SO BEGINS A NEW CHAPTER!

Currently, I am 18 weeks pregnant and PRAISE GOD.  Everything looks wonderful with the baby!  I have my anatomy scan on Thursday.  I am currently on light bed-rest because I started having stress induced contractions, then they continued to get worse...so no stairs, no lifting, no bending over, no stress.  So long as I have followed my Drs orders, I haven't had any additional problems. 

SO...the reason I'm writing this is because I'd like to take a new direction with my blog.  Homemaking.  I'm VERY passionate about the health of my family, what we put in our bodies, and doing it in a frugal way...subsequently I end up making a LOT from scratch.  A friend told me I should start a blog about it...and so I am :).

I'll start with a child and family staple around here.  CHOCOLATE SYRUP!  We really enjoy it on ice cream, cheesecake, strawberries,...but my personal favorite right now is CHOCOLATE MILK (it makes really good hot chocolate too)! :) 

This recipe is from The Complete Tightwad Gazette


½ cup cocoa powder
1 cup water
2 cups sugar
⅛ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon vanilla

Mix the cocoa powder and the water in a saucepan. Heat and stir to dissolve the cocoa. Add the sugar, stir to dissolve. Boil 3 minutes over medium heat (be mindful not to let it boil over).  Stir in the salt and the vanilla. Let cool. Pour into a clean container, and store in the refrigerator. Keeps for several months (it wont last that long though ;)
Yield: 2 cups

VIOLA!  I promise you will NEVER go back to store bought chocolate syrup again!!  Its cheap, easy, and the natural antioxidants from the cocoa powder is a plus.  If you are like us, it also keeps you away from the high fructose corn syrup from most store bought syrups (unless you are buying organic).

Additionally, I do make my own vanilla...you can find the recipe in this old post: http://soblessed2be.blogspot.com/2011/08/super-easy-and-wonderfully-cheap.html