Hot Cocoa & Raw Vegan Chocolate Chia Seed Pudding

How are you doing today?  It’s Halloween!!!  (unless you’re reading this still Friday night).  It’s time to go devour a bag or two of candy!  Just kidding, but a piece or two would probably hit the spot!  What’s going on later today?  Are you going out?   Staying in to pass out candy?  Give me the scoop!

From my last post, I’m glad you enjoyed the Sundried Tomatoes

And Broccoli & Cauliflower Salad recipes.  My homemade slaw dressing is easy to make, so tasty, and alot healthier than the store-bought stuff!  Heather even got in on this action.  Way to go HEABs!

But for today I have a couple easy, chocolaty recipes for you.  Because I don’t know about you, but for me Halloween Day is just crying out for Chocolate Love.  So here you go….

First, I’ve been seeing hot cocoa cropping up everywhere.  Mama Alison got inspired from reading some ED & BV, the Pure Twins kept their version raw & delish, but I decided to make the quick-n-easy version.  This is all I did:

Averie’s Vegan Guiltless & Fast Hot Cocoa
In a mug combine:
1 Tbsp Cocoa Powder (Or 2 Tbsp if you’re like me & want it extra chocolaty)

5-6 oz water (or nut/seed milk of your choice; I didn’t have any open and didn’t feel like cracking a container just for this and water worked perfectly fine)
Stevia or Agave to Taste (I used both agave and liquid cocoa bean stevia but I like things really sweet)
Stir well or Whisk
Microwave for 60 seconds and Voila…

Why do I say guiltless?  Because at probably under 50 calories I feel like I am really indulging in a decadent, warm, soothing treat without any regret.  Whatsoever.  In fact, I loved it so much I made a second cup!  And I have been using the Hershey’s Dark cocoa powder and yeah, it’s really good.  Thanks Katie for telling me I needed to get on that, stat.

Moving onto my next chocolate creation….

Averie’s Raw Vegan Chocolate Chia Seed Pudding
2 Tbsp Chia Seeds
1/2 c Nut or Seed Milk (I use TJ’s lowfat vanilla)
2 Tbsp Agave and/or  Stevia to taste (I also used a few drops of my NuNaturals Cocoa Bean Extract Liquid Stevia) 

1 Tbsp Cocoa Powder 
1/2 Tsp Vanilla Extract

Combine all the ingredients

Stir all the ingredients together and leave on countertop for 20 minutes.  Use a whisk if necessary & it may seem like all that chocolate will never dissolve, but it will.  And the results will be so worth it.

Come back to it 20 minutes later and stir again.  Either devour now…

…Or pop in the fridge for a few hours.  Know that the pudding will continue to thicken for the next 4-6 hours.  What I like to do is put it in the freezer after it’s thickened in the fridge to create an almost ice-creamy like treat with frozen chocolate chia pudding.

This is after 4 hours in the fridge.  Whatever you do with it, it’ll be chocolaty & yummy, plus you’re getting all the great health benefits of chia seeds like extra Omega 3’s, yay for the little chia seeds!

And by the next morning it had thickened to near fudge-like proportions…

What I love about this pudding is that it’s a snap to make but the taste is really decadent, rich, fudgey, just luscious.  And as chocolate desserts go, healthy, too.

And now for the Fun Facts I promised….
A couple weeks ago, I was given this Over the Top Award by all these awesome ladies: Heather ,  Janetha, Amanda and Erin.  Michele also gave me a similar award.  So needless to say, it’s ummm wayyyy overdue that I accept the award and post my responses.  Thanks Girls, you are all awesome and I love you all!!!!!!!  muah!!!!!!

Yoga Today is Janu Sirsasana (Head-to-Knee Forward Bend)

Today is the last day of VeganMofo.  I have succeeded by posting vegan, and largely raw vegan, foods & recipes every single day during the month of October.  It’s been awesome!  I would have posted vegan recipes anyway, but ya know, this was a nice thing to keep in mind while blogging.
So for the final time this month, things today were brought to you in VeganMofo spirit.

Tip of the Day: My Dozen ProBars Give Away!  I highly recommend entering yourself to win 12 of these delish bars!  The contest ends Sunday 10/1/09 so get your entries in pronto, bloggies!

What’s your favorite beverage to drink now that it’s chilly out?  Hot cocoa is such a winter-only type of drink for me, but we’ve had a wicked cold snap here in “always hot” Arizona that it just hit the spot, big time.  What’s your fave thing to drink (or eat) in the cold weather months?

Stay Tuned For A Highlights & Review Post Recapping the Treats of the Week…