Three Minute Chocolate Mug Cake

Good Tuesday morning!

I lied. I said the Amelia Island narrative was finished... over... done! And I meant every word. Really. I did... But I didn't get any new photos yesterday, so I had to use a few more in the Gallery so I would have something new and refreshing for you to gaze upon this morning. I did it all for you!

RANDOMNESS #1 - I copied this from Big Mama's post yesterday. Her little girl attended a summer camp this past week, and at the end of the week her friends had to come up with four words which described her. The four words were "happy," "caring," "silly" and "genius." Big Mama wrote this...

"I told her I was so proud of her for being happy and caring and asked for a little clarity about the genius part. She said, 'Oh, I told them all I was a genius, and they saw I was right.'"

I thought that was very sweet and funny. It reminded me of myself back in the day. "Oh, I told them I was enchanting, and they saw I was right."

Of course, she's only five... and I was 48 years-old when I started the "enchanting" business. Whatever!

RANDOMNESS #2 - Yesterday I called an old friend of mine who had just returned home from an extended family cruise. I wanted to hear all about it... or so I thought.

"We swam with dolphins and stingrays. Oh, and we zip lined across Haiti. And there was a chocolate buffet... ." Her words started to run together.

What? What? In a five-day period, she marked off THREE major things from MY "100 Things To Do Before I'm 90" List. (1) Cruise; (2) swim with dolphins; AND (3) zip line! (I have since added "chocolate buffet" to my list.)

"I'm so happy for you. No. Really. I am," I mumbled as the green-eyed monster took over my ENTIRE body.

But then, she added this little piece of info. "And can you guess one of my favorite parts of the trip? We went to a turtle farm. I'm telling you, Belinda, I have never seen so many giant turtles in my entire life. It was fascinating!"

Ahhh. The knife in the heart.

"If you tell me you saw a manatee, a feral horse or Tom Selleck, we can no longer be friends," I whispered softly.

"What's a feral horse?" she asked.

"It no longer matters," I responded. "I'm very, very glad you had such a good vacation. I have to go. I'll send you a Christmas card." And I ended the call.

You would think being almost 49 years-old I would be much more mature... but not so much. Hmmm.

Three Minute Chocolate Mug Cake

My friend, Julie Tuggle, loaned me her recipe book. Girls, we have enough material for YEARS, I tell you.

The words "three minute" and "chocolate" intrigued me, so I made a few of these mug cakes, and I'm glad I did.

You will need the following:

1 coffee mug
4 tablespoons flour (PLAIN flour... not self-rising)
4 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons baking cocoa
1 egg
3 tablespoons milk
3 tablespoons oil
3 tablespoons chocolate chips
Nuts (optional)
Splash of vanilla

1. Add dry ingredients to mug. Mix well.

2. Add the egg, milk and oil. Mix well.

3. Add chocolate chips and vanilla. Mix again.

4. Put the mug in the microwave and cook for 3 minutes on high.

5. The cake will rise over the top of the mug, but do not be alarmed. It doesn't cause a mess.

6. Add hot fudge sauce or whipped cream when you remove from the microwave, and dig in!

This is a fun, yummy little cake to QUICKLY make for dessert. I will admit, it is very good as soon as it comes out of the microwave, but not as moist the next day. Thus, if I made them for dessert, I would wait until the family had eaten their meal, and have the pre-mixed Chocolate Mug Cakes ready to pop into the microwave as soon as they were finished.

Enjoy... and if you see Julie out and about, be sure to thank her for loaning her favorite recipes to me (The World's Greatest Copier of Ideas)!

Have a great Tuesday. On Wednesday, A Simple Life will be filled with Wisdom, Traditions and more Randomness "than you can shake a stick at." (I know there are some grammatical errors going on in that last little phrase. I'm not saying it's okay... but I am aware!)

Take care, and I'll talk to you tomorrow.

Sincerely,

The Enchanting Belinda