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Top Hot Cocoa Recipes

Welcome back to The Lenore Blog! To kick off December, we’re sharing a few of our top hot cocoa recipes. We’re inviting all residents of our Baltimore, MD apartment community to get into their kitchens and make some of the best hot chocolate they can. We’ve compiled some of the best flavors, from a rich and classic approach to strong peppermint. It’s all so very tasty! BA’s Best Hot Chocolate Cocoa powder, whole milk, finely chopped semisweet chocolate, granulated sugar, and whipped cream make up the ingredients in this decadent hot chocolate. “Bring ¾ cup water to a simmer in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Whisk in 3 Tbsp. cocoa powder until no lumps remain, then add milk and return to a simmer. Whisk in chocolate and sugar and cook, whisking frequently, until mixture is smooth and creamy and chocolate is melted, about 5 minutes.” Snow Flake Cocoa Make this easy and delicious recipe in your slow cooker. You’ll need whipping cream, milk, vanilla, white chocolate chips, whipped cream, and candy canes. Yum! “Stir together the whipping cream, milk, vanilla, and white chocolate chips in a slow cooker. Cover and cook on low for 2 to 2 1/2 hours, stirring occasionally, until mixture is hot and chocolate chips are melted. Stir again before serving. Garnish with whipped cream and candy canes, as desired.” Chocolate Bar Hot Chocolate If you’ve still got leftover candy from Halloween, this recipe is perfect. If not, a simple bar of chocolate will do. “Place chocolate pieces in a saucepan over medium-low heat; add milk and whisk constantly until chocolate is melted and well blended, about 5 minutes. Whisk in cinnamon. Remove from heat; add more milk if desired. Serve in a mug.” Red Velvet Hot Chocolate with Marshmallow Whipped Cream This decadent twist on hot chocolate is thick, chocolatey, and has a brick-red color. Enjoy drinking or sinking your spoon into this delicious concoction that is like eating hot chocolate pudding. “For the hot chocolate: Bring the milk to a simmer in a small pot. Add the chocolate and cocoa powder and cook, stirring, until smooth. Add the food coloring and vanilla and mix until combined. Whisk the mixture until very frothy. Pour into cups and top with large dollops of marshmallow whipped cream.” Hot Chocolate Affogato “Gently warm the milk in a small saucepan over medium heat. When small bubbles begin to form around the edges, whisk in the chocolate chips, cocoa powder and salt; whisk until smooth. Scoop small scoops of ice cream into small tea cups or espresso cups. Ladle some of the hot chocolate over the ice cream and let the kids top with candy canes or gingersnaps if desired.” Share your favorite hot cocoa recipe in the comments below. Thanks for reading and happy holidays!

Movies Perfect for Thanksgiving

This month, you’re invited to take a break from the hectic holiday preparations. We’re sharing a few of our favorite Thanksgiving movies with residents of The Lenore apartment community in Baltimore, MD. Enjoy a few hours of laughs as you watch these classic holiday movies that are perfect for Thanksgiving. Enjoy! Alice’s Restaurant “Arlo Guthrie plays himself in this film based on his song of the same name. After getting kicked out of college, Arlo decides to visit his friend Alice (Pat Quinn) for Thanksgiving dinner. After dinner is over, Arlo volunteers to take the trash to the dump, but finds it closed for the holiday, so he just dumps the trash in the bottom of a ravine. This simple act of littering gets him arrested, and sends him on a bizarre journey that ends with him in front of the draft board.” A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving “Peppermint Patty invites herself and her friends over to Charlie Brown's for Thanksgiving, and with Linus, Snoopy, and Woodstock, he attempts to throw together a Thanksgiving dinner.” A Winnie the Pooh Thanksgiving “It's Thanksgiving time in the Hundred Acre Wood and Winnie the Pooh and all his friends bring food for the big dinner. Piglet brings acorns, Pooh brings honey, Owl brings biscuits, Gopher brings lemonade, and Tigger brings ice cream. But then, Rabbit walks in and tells them their Thanksgiving dinner was unacceptable and informs them that a real Thanksgiving dinner includes turkey, cranberry sauce, and pumpkin pie, so Pooh and his friends set out to find those very items.” Free Birds “After years of fruitless warning of his farmyard brethren of the coming Thanksgiving doom, Reggie the Turkey finds himself spared as the annual Pardoned Turkey. However, Reggie's easy life is disrupted by Jake, a fanatic turkey who drags him along with the insane idea of going back in time to make sure turkeys are not part of the first Thanksgiving. Through foolhardiness and luck, the pair manage to take an experimental time machine to do just that. Now in 1621 at the Plymouth colony, Reggie and Jake find themselves in the middle of a turkey clan's struggle for survival. In doing so, their preconceptions of the world and themselves are challenged forever in a conflict from which the world will never be the same.” Didn’t see your favorite Thanksgiving movie on our list? Share the title in a comment below. Thanks for reading. Happy Thanksgiving!

Board Games For Halloween

Celebrate Halloween with a fun board game or two. In today’s post, The Lenore Blog is sharing some board games that are absolutely perfect for the upcoming spooky holiday. Grab a few friends and pull out a few of these games in your Baltimore, MD apartment for a night of fun! Dead of Winter — 14 and up This is a meta-cooperative psychological survival game. This means players are working together toward one common victory condition — but for each individual player to achieve victory, he must also complete his personal secret objective. This secret objective could relate to a psychological tick that's fairly harmless to most others in the colony, a dangerous obsession that could put the main objective at risk, a desire for sabotage of the main mission, or (worst of all) vengeance against the colony! Certain games could end with all players winning, some winning and some losing, or all players losing. Work toward the group's goal, but don't get walked all over by a loudmouth who's looking out only for his own interests! Zombie Dice — 10 and up Eat brains. Don't get shotgunned. In Zombie Dice, you are a zombie. You want braaains – more brains than any of your zombie buddies. The 13 custom dice are your victims. Push your luck to eat their brains, but stop rolling before the shotgun blasts end your turn! Whoever collects 13 brains first wins. Each game takes 10 to 20 minutes and can be taught in a single round. Magician’s Kitchen — 5 and up Kaboom! Hiss! A colourful cloud of smoke billows out of the magic cauldron. It's a hot day in the old magic kitchen where the little magician's apprentices are learning the art of brewing magic potions. They need to put plenty of ingredients in the cauldron for this, then it will be time to make a fire. But will it be that easy? Leg of toad and stumbling curse — which of you will be the first? One Night Ultimate Werewolf — 8 and up This is a fast game for 3-10 players in which everyone gets a role: One of the dastardly Werewolves, the tricky Troublemaker, the helpful Seer, or one of a dozen different characters, each with a special ability. In the course of a single morning, your village will decide who is a werewolf...because all it takes is lynching one werewolf to win! What’s your favorite board game to play this time of year? Share it in the comments below so that we can all play. Happy Halloween!

Treat Yourself in September

Treat yourself this month! Let go of your stress and have a fantastic September here in Baltimore, MD. We are featuring chocolates, spa day ideas, and an inspiring TED talk to help you relax after a stressful day in your apartment. Read on to learn more. Chocolates There are plenty of great chocolate shops in the Baltimore, MD area. We’re featuring one of our favorite chocolate shops in the area below along with a great chocolate recipe. Wockenfuss Candies 6831 Harford Rd, Baltimore, MD 21234 “Wockenfuss Candies is proud to be one of the oldest candy makers in Baltimore. We celebrated our 100th Anniversary in 2015. We are a family owned business that is now in its fifth generation of candy-making.” Try one of their gourmet truffles this month. We recommend trying their caramel bite-size truffle, raspberry bite-size truffle, their toasted coconut bite-size truffle, or one of the other excellent truffles on their menu before the month is through. Salted Chocolate Covered Caramels Recipe from Inspired Taste Caramel can be difficult to make, but there’s nothing better than homemade candy. Make the caramels with unsalted butter, heavy cream, water, light corn syrup, and sugar. Coat these caramels in your favorite chocolate with butter and sea salt. Spa Basin is our favorite place to get fresh soap, bath products, facials, and more. Get a nice bubble bath in chamomile or lavender for a calming night in. We also love their body scrubs and body butters . Make your Baltimore, MD apartment feel like your favorite spa this September. TED Talk How to make stress your friend by Kelly McGonigal “Now, in a typical stress response, your heart rate goes up, and your blood vessels constrict like this. And this is one of the reasons that chronic stress is sometimes associated with cardiovascular disease. It's not really healthy to be in this state all the time. But in the study, when participants viewed their stress response as helpful, their blood vessels stayed relaxed like this. Their heart was still pounding, but this is a much healthier cardiovascular profile. It actually looks a lot like what happens in moments of joy and courage.Over a lifetime of stressful experiences, this one biological change could be the difference between a stress-induced heart attack at age 50 and living well into your 90s. And this is really what the new science of stress reveals, that how you think about stress matters.” Do you have any tips for us? Let us know in the comments. Thanks for reading our post and have a great month here in Baltimore, MD!

Summer Treats for August

Make your summer sweet by making one of these delicious desserts before August is through. August days in Baltimore, MD are sweltering. We have popsicles to cool you off, cream puffs to make your day, ice cream treats, and more. We hope that you have a great month here at The Lenore! Super easy cream puffs (I mean it, 3 ingredients!) We couldn’t believe something this pretty and delicious looking could be “super easy,” but the author of this recipe makes use of frozen puff pastries, mousse mix, and fresh berries for a treat to impress. Add some chunky sugar and powdered sugar to really pull it all together, or mix it up with some fun flavors of mousse, like chocolate or lemon. We can imagine serving these with a nice cup of tea or a light sandwich for your next get-together. Coconut Mango Popsicles from The Little Epicurean Mango puree and coconut puree make for the best coconut mango popsicles we’ve ever tried. Use mango chunks and pineapple juice to make the mango puree, and combine canned coconut milk, granulated sugar, low-fat yogurt, and water for the coconut puree. Homemade Marshmallows from Ashlee Marie Marshmallows are one of those treats that we’ve never really thought of making on our own. Make your own marshmallows for s’mores this August. All you need to make this delicious and simple snack is gelatin, cold water, sugar, vanilla, cornstarch, and powdered sugar. Churro Ice Cream Sandwiches from Chelsea’s Messy Apron Combine three of our favorite summer treats — churros, chocolate, and vanilla ice cream — for one of our favorite summer snacks. You could even switch up the recipe and use your favorite flavor of ice cream — we think that chocolate would taste great!. Chocolate Raspberry Tartlets from The Gunny Sack Make the crust with butter and your favorite brand of double-stuffed sandwich cookies. Use raspberry pie filling, softened cream cheese, heavy whipping cream, powdered sugar, vanilla, and BROOKSIDE Crunchy Clusters to finish off this sweet summer treat. What’s your favorite summer dessert? Let us know in the comments. Thanks for reading our post!

Independence Day in Baltimore, MD

The Lenore Blog has everything — events, food, and activities — you need to celebrate Independence Day. Spend your 4th of July watching the fireworks, enjoying a delicious meal, or soaking up the sun. Head to your favorite park in Baltimore, play a game of billiards in our game room, and grill a steak or two out on our deck this Independence Day. We hope that you have a fantastic 4th of July! Events Baltimore is one of the best places to celebrate the 4th of July. Visit Maryland is the best site to go to for Independence Day events all across the state. One of our favorite events coming to Baltimore on the 4th is Baltimore’s Ports America Chesapeake Fourth of July Celebration . The description for the event reads, “ Commemorate Independence Day with live music and celebratory fireworks in the heart of downtown Baltimore. The event will showcase music by U.S. Navy Band starting at 7:00 p.m. at the Inner Harbor Amphitheater on Pratt and Light Streets. At 9:30 p.m., the multicolored fireworks show, choreographed to patriotic and contemporary music, can be viewed from several locations downtown and in the surrounding neighborhoods of Federal Hill, Fell's Point, Canton and Harbor East. In case of severe weather, the fireworks show would take place July 5, 2017.” Click the links to learn more about this event and other events coming to the Baltimore, MD area. Food Tomato, Avocado, Zucchini Noodle Salad from Lively Table Make something light for your Independence Day meal. Use zucchini to made the noodles and toss together grape tomatoes, green onion, avocado, and crumbled feta cheese to complete the salad. Mix together red wine vinegar, olive oil, water, oregano, garlic powder, salt, and black pepper to make a light, delicious dressing. Buffalo Chicken Pasta Bake from Inside Bru Crew Life This casserole is an easy bake on Independence Day. Use penne pasta, cream cheese, ranch dressing, hot sauce, cooked chicken, mozzarella cheese, cheddar cheese, and green onions to make it. Pair it with a light salad — like the tomato, avocado, zucchini noodle salad above — to balance out the meal. Activities Spend the 4th of July soaking up the sun! Head to your favorite pool in Baltimore, MD for a relaxing swim or play one of these fantastic outdoor games from Brit + Co . We think that lawn scrabble, a DIY pinata, bean bag toss, and water balloon spoon races all sound like great ways to spend your 4th of July. Click the link to learn more. Are there any 4th of July events coming to the area that we should know about? Let us know in the comments. Thanks for reading our post!