Strawberry Lemonade

So, one day I made a cake for a church auction.  I have left over frozen strawberries and left over lemons from a previous baking occasion.  I am not a big fan of strawberries myself, but do love a good cold strawberry lemonade.  I got out a pitcher, squeezed the juice from the two lemons I had left and pureed the strawberries I had and slowly added sugar and water until I had a yummy drink.

Ingredients
juice of 2 lemons
3/4 cup pureed strawberries
water
sugar to taste

Directions
1.  Place lemon juice and pureed strawberries into a 1/2 gallon pitcher. 
2.  Fill pitcher with water.
3.  Add sugar until desired sweetness is obtained.  I used about 1 cup.
4.  Stir until sugar is dissolved.

Notes
I made this with the left overs I had and do not know if it would have tasted better with more or less lemon juice or strawberries.  If anyone else tries other measurements for these items and it taste better than what the directions say, please let me know!

Hot Cocoa Mix

On a cold, winter day, one thing that I crave is hot cocoa!  I love to drink it to warm my body, especially after being out in the elements.  I thought, how much healthier would it be to make my own hot cocoa?  How much cheaper?  Well, it turns out, the cheaper hot cocoas are actually cheaper than this recipe, but this one does not have fifty ingredients I cannot pronounce!

I have been searching for a hot cocoa mix that did not use creamers and dried milk, as those items are expensive and are things I do not keep on hand at my home.  I really wish I could remember where I found the recipe.  I just wrote it down on a piece of scrap paper about a year ago and just now got around to making it.

Hot Cocoa Mix
Ingredients
3/4 cup cocoa
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
pinch of salt

Mix Directions

1. Mix all ingredients together
2. Store in air tight container.

 Drink Directions

1. Heat one cup of milk on the stove.
2. Stir in three Tablespoon of mix until fully dissolved.  

Notes
You may wish to add more or less mix depending on how strong you want your hot cocoa.

To make a dark chocolate cocoa, decrease the amount of brown sugar. 

I would not recommend using water to make this since there is no dried milk or creamer in the recipe.

Lactose Intolerant?  I have not tries using any lactose free milks, but I would imagine they would work too.  If they do not, please let me know!

Gift Ideas!!  Need a cheap and easy gift to give friends/teachers/family?  Mix the ingredients in a small mason jar and top with mini marshmallows.  Tie a tag around the jar with cooking instructions.  They make great Christmas gifts!  You can also use baggies and tie it up and place in a gift mug as well!

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Is homemade worth it?

3/4 cup cocoa = $.99
1 1/2 cups brown sugar = $.65

I have not included the pinch of salt.  It would be less than a penny anyways, so the cost is negligible.

So, one recipe of hot cocoa mix = $1.54 to make.

There are 12 servings in this recipe.  One serving of cocoa mix = $.13. If you add the cost of the milk, you would pay $.37 for a cup of hot cocoa.

Hot cocoa mix in the store normally comes in boxes with 10 servings each.  With these boxes, you only need to add water to complete the recipes.  The cheapest hot cocoa mixes cost around $2.00 for a box, so one cup of store bought mix would be around $.20.  If you add milk instead of water, it would cost $.44.

Summery
One cup cheap hot cocoa with water = $.20
One cup homemade cocoa mix = $.37
One cup cheap hot cocoa with milk = $.44