You know what I love? Chocolate! Oh, and people who advocate for real food and a good, common sense approach to eating well. One of those admirable people is Andrew Wilder, creator of the awesome blog, Eating Rules. As he says, "...healthy eating doesn't have to suck." Hear, hear!
So I was very excited to be asked by the lovely Stacy Spensley to take part in Andrew's October #Unprocessed challenge. I eat a substantially unprocessed diet but I am ALWAYS up for challenging myself to a new level of awareness. Two weeks in, I love how participating in the challenge is constantly reminding me to stay present with food. And how it alerts me to when I am not...like the time I dug my hand into a flavoured bag of chips. Darn! Well, I never said I was perfect...at least they were baked and organic!
Today I have contributed a little post to Andrew's blog on making raw chocolate. Raw chocolate is a simple option for getting your chocolate fix in a way that is more nutrient dense and oh yes, unprocessed! Want to learn how to make very simple, raw chocolate whenever the healthy craving strikes? See my post on Eating Rules!
Sometimes, a girl just needs a little chocolate.
My sweet tooth doesn't actually kick in that often. I am more often found indulging in a piece of cheese with some salted rice crackers instead of digging into a candy jar. However, sometimes in the middle of the afternoon or perhaps, after dinner, I just want "something". I created this ultra-simple raw chocolate recipe so I could have something delicious that I could really feel good about eating. A treat that didn't require a trip to the store; just a few minutes and a few ingredients that I usually have on hand.
Raw Superfood Crunch Chocolate
1/2 cup virgin coconut oil (I like Organic Lives because they are a local company!)
1/2 cup raw cacao powder (I used Navitas Naturals)
2 tbsp of Nature's Path Cranberry Vanilla Qia (or use your favourite superfood - chia, hemp, dried berries etc)
1-2 tbsp maple syrup to taste (okay...not for the raw food purist!)
cacao powder plus 1/4 tsp cinnamon for dusting
Place raw cacao, Qia and maple syrup in a medium bowl. Gently warm coconut oil in a saucepan until just liquid and stir into cacao mixture until well blended. Place bowl in the fridge until firm enough to form chocolates, about 15-30 minutes.
Use a cold spoon to scoop out a bit of chocolate and drop onto a chilled plate or quickly roll into a little ball. Work quickly or the heat of your hands will melt the chocolate again! In a separate bowl, mix cinnamon with a bit more cacao powder. Roll chocolates in cacao to dust. Refrigerate chocolates in an airtight container and keep on hand for healthy chocolate cravings!
PS...I am a spokesperson for the new Qia cereal from Nature's Path. I always said that if I am connected to a product I will maintain transparent communications - no sneaky marketing here! I think it is a truly amazing product...unprocessed, healthy and delicious. I will never share any product with you that I don't eat myself and feel good about recommending. So I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.
