In my quest to avoid actually eating chocolate, I started reading about the delicious melt-in-your-mouth goodness known as chocolate.
Chocolate Facts
Fact: People have been eating chocolate since around 1700 B.C.
Fact: The ancient Mayans and Aztecs valued cacao beans, the main ingredient in chocolate, so highly that cacao was used as currency.
Fact: Montezuma II, the Aztec emperor, was said to have drunk more than 50 cups of chocolate each day.
Fact: Just the smell of chocolate increases the theta brain waves, those responsible for making one feel relaxed.
Fact: Chocolate has more than 600 flavor compounds. Red wine has only 200.
Fact: Joseph Fry invented the first chocolate bar. The year? 1847.
Fact: You'll love this. Chocolate milk is considered to be an acceptable and effective post-workout recovery drink.
Conclusion: Chocolate is a health food. Sniff it to relax before bedtime or when you're stressed out. Drink it to recovery from a workout. Eat it--in moderation--because it makes you feel good.
Here's a little recipe I've shared on other blogs. It's for Chocolate Cake in a Cup, and I promise it will satisfy any chocolate urges.
You’ll need microwave-safe mugs or cups or small Pyrex baking dishes. You can make this recipe in 2 or 4 cups depending on how large a cake you want. I actually use 4 cups and serve them on their matching saucers. Cute little small cakes to serve. Best of all, this tiny cake satisfies the chocolate craving without a lot of calories.
You can add a dollop of whipped cream, vanilla ice cream, or chocolate frosting (recipe below) to make it extra special (which also means extra calories!).
Cake Ingredients
- 4 tablespoons self-rising flour
- 4 tablespoons any kind of sugar (white, raw, brown)
- 2 tablespoons cocoa
- 1 egg, beaten
- 3 tablespoons milk
- 3 tablespoons oil (canola, safflower, sunflower, or other veggie oil)
- 3 tablespoons chocolate chips
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Place mugs in the microwave and cook for 3 minutes at 1000 watts power. The cakes will rise beautifully. Remove from microwave and allow to cool a little. You can tip it out onto a plate or serve the cup with its saucer and a spoon.
If you want to get fancy, you can mix up a batch of chocolate frosting. Here's my recipe for that. It makes a bunch, but you can actually divide it up into small freeze bags and defrost a bit when you need it.
Best Chocolate Frosting Ingredients
- 1/2 cup butter
- 2/3 cup Hershey's Cocoa Powder
- 3 cups powdered sugar
- 1/3 cup milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Try Last Chance New Year, (Highly Sensual Romance short story.) It's currently free on Smashwords and will be on Amazon as soon as they price match!!
Free through March 31.
(Sheesh takes so long to get Amazon to price match. Make sure it shows as free before you click to buy. Otherwise, get it from Smashwords.
A Moment in Time is all the heart needs for Love to blossom.
Cheyenne Smith, better known as C. A. Smith to her co-workers, decides New Year’s Eve is the perfect time to give in to insanity and throw herself at Luke Harper, the man she loves, and hope that he catches her.
This romance short story has David and Noelle Morales, featured in last year's LuvU4Ever, playing matchmaker for Cheyenne and Luke. (LuvU4Ever is free on Amazon Kindle and other ebook sellers.)
All of Joan's books have the same underlying theme: It's never too late to live happily ever after. Joan lives her happily ever after with her hero, her husband, in the Lone Star State.
Readers, sign up for Joan's mailing list/free NL and receive a free ebook. Find Joan online: Blog, Website, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube.
It had me at where chocolate increases your serotonin. That's virtually a tranquilizer without the drugs ;). I miss desserts sooooo much. I am not dieting. I've given up and likely will stay fat as it's not worth it to me to avoid the things I love. I do try to eat healthily though and that means little sugar... want sugar!
ReplyDeleteOh, how sad, but true for most of us. It's a choice of what tastes good and what's good for us too much of the time.
DeleteOh my, oh my, oh my! I am so addicted to chocolate that I could smell it as you wrote your post. I, too, am giving up sweets for a diet, but I restrict myself to one square of Dove milk chocolate each day as a treat to keep me from straying. After all, if people have been eating it since 1700 B.C., it can't be all that bad, right? Great post.
ReplyDeleteChocolate is good for you. However, I don't think the ancient peoples added sugar to it. So it probably tasted more like black coffee than the chocolate we know. I'm a dark choco fan myself. *g*
DeleteChocolate Cake in a Cup - sounds delicious and so easy it could be dangerous to a chocoholic like me! Best Chocolate Frosting sounds yummy, too, and I always have those ingredients on hand. Bad news: Just from reading your post I'll probably gain five pounds!
ReplyDeleteThe great thing about making these little cake cups is that eating just 1 won't wreck your diet. Good idea to invite friends over to scarf up the other ones. *g*
Delete