or even sound out), or hydrogenated anything. So I set out to make my own “powder” that would hopefully give my morning coffe a richer, darker, creamier chocolatey taste.

So then I started thinking, when I make yogurt I have to use instant, dry, non-fat milk. I never thought I would use that for anything other than yogurt, but then I thought, I bet I could use this as a base for hot chocolate/mocha powder. It advertises a richer “whole milk” flavor and has the added benefit of a little extra calcium. I figured it couldn’t hurt, and it actually came out pretty good!

Ingredients:
1 Envelope or 1+1/3 Cups dry Milk
2/3 Cup Hershey’s Dark Cocoa Powder
2/3 Cup Evaporated Cane Juice (all natural sugar)
Note: to make an instant mocha powder, add 1/2 cup instant coffee granules

Mix all ingredients together. Add a couple tablespoons, or as much as desired to water, milk, coffee etc. and feel free to adjust any or all ingredients to your taste! This is just how I liked it, but I like real dark chocolatey flavors.

Picture is a little lame, but I had to do something for Valentines Day…