Yoga Not Required
Thursday nights are yoga nights at our house.
As the sun begins to set, a few close friends--one of whom is also the instructor--arrive and we settle in the backyard on the deck next to the pool for an hour long class. It's a beautiful way to bring the week to a close as we breathe together, assume gentle and challenging poses, laugh a little, moan a little, encourage one another and enjoy the pleasure of deep stretches.
After closing with a few minutes of shavasana, we always end our time together by sharing a simple, healthy and delicious snack. Sometimes it's savory--like hummus and raw veggies or a cold vegetarian zucchini soup with a touch of curry--and sometimes it's sweet--such as strawberry chia seed pudding, vegan cheesecake or vegan brownies.
We are all super health conscious (one is entirely vegan and David and I adhere to an 80% vegan diet) and enjoy taking turns bringing treats we love as we have come to savor the after class habit of breaking bread together and catching up on our lives, current events, the geo-political scene and life's many other moments worth sharing and caring as friends do.
With August temperatures nearing 100, there is always a breeze in the heavily treed and shaded backyard, but the last few weeks, it still has felt like hot yoga, so this week's treat needed to be a frozen concoction that would really cool us off.
Growing up, I wasn't a fudgsicle person, but my mother was and, somewhere along the way, I became one, too. These paleo fudgsicles have been on my radar for quite some time and this seemed like an ideal opportunity to test them out. They are easy to make and require no cooking at all making them even more enticing.
A blender and popsicle molds are all you'll need to share these delectable fudgsicles with your friends and family. And, for the record, yoga is not required. But encouraged.
Buen provecho!
Dairy-Free Fudgsicles
The Cowgirl Gourmet adapted this recipe from several online recipes
Print recipe
I always have at least one can of full-fat coconut milk in my pantry and now that I know how fabulous these popsicles are, I may need to have two cans on hand from now on. These are dairy-free and free from refined sugar. You'll be amazed at how rich, creamy and utterly satisfying these popsicles are.
Makes 6-9 popsicles, depending on the size of your molds
1 can full-fat organic coconut milk
1/2 cup raw cacao or combination of 1/4 cup raw cacao and 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
4 pitted Medjool dates
2 tablespoons maple syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste
Pinch of sea salt
1 tablespoon cocoa nibs, optional
To a high-speed blender, add the coconut milk, cacao or cocoa, dates, maple syrup, vanilla and a pinch of sea salt and process for 1-2 minutes, until everything is smooth and creamy.
If desired, add the cocoa nibs to the liquid and stir well to combine. Then pour the liquid into the popsicle molds. Add the popsicle sticks and carefully place in the freezer, for at least 6 hours or overnight.
Flavor options: you could add 6-10 mint leaves for a chocolate mint popsicle; frozen raspberries for chocolate-raspberry popsicles; 1 teaspoon orange zest for a chocolate-orange popsicle
As the sun begins to set, a few close friends--one of whom is also the instructor--arrive and we settle in the backyard on the deck next to the pool for an hour long class. It's a beautiful way to bring the week to a close as we breathe together, assume gentle and challenging poses, laugh a little, moan a little, encourage one another and enjoy the pleasure of deep stretches.
After closing with a few minutes of shavasana, we always end our time together by sharing a simple, healthy and delicious snack. Sometimes it's savory--like hummus and raw veggies or a cold vegetarian zucchini soup with a touch of curry--and sometimes it's sweet--such as strawberry chia seed pudding, vegan cheesecake or vegan brownies.
We are all super health conscious (one is entirely vegan and David and I adhere to an 80% vegan diet) and enjoy taking turns bringing treats we love as we have come to savor the after class habit of breaking bread together and catching up on our lives, current events, the geo-political scene and life's many other moments worth sharing and caring as friends do.
With August temperatures nearing 100, there is always a breeze in the heavily treed and shaded backyard, but the last few weeks, it still has felt like hot yoga, so this week's treat needed to be a frozen concoction that would really cool us off.
Growing up, I wasn't a fudgsicle person, but my mother was and, somewhere along the way, I became one, too. These paleo fudgsicles have been on my radar for quite some time and this seemed like an ideal opportunity to test them out. They are easy to make and require no cooking at all making them even more enticing.
A blender and popsicle molds are all you'll need to share these delectable fudgsicles with your friends and family. And, for the record, yoga is not required. But encouraged.
Buen provecho!
The Cowgirl Gourmet adapted this recipe from several online recipes
Print recipe
I always have at least one can of full-fat coconut milk in my pantry and now that I know how fabulous these popsicles are, I may need to have two cans on hand from now on. These are dairy-free and free from refined sugar. You'll be amazed at how rich, creamy and utterly satisfying these popsicles are.
Makes 6-9 popsicles, depending on the size of your molds
1 can full-fat organic coconut milk
1/2 cup raw cacao or combination of 1/4 cup raw cacao and 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
4 pitted Medjool dates
2 tablespoons maple syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste
Pinch of sea salt
1 tablespoon cocoa nibs, optional
To a high-speed blender, add the coconut milk, cacao or cocoa, dates, maple syrup, vanilla and a pinch of sea salt and process for 1-2 minutes, until everything is smooth and creamy.
If desired, add the cocoa nibs to the liquid and stir well to combine. Then pour the liquid into the popsicle molds. Add the popsicle sticks and carefully place in the freezer, for at least 6 hours or overnight.
Flavor options: you could add 6-10 mint leaves for a chocolate mint popsicle; frozen raspberries for chocolate-raspberry popsicles; 1 teaspoon orange zest for a chocolate-orange popsicle
.JPG)
Comments