Monday, February 11, 2013

Recipe: Organic Cocoa Wheats

Mornings are hard. I work late nights creating Handmade Pretties, so when the alarm goes off, I have to be ready to spring into action, feed the kids, encourage them to get dressed, and head out the door in less than 40 minutes. To help me with this process, I have a handful of easy yet nutritious breakfasts for which I keep the ingredients on hand. 

My eight year old's favorite is CoCo Wheats. Now chocolate hot cereal may not sound all that nutritious, but a breakdown of the ingredients reveals that the two necessary ingredients are Farina and unsweetened cocoa powder. I control how much and which kind of sweetener is used in the cereal. I serve it to her made with grass-fed local milk and a small dish of frozen berries. 

Once I realized how much she liked CoCo Wheats, I started searching for an organic option, to no avail. Apparently, putting chocolate in hot cereal is a whole food no-no, so I created my own.

To start, you will need:
1 box of Farina (we like wheat farina, but rice farina would work for a gluten free option)
Unsweetened Cocoa Powder

Our box of Wheat Farina was 24 oz. it needed 3 Tablespoons of Cocoa Powder. 

For every 8 ounces of cereal, add 1 Tablespoon of cocoa powder. Mix well and store in a sealed container.

Hang onto the instructions for preparation from the box, as this is the same method you will use to make your hot cereal. Sylvia likes hers slightly sweetened so we use about 1/2 T of raw sugar or 1/2 T of honey for the single serving size. I prefer to cook hers in milk (it's creamy delicious).