Minty Chocolate Milkshake for Chocolate Milkshake Day #ChocolateMilkShakeDay #Brancamenta

September 12 is Chocolate Milkshake Day. Are you prepared?
I got a little added incentive to whip up a milkshake this year because the nice folks at Branca made me an offer I couldn't refuse. And that included a bottle of their Brancamenta, a mint-flavored liqueur. I'm a huge fan of chocolate and mint. Of course I wanted those flavors in a shake.

But before I started, I had to try the liqueur on its own. Unlike other super-sweet or one-note mint liqueurs, this one is pretty complex, with herby-spicy notes along with the mint. It was really nice over ice after dinner, and I'm looking forward to mixing it into cocktails.

I started the shake with a home made chocolate ice cream, but your favorite store-bought brand would be just fine, too.

To add a little texture to the shake, I added some cookies, as well. I used mint-filled Oreos, but when they're in season, Girl Scout cookies would be great. Or any other mint cookie you like.

Or, if you don't happen to have mint cookies hanging around, chocolate cookies would work. The Brancamenta has enough mint flavor, so you don't really need to add more mint.

Minty Chocolate Milkshake

2 generous scoops chocolate ice cream
1/2 cup milk (or as needed)
1 1/2 ounces Brancamenta
4 chocolate mint cookies (Thin Mints, Mint Oreos, or your favorite mint or chocolate cookie)

Toss everything into your blender and blend until it reaches the consistency you like.

If it's too thick, add a little extra milk to thin it out. If it's too thin, go right ahead and add more ice cream. I won't tell.

If you like, you can garnish with a dollop of whipped cream, but I didn't think this needed any embellishment at all.

Serve immediately.Slurp, slurp. Ahhhhhh. Now make one for everyone else!

Thanks to Braca for sponsoring this post.

Quick and Easy Chicken with Hatch Chiles

Don't get me wrong. This isn't fancy food. This isn't something you'd serve the Queen when she showed up. What this is, very frankly, it the meal you make when you want an hour before dinner to just sit and chill.

Or maybe an hour to help problem child with homework.

This uses (gasp) a can of soup. Yes, there I said it. I was inspired (and possibly frightened) by a recent cookbook that passed this way. It was written by Coolio.

Yes, that Coolio.

He's not a cook, but he wrote a cookbook called Cooking with Coolio, and it's a little weird. He has an odd love for balsamic vinegar, and canned soup made its way into a whole lot of recipes.

So I tried one of the canned-soup concoctions. And you know what? I liked it. It was comfort food. He was also pretty heavy-handed on the salt. Just so you know.

Anyway, this is not one of his recipes; not even adapted. The book is now long gone, so I couldn't peek if I wanted to.

I made this in my slow cooker, which is my usual set-it-and-forget-it cooking tool, but you could also make this in a heavy-bottomed pot, like a Dutch oven, either on the stove or in the oven.

Chicken with Hatch Chile

1 tablespoon olive oil
3-4 bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs*
1 red bell pepper
2 fire-roasted and cleaned Hatch** chiles (hot or mild, your choice)
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup water
1 can cream-of-something** soup
1/2 teaspoon salt
Chives or the green part of a scallion, for garnish (optional)

Heat the oil in your slow cooker (if it's got a stovetop/browning function) or in a pan on the stove. Or in your Dutch oven, if that's what you're using. Add the chicken, skin-side down, and cook until nicely browned. Flip the chicken over and cook the same way on the other side.

You can prep the vegetables while the chicken is browning.

Core the bell pepper and cut into a large dice. It doesn't need to be pretty. This is rustic food. Add to the pot when the chicken is browning on that second side.

Combine the peppers, balsamic vinegar, and water in a blender. Or you can use a stick blender or food processor. No tools like that? Just chop the peppers as finely as you can. Otherwise, blend the pepper mixture until it's as smooth as it can get.

Add the soup, pepper mixture, and salt to the chicken in the slow cooker and give it a stir. Cook on high for 60-90 minutes, depending on how much down time you need before dinner.

I served this with rice - made in my rice cooker. The rice was great for sopping up the extra sauce. Easy peasy.

Garnish the chicken with a few snips of chives or scallion, if desired.

* Of course, you can use other parts. Whatever you like. Cooking time might be different, though. I like thighs for the slow cooker because they're so forgiving as far as overcooking is concerned.

** If you don't happen to have freshly fire-roasted Hatch chiles waiting to be used, you can substitute with whatever you happen to have, or that you like.

*** I used cream of chicken, but you could use cream of mushroom, cream of celery, or even cheddar cheese soup.

Desperation Ice Cream (No-Cook Peanut Butter)

Around here, dessert is almost a necessity. My husband still needs to pack on a few pounds, and dessert is a few more easy calories after a meal. In summer, that dessert is often ice cream. Cake is nice, but I don't have to turn the oven on to make ice cream.

We killed off the last bit of the last batch of frozen goodness, and I figured I'd better make something new. But when I reached for my usual ingredients, I was a little shy on the heavy cream. And I didn't want to go alllllll the way to the store just for that.

So, I decided to use some evaporated milk. Because it has 60 percent of the water removed, the evaporated milk has more body and flavor than regular milk, and it's got a bit of a caramely-cooked flavor compared to fresh milk. But not as much fat as heavy cream.

Apparently, evaporated milk got its start back in the day when refrigeration was rare. Shipping and storing milk was problematic. So, evaporated milk in a can made sense. Since it was condensed, it took less space for shipping, and since it was canned, it was shelf-stable. The consumer who purchased it could add water to recreate something similar to fresh milk.

These days, I use it for cooking, and also for some cream soups, where I want a rich creamy flavor, but I might not want all the fat in cream. I use it quite often for cream of tomato soup, since it doesn't seem as apt to curdle as regular milk or cream.

So anyway, that's why I had evaporated milk. I pretty much always have a can or two around. And I had sweetened condensed, because I bought it specifically for ice cream.

No-Cook Peanut Butter Ice Cream

1 can (14 ounces) sweetened condensed milk
1 can (12 ounces) evaporated milk
3/4 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
1 tablespoon vanilla extract.
1/4 teaspoon salt

Combine all the ingredients in a bowl and mix until smooth.

You can do this with a whisk, but I suggest a stick blender to get that peanut butter un-lumped. Or pour it all in a blender, and let the blender do the work.

Refrigerate the mixture until well-chilled, then churn in your ice cream maker according to manufacturers instructions.

Transfer to a storage container and freeze until firm.