Chocolate milk -- without the chocolate

Huh - you might ask? Chocolate without chocolate. Well, this really isn't a recipe. It's just one of those things. You know, a creation, to get around a food intolerance. My kids can't have chocolate, for now. So, I turned to carob to make my chocolate cakes and cookies. And recently, I've been adding a little carob to our milk -- rice milk or DariFree. I've had great success with this.

All I did is pour a glass of your favorite milk alternative. Then, in another cup, add a Tbsp of carob powder and drops of water until it forms a smooth paste that you can spoon out. I spoon just a little into each of their cups, along with a tsp of sugar, and stir. I do the paste thing to prevent the carob powder from clumping in the milk.

Hot "chocolate"

Just in time for the holidays -- hot cocoa. Except no cocoa, or dairy. Still, this is very good stuff. You could give it to all your guests and I'll bet they love it. Really!

OK -- this is easy. Ingredients:

1 mug of hot water
1/4 cup of Darifree powder
1 tbsp carob powder (I buy soy free)
1 tbsp sugar (any sweetener will do)
1/2 tbsp powdered sugar (I use corn-free and this is optional)

Mix and stir until dissolved. This really is good.

If you're cutting back on sweetener, cut out the powdered sugar and maybe try honey or agave nectar instead of sugar.

If you can tolerate cocoa, by all means, use some Hershey's cocoa.

You also could try any milk alternative you wish, from soy milk to rice milk. I think the Darifree naturally has a sweet flavor that lends itself well to this recipe.

Happy holidays!