I used to be really big on goal setting at the start of the year, but I haven’t really felt the urge this year. Maybe I will write some goals once I can sink my teeth into the year a bit more. Right now, I’m still wrapping my mind around everything that happened in 2013. It was a year full of challenges, one I’m happy to learn from and put in my back pocket. There are a few big plans on the agenda for this year, so I think if I can make it through those I will consider it a success. The rest will fall into place, I’m sure!
I really like the idea of picking a mantra (or two) for the year. Have you done this before? Two of mine this year are:
To be knocked forward (instead of knocked down) by the challenges I face.
To make choices that are love-based, rather than fear-based.
How many times do you make choices that are based out of fear, rather than love? I do it much more than I would like. It’s something that can happen on autopilot after a while, like a knee-jerk reaction, and I don’t even realize that fear is behind the decision unless I take an honest look at it. It’s so easy to tell myself that I’m not good enough to do x, y, or z, to make a snap judgment about someone or something because it stirs up negative feelings, or to assume my writing or thoughts aren’t really important enough to share. All of these are fear-based. Luckily, Eric has a built-in fear detector and he often calls me out on it. Love is totally not blind; it’s honest in the best way possible…even if it hurts to hear the truth. We all need a human bullshit detector in our lives.
So, I’m thinking if I make choices out of love rather than fear the doors start opening and new possibilities emerge. Suddenly, the new person I met is open to my friendship just as much as I am, that new business venture I wasn’t going to do is now an exciting (even though scary) possibility, and the times I’m asked to put myself out there and risk failure don’t seem quite as bad. Fear closes us down and shut-outs love, or any remote possibility of love. Fear convinces us that we can predict the future (and it often turns into a self-fulfilling prophecy) when really, we can’t.
Here’s the plan. The next time I find myself making a decision out of fear, I’m going to try to do the opposite and see what happens. Obviously, this doesn’t apply to all of life’s situations (after all, sometimes fear or getting a “bad feeling” about something is a good thing), but hopefully this will help to keep in mind. I’ve already put it into practice a few times this year and so far, so good.
Try it for yourself. You just might do the unthinkable in 2014!
Luxurious Dairy-Free Hot Cocoa
Yield
6-7 (125 ml) glasses
Soak time
1 hour or overnight
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
Sometimes we just need a little hot cocoa to pass the long, cold days of January. This is the perfect, all-natural drink to warm you up on a cold day. Made with soaked cashews, it's super creamy and thick all without a hint of dairy. It's very lightly sweetened with dark chocolate flavour. Add it to your Valentine's Day menu for a decadent drink option! This recipe is adapted from Anthropologie.
Ingredients
- 1 cup raw cashews, soaked
- 1 large Medjool date, pitted and soaked
- 3 cups water
- 3 tablespoons pure maple syrup or agave (or to taste)
- 1/4 cup cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1/4 teaspoon fine grain sea salt, or to taste
- 1-ounce dark chocolate (I used Trader Joe's 72%)
Directions
- Soak cashews and pitted date in a bowl of water for at least 1 hour, preferable overnight. After soaking, drain and rinse well.
- Place cashews and date into a blender along with the water, sweetener, cocoa powder, vanilla, and salt. Blend on the highest speed until super smooth.
- Transfer to a medium pot and add the chocolate. Heat until the chocolate is melted and it's hot enough to your liking. It will thicken up a bit. Stir to combine. Be careful not to burn the bottom. Remove pot from heat.
- Serve & enjoy with some shaved chocolate on top.
- Store leftovers in the fridge and reheat on the stove top. You can also enjoy this chilled!
Tip:
Note: This hot cocoa thickens up substantially as it sits. Feel free to thin it out a bit with a splash of almond milk or water.
Nutrition Information
(click to expand)~~~
PS- I sent out the first OSG cookbook newsletter last Friday! If you didn’t get it and you are a confirmed subscriber, please check your spam folder as some of you mentioned you found it in there. Another reader mentions if you have Gmail to look in the “promotions” or “social” folders for it.
Your mantras for 2014 are perfect! Let’s all be fearless together!
Mmmmm! You just reminded me that I need to make another batch of homemade almond ‘milk’. Cashews make the creamiest beverages, don’t they? I have been enjoying nightly cups with coconut milk, but am definitely going to give this a go once I pick up a bag of cashews. :) I think some vegan marshmallows, coconut cream, or even a scoop of dairy free ice cream would add decadence on top!
This looks absolutely delicious, I can’t wait to try!
I love the second mantra. I don’t even know how many decisions I make out of fear. Fear should not hold us back from really living. The hot cocoa sounds delicious! Since it’s snowing right now, I think it’s a perfect time to give this a try.
While it was the promise of hot chocolate (and dairy free at that) that lured me in, I was especially touched by your two mantras. I found them so inspiring. And scary – but I suppose that doing things which scare you, make you a stronger person.
(Well, within reason of course – there are things one can be legitimately scared of :P)
In any case, thank you for both this delicious-looking recipe and two very inspiring lines to live by!
I love this perspective. How do we know what we are capable of if we don’t try? Here’s to taking new chances and new opportunities in 2014. :)
Wow, this was exactly what I needed to hear at this moment. I was just considering turning down a chance to present a paper at a professional conference because of fear — fear of traveling alone across the country, of public speaking, of meeting a bunch of new people, even of being able to find vegan food to eat at the conference. This post has made me think I should give it a chance. I really appreciate what you write, Angela, today and all the time.
I’m happy to hear that! I hope you go for it :)
Hi Angela,
I notice you use a lot of cashews in your recipes (cashew cheese, etc). Unfortunately I’m allergic to cashews but not to other nuts. Could you substitute cashews for another nut or something else that would work the same way? Thanks!
Btw, I’ve made a few of your recipes and have loved them all!
Hi Grace,
You can probably use soaked almonds in this recipe, although it won’t be quite as creamy as the cashews, it think it would still work wonderfully.
“Love is totally not blind; it’s honest in the best way possible” — love this line!
What an inspiring post. I am preparing to move to Malaysia in February to be with my boyfriend, which involves finding a job and place to live in a foreign country! This is definitely going to be a year of challenges but I’m ready for it :)
I love making hot chocolate with cashews as opposed to something like coconut milk! I really can’t tell it apart from dairy hot chocolate. This looks delicious! Thank you(:
theedgeofveg.wordpress.com
The thickness of this reminds me of the thick “hot chocolate” you can get in Europe. It’s so much better than the stuff we have here!
Wow! I just read O magazine, the January issue and realized how much I actually live through fear without realizing it. This post hit at just the right time. There is no need to fear and I’m ready to live a life based on love, not the what ifs.
Also, I just started making hot cocoa with canned coconut cream/milk, dates, raw cacao powder and a snip of a vanilla bean pod. It’s a great way to use pods that you have already scraped the seeds from. Works perfectly in smoothies too.
This looks amazing! Can’t wait for the cookbook (my husband is excited for it too-ha)!
I too signed up for the mailing list (on Jan 7) and have checked spam and promotions folders and searched my inbox and I didn’t receive it. Could you send me the newsletter as well please? Or let me know if there is something we need to do on our end to re-subscribe.
Thanks for all of your amazing recipes! :)
Beautiful and brave words! I am on the same path (I hope!) and am reading The gifts of imperfection by, Brene Brown. Highly enjoyable and thought I’d share! All the best!!
Mmmmmm my goodness using cashews for this sounds like an AMAZING idea! I’m always so surprised/impressed at how much creaminess cashews give to things, it’s actually hard to believe!
I am inspired by your words of living through love rather than fear. I think we all do that more than we realize so i appreciate feeling inspired to stay love based. The hot chocolate looks delightful! That is the one thing my son just hasnt accepted and loved in any dairy free version so I will put this to the test and see what he thinks. It is the lack of “creamy” that he misses so this may be perfect! Exciting!
Hi Angela! Happy New Year. LOVE the post and your 2014 mantras! So much opens for us when we are motivated by love instead of fear. I will be following your lead! :) (Re: the subscription…I had to “break up” with Yahoo..lol…what’s that saying?…”once burned…”
Angela, do you think you could just continue to process it in a Vitamix until it becomes hot? 1 less dish to clean :)
Wow this is so wonderfully decadent! I definitely must try this one!
I love your mantras for the year. I am so guilty of making fear-based decisions at the expense of my success personally and professionally. I could certainly do with a fear detector myself! Hopefully I can be honest with myself!
I don’t have a mantra for the year but I do have a goal: I will no longer use the word busy. Because everyone is busy these days, so it’s no longer a good enough excuse for why I couldn’t do this or couldn’t do that. I’m just banning it from my vocabulary and hopefully it forces me to do better and be a better person!
Hi Gabby, Funny you mentioned the busy thing – I just read an article about this very thing the other day! It’s so true, right?