WFMW - Hot Cocoa and Bible Time

Here is an idea that my dear friend and mother-of-nine came up with at the beginning of this school year. The Stumpfs have gladly latched on, as has Jamers, and now we pass it forward to you!

In order to get the little darlings to the breakfast table on their own accord and start the day in God's word, we offer a treat that doesn't appear at any other time: hot cocoa! Fifteen minutes before our scheduled breakfast time, anyone who wants to participate makes themselves a mug and settles down to read their Bible assignment for the day or study their AWANA verses. The little girls look through picture Bibles.

Everyone is quiet (well, mostly) and has their noses in the word of God. Awesome!

Part of what makes this such a treat is that we have been using store-bought hot cocoa mix. Those corn syrup solids just make a super yummy cup that no homemade mix can duplicate! Plus, mini marshmallows - need I say more?

I do mix up some of my homemade mix and use it to s-t-r-e-t-c-h the can since we go through the largest can available at the grocery store in two days! I'll be checking at Sam's soon!

Here is the recipe for the best homemade mix I've come across:

4C Instant Nonfat Dry Milk
1 1/2C Sugar
1C Non-dairy creamer
2/3C Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
1 Package Chocolate or Vanilla Instant Pudding Mix

Put everything in the blender and process until powdery fine. This makes it more like the consistency of commercial powders. We use 3 heaping teaspoons to a cup of warm or hot water.

Organizational note: We each have an assigned mug which does not change from day-to-day. We wash them out after breakfast and use them as our cups all day long. Otherwise, we would have 20+ cups and mugs in the dishwasher each night!