February Pinterest Project(s)

Well, February isn't quite over yet, but seeing as I will be working the last few nights of February, I know for certain I will not get a February Pinterest Project completed. Sigh. And to be honest, I never really figured out what I wanted to do (although I have a whole list of things to attempt) and didn't have the supplies ready (fabric chosen/purchased). I think I just procrastinated and then got busy these last two weeks of February. Plus, I recently joined a small group with my church that meets on one of my nights off, which I didn't factor into my planning in February.  And my other excuse is that February's a short month. Not that that really would really have made a difference. ha ha.

So my goals is to complete TWO Pinterest Projects in March. Hopefully one in early March and one the later half. We shall see.

But I did manage to do a Pinterest Recipe for February. I've discovered recently that a number of my favorite foods contain carregeenan. It's a food additive (for dairy thickening) derived from seaweed that has scientists concerned about links to gastrointestinal diseases and possibly cancer. Where is it showing up? My favorite cottage cheese, ice cream and hot cocoa mix.

So this month, I decided to check out some DIY hot cocoa recipes on Pinterest after trying Whole Food's 365 organic hot cocoa mix and hating it (didn't like the vanilla flavoring). Trouble was that so many DIY mixes called for instant coffee creamer which, of course, contains carregeenan. Whole Foods doesn't even carry instant coffee creamer because they can't approve of the ingredients!!!

image from kitchenmeetsgirl.com/

So I made THIS recipe from kitchenmeetsgirl.com. Okay flavor, but the cocoa powder makes it a little chalky going down. I'm still tinkering with it, like adding more powdered milk/sugar.

But since I attempted making my own, my mom found some hot cocoa mix at our nearby Cheese Shoppe, which is a local family-owned Amish-style bulk foods store. It was expensive, but thankfully did not list carregeenan on the label. The texture/flavor is better than the mix I made, but when it cools off just a little it gets a weird film on the top--possibly because this DRY mix uses coconut oil as a thickner??

So only one for two on my February Pinterest goals. But hopefully I'll do three for two next month. :)  Until then.