Brrrrrr! Chilly weather has arrived! ...Ok, ok, I am in Phoenix so it's not the same winter I experienced growing up in the Northeast, but to my Arizona born kids it's the dead of winter. Instead of their typical smoothies, they prefer something warm on these chilly mornings. They love hot cocoa (and anything chocolate for that matter), but I am not a fan of the highly processed hot cocoa packets or K cups (artificially flavored and heated plastic - no thank you). Even the organic hot cocoa packets are loaded with sugar and dairy.
I had always made hot cocoa in a pan on the stove, but that takes some time and isn't always practical on hectic mornings before school. It dawned on me that if you can use the Vitamix to make soups, then you could use it for hot cocoa. I knew there was a reason that I insisted that I just had to have that fancy blender! So, without making you scroll down any further (a total pet peeve of mine when it comes to recipe blogs), here is the recipe:
2 cups of unsweetened almond milk
4 pitted dates
1/4 cup of raw cashews
2 TBSP organic cocoa powder
1/2 tsp vanilla extract or peppermint extract (or a sprinkle of cinnamon, orange zest... whatever floats your boat)
Blend for 4-5 minutes on high until the blender feels warm and you see some steam. Pour into mugs and enjoy!
And the best part?? It gets a little foamy. Save the foam from the bottom of your blender and pour it on top of some black coffee and you have a mocha that is a whole lot lower in calories and sugar than the ones you get at a coffee shop. You don't have to count this coffee drink as a meal... but that's another story for another day.
I had always made hot cocoa in a pan on the stove, but that takes some time and isn't always practical on hectic mornings before school. It dawned on me that if you can use the Vitamix to make soups, then you could use it for hot cocoa. I knew there was a reason that I insisted that I just had to have that fancy blender! So, without making you scroll down any further (a total pet peeve of mine when it comes to recipe blogs), here is the recipe:
2 cups of unsweetened almond milk
4 pitted dates
1/4 cup of raw cashews
2 TBSP organic cocoa powder
1/2 tsp vanilla extract or peppermint extract (or a sprinkle of cinnamon, orange zest... whatever floats your boat)
Blend for 4-5 minutes on high until the blender feels warm and you see some steam. Pour into mugs and enjoy!
And the best part?? It gets a little foamy. Save the foam from the bottom of your blender and pour it on top of some black coffee and you have a mocha that is a whole lot lower in calories and sugar than the ones you get at a coffee shop. You don't have to count this coffee drink as a meal... but that's another story for another day.