After talking with these chocolatiers and continuing my learning about ‘real’ chocolate I am realising the benefits and how the antioxidants and the ‘feel good’ factor of chocolate is a really good thing to start the day!
If you buy quality dark chocolate with a high cocoa content, then it is actually quite nutritious. It contains a decent amount of soluble fibre and is loaded with minerals.
A 100 gram bar of dark chocolate with 70-85% cocoa contains (1):
11 grams of fiber
67% of the RDA for Iron
58% of the RDA for Magnesium
89% of the RDA for Copper
98% of the RDA for Manganese
It also has plenty of potassium, phosphorus, zinc and selenium.
We tried a delicious smoothie this morning, recipe from The Chocolatier -Aneesh Popat Recipe was a few cubes of Madagascan Chocolate, banana, almond milk about 150 ml, teaspoon of flax seeds and tablespoon of goji berries (preferably pre-soaked so they release their nutrients more easily) Refreshing and tasted good!
A few other ways to put ‘good chocolate’ or cocoa in your breakfast:
Porridge with dark chocolate chips, dried cherries and sliced almonds on top
A smoothie made with low-fat milk, banana, peanut butter and a few chunks of dark chocolate
Dark Chocolate chip buckwheat pancakes topped with sliced strawberries
Another recipe I would recommend is the Chocolate Blueberry Smoothie, less than 15 minutes to make. Blueberries are also full of antioxidants.
Ingredients:
1 cup frozen blueberries
2 teaspoons cocoa powder (or a few chunks of dark chocolate)
1 cup of milk of choice
dash cinnamon
dash nutmeg
2 teaspoons maple syrup
fresh blueberries for garnish
As you know, or maybe you don’t I LOVE AVOCADOS and I have found some interesting recipes combining chocolate and avocado, I have made a chocolate tart which is actually avocado and chocolate and now I have found some smoothie and Chocolate Avocado Pudding Smoothies to try…… so watch this space!
Another recipe I have tried is the Chocolate Mango Smoothie which as EatDrinkLiveWell call it a perfect Hangover Remedy for the morning after! Worth checking out…