Healthy Hot Chocolate

One of my worst habits is stopping off at Starbucks/Dunkin Donuts for a hot chocolate in the morning before work. I don't drink any coffee and I think buying hot tea is a waste because it's so simple to make at home. There's something about "fast food" hot chocolate that can't be recreated (read: so much whole milk and sugar I couldn't bring myself to make it) and to be honest, carrying in a cup full of a hot drink into work makes me feel like I have it all together. 

As of now I am 22 days into No Pizza November and have been thinking about other bad habits of mine I can try cutting out for a full month. This is where the need for healthy hot chocolate comes in! I am having a No (unhealthy) Hot Chocolate December and have also decided on a No Pop January. January's challenge will be much more difficult, so for now I am taking baby steps!

I have made this recipe a few times and each time I balance out the ingredients a little differently depending on whether I want more chocolate or more sweetener. The first step is to boil a mug 3/4 of the way full of water. It needs to be boiling rather hard in order to help dissolve the cocoa powder.

Next, I add about a tablespoon of cocoa powder. Stir vigorously! Trust me when I say that eating a chunk of cocoa powder off the bottom is no where near as tasty as a chunk of normal hot chocolate mix. Cocoa powder has almost all of the same benefits as dark chocolate. Antioxidant is the buzz word that comes to most people's minds which is great because they are definitely important! Whether you need to fight off an illness or your cells are just trying to function properly, antioxidants are our best friends.

The last step is to add a little sweetener and a splash of almond milk to the mug. I use Splenda Naturals and feel like one packet is more than enough for this serving size. Truvia or Sugar in the Raw would work great too! I use O Organics unsweetened vanilla almond milk to help make the texture more creamy and less watery. With so many different variations of almond milk (sweetened, unsweetened, chocolate, vanilla) there are a lot of opportunities to spice it up! My Plane Jane version is, however, delicious and helps me start the day a little healthier than I do with an uncomfortable belly full of whole milk. 

I hope you are all having a great Thanksgiving week and enjoying a break soon! 4pm cannot get here soon enough!