America’s dairy farmers and milk processors have teamed up to produce a new campaign aimed at keeping chocolate milk available to kids in schools. The Raise Your Hand for Chocolate Milk campaign comes on the heels of evolving legislation designed to limit or eliminate soda and other sugary drinks in schools. The campaign maintains that children love chocolate milk, no surprise here, for its flavor. They say that removing chocolate milk from the lunch menu will drive kids to other sweet drinks, and not regular white milk.
“[Reduced-fat chocolate milk] contains 170 total calories, with 29 grams of carbohydrates and 8 grams of protein, a 3.6-1 ratio. Optimal recovery ratio for carbs to protein is between 3-1 and 4-1,” Cheryl Zonkowski, director of sports nutrition at the University of Florida, said. Other valuable nutrients found in milk include vitamins A, D, B-6 and B-12, niacin, riboflavin, thiamin, calcium, magnesium, phosphorus and zinc.
Here are the top five arguments from the Raise Your Hand for Chocolate Milk campaign:
Milk provides nutrients essential for good health and kids will drink more when it’s flavored.
Flavored milk contains the same nine essential nutrients as white milk and is a healthful alternative to soft drinks.
Drinking lowfat or fat free white or flavored milk helps kids get the 3 daily servings of milk recommended by the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, and provides three of the five “nutrients of concern” that children do not get enough of – calcium, potassium and magnesium as well as vitamin D.
Children who drink flavored milk meet more of their nutrient needs; do not consume more added sugar, fat or calories; and are not heavier than non-milk drinkers.
Lowfat chocolate milk is the most popular milk choice in schools and kids drink less milk (and get fewer nutrients) if it’s taken away.
You may think from this week’s theme that we have a candy corn fixation. You are right. As Susan pointed out yesterday, it’s one of the few candies that is available for only a short time, and that preserves its magic and keeps the spark and love alive. However, we are not the only fans of the treat. Many thanks to Yum Sugar for posting a recipe that’s sure to delight Halloween partygoers everywhere. Well, adult partygoers, anyway. Candy corn cordials? Yes, sign me up!
Ingredients
For the infused vodka:
1/2 cup candy corn
1 1/2 cups vodka
For the cordials:
2 ounces orange liqueur
Juice of 1/2 lemon
1 large egg white
Candy corn, for garnish
I don’t want to steal the thunder away from the original author, so you will have to go read the rest of the recipe on the original site. But anytime you have candy corn infused vodka, you can’t go wrong. This is the stuff of epic-sized parties.
Many thanks to loyal candy lover Rachelle, who pointed us to this video by Chow. We talked about this last year but having the video makes it even better. Thanks, Rachelle – you’re the best!
What’s a better way to cool off this summer than a nice tall glass of iced tea? Well, okay, you could have a candy milkshake or ice cream, I suppose, but here I have something original for you. Try doctoring up that glass before you pour the tea by rimming it with crushed Lemonheads. This will add some sweetness to each sip and will also add the zing of lemon lots of us love in the drink.
To crush the Lemonheads, first freeze them, as they are abit soft crush at room temperature. Then put them in a zippered plastic bag and roll a rolling pin over it until you have a good crushed mixture of the candy. Alternately, you can put the frozen Lemonheads in the blender and pulse the blades until the candy is all powdery.
Next, place the crushed candy on a small plate. Wet the rim of the glass and dip it into the candy. Fill the glass with ice and tea and sip away on the veranda, enjoying the last rays of light this evening. You will like this a lot.
If you are not into rimmed glasses, try dissolving some of the candy into your boiling water you are making the tea with. It takes more candy this way because it gets diluted in the water, but it will still produce a great taste!
I am getting a little insane in the membrane with this heat after yesterday when I posted about the cooling effect of milkshakes during the dog days of summer. Most of yesterday afternoon I simply wanted to go have one but was kept inside by the oppressive heat.
Then I found this recipe in the CandyUSA.com recipe vault, which is strictly guarded against cowans and eavesdroppers by Freddie, a sword-wielding oompa loompa. Fortunately, he was on his 15-minute break and I was able to sneak in and get this to share with you. It might even be better than the first milkshake. I will leave it up to you to make the final determination. Make all these cool drinks and let us know your findings.
So the big question: Chocolate or double chocolate?
Ingredients
1 Cup whole milk (lower fat versions can be substituted)
1 scoop chocolate ice cream. For a double chocolate milkshake, use an extra scoop.
Directions
Makes one large serving.
Place the milk and ice cream in the blender.
Process until smooth, then pour into a glass and garnish with fresh fruit or nuts.
I could use a cold drink. This milkshake seems like a great way to beat the heat today.
I don’t know about where you are, but here in Washington, DC, it’s hot out. I don’t mean warm, like the summer days I spent in central Massachusetts, when everyone would go nuts if the temperature finally reached 80 degrees. It’s going to be about 100 degrees today here.
Yep, it’s milkshake time. Tell Susan I have to go buy a blender and some ingredients. I should be back in time for my lunch break.
What candy bar would you like to use with this? I think I would use a Butterfinger.
You will need:
2 ½ cups vanilla ice cream
¼ cup milk
1 candy bar or ½ cup candy pieces
a blender
Directions:
Break up the candy bar or candy pieces and place into the freezer for 15 minutes.
Combine all ingredients in the blender and blend on medium speed for 30 seconds. Stir with a spoon and blend for 30 more seconds. Repeat until desired consistency is reached.
Pour into a glass and enjoy!!
For a thicker shake, place blended milkshake into freezer for five minutes.
Note to adult: Please supervise children using the blender.
Here we go, completing the trifecta of Derby Day desserts with one named after the official drink of my Derby festivities. The mint julep is a delightful, refreshing drink that is a tradition for the Kentucky Derby and this dessert, provided to us by 3 Musketeers, is sure to be a hit.
My own suggestion for this recipe is that you not go buy the $50 bottle of Bourbon for this. In cooking with wines, I have noticed that the subtleties of nice wines are lost in the cooking process, so a less expensive bottle is often just as good, still offering the the same richness. Leave the Maker’s Mark on the shelf for when you make the juleps. For cooking, go with a $15 bottle of Bourbon.
What you need:
1 1/2 teaspoons butter, softened
1/2 cup long-grain white rice
3 1/2 cups 2% milk
1/2 cup cream
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs, lightly beaten
6 fun size Three Musketeers Mint Dark Chocolate Bars, chopped
3 tablespoons Kentucky Bourbon
Fresh mint sprigs, optional
What to do:
Preheat oven to 325°F.
Evenly coat a 3 quart baking dish with the softened butter and set aside.
In a large bowl, combine the rice, milk, cream, sugar, and salt. Spoon the rice mixture into the prepared dish. Cover tightly with a well-fitting lid or aluminum foil.
Bake at 325°F for 2 hours or until mixture begins to thicken, stirring every 30 minutes.
Remove from heat and remove cover. Add eggs, chopped chocolate bars, and bourbon; stir gently until incorporated. Return dish to oven and bake an additional 15 minutes or until thickened to desired consistency.
Cool 5 minutes or colder depending on desired temperature and serve. Garnish with fresh mint sprigs if desired.
For a more subtle bourbon flavor, use 2 tablespoons instead of 3. Whole milk is a good substitute for 2% milk in this recipe.
America’s dairy farmers and milk processors have teamed up to produce a new campaign aimed at keeping chocolate milk available to kids in schools. The Raise Your Hand for Chocolate Milk campaign comes on the heels of evolving legislation designed to limit or eliminate soda and other sugary drinks in schools. The campaign maintains that children love chocolate milk, no surprise here, for its flavor. They say that removing chocolate milk from the lunch menu will drive kids to other sweet drinks, and not regular white milk.
