Hot Chocolate

3 cups low-fat milk 2 1/2 tablespoons cocoa powder 2 tablespoons Splenda 1 tablespoon vanilla-whey protein powder or 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract Combine everything in a saucepan over low heat, whisking until the cocoa is dissolved. Heat slowly until quite hot and serve - with real whipped cream, if you like. No marshmallows - they're pure sugar. Serves 3. Nutrition information per serving: 154 calories; 6 g fat; 13 g protein; 16 g carbohydrates; 2 g dietary fiber.

Santa breakfast to benefit rotary WAYNESBORO, Pa. - The annual Santa's pancake and sausage breakfast sponsored by the Waynesboro Rotary Club will be held today from 6:30 to 11:30 a.m. at Waynesboro Area Senior High School cafeteria in Waynesboro. Pictures with Santa are available for a fee. The menu includes pancakes, sausage, juice, hot chocolate, coffee or tea. The cost is $3.50 for adults, $2 for children younger than 12. Proceeds will benefit the Waynesboro Rotary Project Fund.

HAGERSTOWN While the pitchers were warming up in the bullpen, the crowd was warming up under blankets. For fans who waited months to hear the words, "Play ball," Thursday's weather was foul. Sunshine and patches of blue sky greeted the Hagerstown Suns players who took the field against the Hickory Crawdads at Municipal Stadium for the first time this season. "Let it snow," one vendor at a hot dog stand quipped. Lance Duvall, 20, of Myersville, Md., and his sister Valerie Duvall, 18, wore white-trimmed red hats as they sat with their father and a friend at a picnic table in the stadium's concourse area.

HAGERSTOWN - While the pitchers were warming up in the bullpen, the crowd was warming up under blankets. For fans who waited months to hear the words, "Play ball," Thursday's weather was foul. Sunshine and patches of blue sky greeted the Hagerstown Suns players who took the field against the Hickory Crawdads at Municipal Stadium for the first time this season. "Let it snow," one vendor at a hot dog stand quipped. Lance Duvall, 20, of Myersville, Md., and his sister Valerie Duvall, 18, wore white-trimmed red hats as they sat with their father and a friend at a picnic table in the stadium's concourse area.

A steaming cup of flavored coffee or hot chocolate stirs visions of winter wonderlands and chatting with friends around an open fire. The ingredient lists on most hot beverages, however, reveal the less inviting reality of freeze-dried coffee, aspartame, whey, nondairy creamers, corn syrup solids, partially hydrogenated oils and artificial flavors. [cont. from lifestyle ] Still, if you are careful, you can enjoy hot beverages with considerable taste and comfort for relatively few calories (30 to 80 per serving)

HAGERSTOWN ? Like Santa Claus acknowledging his reindeer, Hagerstown Mayor Robert E. Bruchey II called out each light display at City Park just before it illuminated. "The penguin!" On came the lights. "And the skating bear!" The kickoff to Friday's festival was the lighting of a blue spruce donated by Sara Dickey of Hagerstown. It stood at least 20 feet tall, smack in the middle of the lake. "We have the only tree that floats, ladies and gentlemen," quipped NBC25 weatherman Lou Scally, the master of ceremonies.

CHAMBERSBURG, Pa. - Despite a mix-up in the recipe that left them virtually inedible, the M&M cookies made the cut last week in Jayson Wetherald's manufacturing enterprise course and will be sold to students at Faust Junior High School. "They taste like saltwater," eighth-grader Erin Longfellow said of the cookies, who also noted they had the best visual appeal. That was because the student who mixed the dry ingredients put in a cup of salt, instead of a teaspoon, as called for in the recipe.

daniels@herald-mail.com BOONSBORO - Red and white lights penetrated the night sky Friday night outside Shafer Park in Boonsboro, drawing the attention of residents gathered in, and shivering against, the cold. For a while, the lights did not come any closer, hovering at the intersection of Potomac Street and Park Road. Then, someone called out that the lights were moving closer, the crowd turned to look again and, in fact, the lights were moving closer. Someone else heard the faint sound of a marching band and called out. Others focused their attention on the lights, and as the Boonsboro Volunteer Fire Co. firetruck approached, the sounds of the Rohrersville Band playing behind the truck grew louder.

HAGERSTOWN -- The excitement mounted Wednesday as the chorus of young voices began its backward count in the children's section of Borders at the Centre at Hagerstown. "Ten! Nine! Eight! Seven! Six! Five! Four! Three! Two! One!" they chanted. The time was 3:07 p.m., but when you're 5 years old and hopped up on hot chocolate, it's a "happy new year!" all the same. This was the first year the Hagerstown Borders has hosted a New Year's Eve party, general manager Cathy Chouiniere said.

You ready? It's that time again - the time when holiday parties are in full swing. For many of us, that means the wine and cocktail tables will be getting plenty of action. As a matter of fact, according to national statistics, 25 percent of distilled spirits are sold between Thanksgiving and New Year's Eve. Many of the season's most popular traditional drinks, like eggnog, buttered rum, and peppermint-schnapps hot chocolate share ingredients found in everyday desserts. Ingredients such as whole milk, cream, butter and chocolate syrup mixed with useless alcohol calories can make a celebratory drink into a high-calorie, power punch to your gut. According to MayoClinic com, an 8-ounce serving of alcoholic eggnog contains 391 calories, an 8-ounce serving of homemade hot chocolate with a 1.5-ounce shot of creme de menthe liqueur contains around 378 calories, and an 8-ounce serving of hot buttered rum has 292 calories.

An all-you-can-eat pancake breakfast will be held Saturday from 6 to 10 a.m. at Christ Reformed United Church of Christ in Cavetown. The menu includes pancakes, sausage, eggs, coffee and orange juice. The breakfast costs $6 for adults, $5 for those ages 6 to 12 and is free for those younger than 6.   For more information, call Kendra at 301-714-0189. Country Christmas Ringgold Country Christmas will be Dec. 14, 15 and 16 in the Ringgold Meeting House, 14426 Misty Meadow Road in Smithsburg.

Salted caramel hot chocolate cookies   1 cup butter, softened 1 1/4 cups white sugar 3/4 cup brown sugar 2 eggs 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 3/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper 1 cup cocoa powder 1 teaspoon baking soda 1/2 teaspoon salt 2 cups flour 36 chocolate-covered soft caramel candies (see cook's note) 1 cup finely chopped pecans (see cook's note) 1 tablespoon coarse sea salt Cream together butter, and white and brown sugars in a large bowl until fluffy.

A steady rain began falling Monday night as city officials prepared to light a 25-foot blue spruce tree in Hagerstown's Public Square. A crowd of people showed up despite the chilly weather, and umbrellas bobbed back and forth as people took advantage of hot popcorn, and free hot chocolate and cookies. “By the way, it's not raining. It's just a heavy dew,” master of ceremonies Lou Scally told the crowd before the 6 p.m. lighting. With the flip of a switch from Mayor Robert E. Bruchey II and a group of Barbara Ingram School for the Arts students who helped decorate the tree, the blue spruce shone in the square to the cheers of onlookers.

You ready? It's that time again - the time when holiday parties are in full swing. For many of us, that means the wine and cocktail tables will be getting plenty of action. As a matter of fact, according to national statistics, 25 percent of distilled spirits are sold between Thanksgiving and New Year's Eve. Many of the season's most popular traditional drinks, like eggnog, buttered rum, and peppermint-schnapps hot chocolate share ingredients found in everyday desserts. Ingredients such as whole milk, cream, butter and chocolate syrup mixed with useless alcohol calories can make a celebratory drink into a high-calorie, power punch to your gut. According to MayoClinic com, an 8-ounce serving of alcoholic eggnog contains 391 calories, an 8-ounce serving of homemade hot chocolate with a 1.5-ounce shot of creme de menthe liqueur contains around 378 calories, and an 8-ounce serving of hot buttered rum has 292 calories.

HAGERSTOWN -- The excitement mounted Wednesday as the chorus of young voices began its backward count in the children's section of Borders at the Centre at Hagerstown. "Ten! Nine! Eight! Seven! Six! Five! Four! Three! Two! One!" they chanted. The time was 3:07 p.m., but when you're 5 years old and hopped up on hot chocolate, it's a "happy new year!" all the same. This was the first year the Hagerstown Borders has hosted a New Year's Eve party, general manager Cathy Chouiniere said.

Every time a bell rings ... Get out the hot chocolate and the hankies as NBC plays the holiday classic "It's a Wonderful Life" at 8 p.m. Saturday. You'll not only root for George Bailey (James Stewart), but learn the lyrics to "Buffalo Gals. " Colonial Christmas Take a walk back in time as the Gen. Adam Stephen House hosts its annual Colonial Christmas Illumination and Open House Saturday and Sunday in Martinsburg, W.Va. Yule log lighting, children's craft activities and plenty of holiday decorations.

84th Annual Alsatia Mummers Parade slideshow HAGERSTOWN - People crowded the streets of Hagerstown Saturday night, some hanging out of windows and others crowded into restaurants and storefronts as the 84th Alsatia Mummers Parade made its way along Potomac Street. Tammy Jacobs of Smithsburg remembers the Mummers Parade from her childhood, she said before the start of Saturday's festivities. What she remembers is being bundled in blankets and drinking hot chocolate, she said.

CHAMBERSBURG, Pa. -- A brewing controversy over a cappuccino machine at Faust Junior High School did not quite boil over during Wednesday's Chambersburg School Board meeting with two students and at least one parent airing their opposing views on sales of the caffeinated beverage. This tempest in a teapot got stirred up after some parents complained about the availability of cappuccino in a vending machine in the school's cafeteria and sales were suspended, Superintendent Joseph Padasak told the board.

CHAMBERSBURG, Pa. - Despite a mix-up in the recipe that left them virtually inedible, the M&M cookies made the cut last week in Jayson Wetherald's manufacturing enterprise course and will be sold to students at Faust Junior High School. "They taste like saltwater," eighth-grader Erin Longfellow said of the cookies, who also noted they had the best visual appeal. That was because the student who mixed the dry ingredients put in a cup of salt, instead of a teaspoon, as called for in the recipe.

HAGERSTOWN - Like Santa Claus acknowledging his reindeer, Hagerstown Mayor Robert E. Bruchey II called out each light display at City Park just before it illuminated. "The penguin!" On came the lights. "And the skating bear!" The kickoff to Friday's festival was the lighting of a blue spruce donated by Sara Dickey of Hagerstown. It stood at least 20 feet tall, smack in the middle of the lake. "We have the only tree that floats, ladies and gentlemen," quipped NBC25 weatherman Lou Scally, the master of ceremonies.