homemade chocolate milkshakes

When the weather is consistently 90 F and/or it's just been a tough day, there is nothing like the perfect chocolate milkshake. This milkshake is a spin off one I had in Stockholm, Sweden, and has been my favorite ever since.

Here is only the after picture, since it was too delicious to wait to down.



Joy's Best Chocolate Milkshakes Ever

Best Chocolate Ice cream
Whole Organic Milk
Chocolate Syrup

As I told my friend: chocolate ice cream, meet milk, milk, meet chocolate ice cream. The key is only add a little milk while mashing down the ice cream until it's at that nice thick consistency. I fill a glass with chocolate ice cream, and then add a little bit of milk, then mash until it's that right consistency, and try to err on the ice cream side, or else you'll just have a very sweet milky concoction.

Take a tall glass, and squirt chocolate syrup at the bottom, fill with the chocolate milkshake, and then add a generous lacing at the top, serve with a straw.

Fancy variation: Vanilla ice cream with half a teaspoon of crushed saffron, and whole milk. Take blackberry jam, and thin it with water over the stovetop until it is more like a sauce. Place blackberry jam sauce on bottom of glass. Pour newly saffron flavored milkshake over blackberry sauce in glass.

every good thing oatmeal

Every Good Thing Oatmeal

Oatmeal has been a longstanding favorite in my family, although, our tastes did run towards Quaker microwaveable oats. After going to brunch for more than a year in New York, I noticed that oats were taking a decided turn for the luxurious and decided to hop onto the oats as you've never seen them before train.

This recipe is straight from the produce I got from my local farmer's market and I'm sitting here eating this breakfast with a bouquet of snapdragons at my side. Enjoy the farmer's market and buying locally as much as you can.

half a white peach
handful of pecans
a tablespoon or less of light brown sugar
handful of raspberries
golden raisins (optional)

irish or scottish oats -- prepare stovetop according to directions
pinch of salt
milk

I normally don't put as much salt in my oats as they do traditionally. This quick breakfast takes around fifteen to twenty minutes. Slice the peach into a ceramic oven friendly dish, sprinkle raspberries and brown sugar with pecans and set oven on broil. Make sure the pecans don't burn!

Cooking the oatmeal takes about 10-15 minutes, so by the time they're finished the peach/raspberries are probably deliciously roasted up a bit. I just tip the oatmeal on top of the peach/raspberry mix and mix in some golden raisins.

Eat in good health!

the continuing breakfast question

Angela's Jammy Sandwiches



Well, these aren't actually Angela's. When we used to live together in New York one of her favorite snacks was brie and jam on crackers. Addressing the ever present question of "What should I eat for breakfast?" I decided to do my own take on Angela's snacks.

1 quarter of a ripe peach
4 thin slices of your favorite brie
wheat bread ends
4 pecans (optional)
dark brown sugar for sprinkling (optional

This was actually one of the best ways to use up the bread "heels." If you want to make them prettier and have pastry rounds, feel free to actually cut circles.

Set oven to broil (watch out if you do this in a toaster oven). Slice thinly the quarter of a the peach into four pieces. Using about half a piece of bread, line four muffin tins with bread pieces making sort of a cup, add brie, then peach slice, then pecan and light sprinkle of brown sugar. Heat through until the peach slices are baked, about 5-8 minutes depending on your oven.

simple mushroom soup

I had been at Doma's earlier this year and enjoyed the simplest and yet most delicious soup I had had in a long time: mushroom soup. When eating it, I realized it was just a blended mushrooms in a brace of vegetable broth. I highly suggest you try this at home.

Simplest Mushroom Soup

2 baskets of mushrooms (I used button being on a budget) brushed off and sliced
1 medium onion minced
2 cloves of garlic minced or roasted garlic
4 c vegetable or chicken broth
Olive oil

Immersion blender

Mince onion, saute in olive oil over medium high heat until transparent. Add minced garlic for one minute until fragrant, add sliced mushrooms and saute until softened, add four cups of broth, bring to boil, and then simmer for 15-30 minutes. Use immersion blender until mushrooms are in small pieces. I like mushroom soup with goat cheese toasts (take good bread, spread goat cheese on and then toast in oven or toaster oven).