Neighborhood Gift Idea #8: Chocolate Cake in a Mug

Now to the Ultimate Friend (or visiting teacher) gift! I was sent this idea by Jenn (and what a great idea it is!).

*I forgot to mention the splash of vanilla that you put in at the end*

Here is the mug wrapped for drop off.

Here is the mug for immediate drop off, not wrapped. See how it looks like hot chocolate?! I love it!

Here is the recipe:
Minute Chocolate Mug Cake

1 coffee mug
4 T. flour
4 T. Sugar
2 T. baking cocoa
1 egg (1 T. dry egg powder and 2 T. of water)
3 T. milk (1/2 T. Dry Powdered Milk + 3 T. Water)
3 T. oil (or applesauce)
3 T. chocolate chips
small splash of vanilla

Add dry ingredients to mug and mix well. Add the eff and mix thoroughly. Pour in the milk and oil and mix well. Add the chocolate chips and vanilla. Mix again. Put your mug in the microwave and cook for 3 minutes at 1000 watts. The cake will rise over the top of the mug but don’t be alarmed! Allow to cool a little, and tip out onto a plate if desired. EAT!

Love Soup & Breadsticks

Now you can all thank Teresa for the last Neighborhood Gift Idea. She sent this in  and it even included the label for you! (click HERE to download it) She told me…

I love this soup recipe! In fact, my oldest son (age 16) was disappointed he had to miss this meal because of an over-night school activity! I’m giving the bean mixture with seasonings to the ladies I visit teach and to the families my husband home teaches. It’s inexpensive, tastes great, and encourages others to use their food storage in a tasty, nutritious way! I’ve included the publisher file I used to make post-card size labels to attach to gift bags. Feel free to save as a PDF file and share with your readers.

Love Soup (because it makes enough to share with friends and neighbors!)

Bean Mixture: Mix the following ingredients together. Divide into 1-cup portions. (I got 11 portions out of this.)

1 pkg. (14 oz.) green split peas

1 pkg. (14 oz.) pearled barley (I had a hard time finding barley this year; I finally found it at Albertson’s; it should be in the same section as the lentils, peas, and beans)

1 pkgs. (14 oz.) lentils

2 cups brown rice

Seasoning Mixture (for each cup of beans): Place the following ingredients in a re-sealable snack-size baggie.

½ package Onion Soup Mix, which is about 2 ½ T. (I used the generic that you can get at Wal-Mart or Macey’s for 3/$1 or 4/$1 if on sale)

3 beef bouillon cubes

¼ tsp. cayenne pepper

½ tsp. garlic powder

¾ tsp. chili powder

Packaging Options: Layer the following in a pint-size bottle or in a cellophane gift bag (less expensive option):

1. Bean Mixture

2. Baggie of Seasonings

3. Baggie of ¼ cup alphabet or small shell pasta (or leave this out since it is an optional ingredient and allow recipient to add own pasta)