Have you had any type of Mexican chocolate? You know, the kind that has a little spice kick to it? I love that stuff! Spicy chocolate? Sounds weird at first but if you like spice & you like chocolate…then you should try it! You may be pleasantly surprised!
You get your chocolate fix AND you get some added health benefits too from the capsaicin present in spicy peppers. According to this article on livestrong.com, some benefits of capsaicin include:
- Destroying cancer cells
- Increased metabolism
- Corrects indigestion
- Pain management
Pretty cool, right? Well since I had to get my daily chocolate fix in, I created a little recipe playing off this spicy chocolate idea. Enjoy!
Spicy Chocolate “Froyo”
Serves 1
Ingredients:
- 1 medium banana, frozen (peel, break into chunks, place in baggie to freeze)
- 1 tbs. raw cacao powder
- just a dash of cayenne pepper
- dash of cinnamon
- 10-15 vanilla liquid stevia drops
- unsweetened almond milk, if needed to get things moving
Directions: Place all ingredients in a blender & blend until smooth while scraping down the sides as needed. The final product should have the consistency of soft serve.
I love banana soft serve & this variation is delicious if you like a little spice in your life 
Green challenge eats:
Last night’s dinner was veggie packed. Zucchini noodles w/marinara, and a HUGE side of sauteed KALE, mushrooms, onions, & garlic. Does anyone else think one of the best kitchen smells is sauteed mushrooms, onions, & garlic?!
I was somewhat in a rush this morning to go teach a body pump class so I did another green smoothie. Unsweetened almond milk, frozen banana, SPINACH, spirulina, goji berry powder, and frozen mango to give me energy to workout AND teach my class.
Lunch was another salad, no pic!
Oh and meet Meiko!
Adam (my boy) rescued her from an alley in Houston (oh, yes we are moving to Houston even though we just moved to San Antonio). IT WAS NOT MY FAULT! But he rescued her, took her to the vet the next day & brought her back to San Antonio…I guess it was part of my birthday gift, HA! So we are keeping her! Her tail is chopped off & is undernourished but I am quickly resolving the undernourished issue (she likes raw food!!). I didn’t plan on getting any more cats until my current 2 died in like 20 years but oh well! She’s super sweet & I already love her…how could I give her up to someone else?! This is my first time having a kitten too! She is 8 weeks old & weighs 2 lbs.
We are up to 4 pets now…CRAZY. Never imagined that…and we are capping it at 5…because let’s be honest, Maya needs a little puppy to keep her crazy self entertained. She goes all…what I like to call…”drunk girl” on the cats…she gets too excited for them, throws herself at them, & considering she is 5 times their size…& they are a different species…she doesn’t really understand though! Poor Maya girl!
Maya’s the best!!
Dear Maya…maybe we will get you one of these….
(source)
Does anyone out there reading have a boxer?!
Have you tried spicy chocolate? Do you like it?
Im so happy to see that you are considering a boxer for a sibling for maya! I have a 3-year old boxer and he is the greatest thing in the world! I couldn’t ask for a better dog, which is great but scary because I don’t know how I’ll survive without him when he’s gone.
Boxers are hyper, but calm down at about 2.5-3 years old, are the most loving dogs you’ll ever meet, require a lot of attention, love to play allll the time, and are very attentive. My dog, Tyson, and from what I’ve heard from others about boxers, is that they don’t like the water. Tyson will go about ankle deep and that’s about it. Also, need to be very careful in the heat. They’re short snout makea iit harder to breathe.
I have ranted enough about my love for boxers. I hope that when you do get another dog, you adopt from the local shelter. : )
Enjoy Houston and your new kitten! Thank you for sharing your posts with me!
Brittany
ah Brittany that is so exciting! of course I just had to go FB stalk your pics of Tyson
Boxers are so awesome, we really want to get one for us AND Maya! She really needs a buddy. Did you get yours from a shelter? I have already found Houston Boxer rescues 
I “like” a boxer rescue in Austin on FB & always see their posts of boxers that need homes & it’s always SO tempting…but we need to wait until we move to Houston…which will hopefully be soon! I will keep you updated for sure 