Vegan MoFo Day 6: Blast Off Pops!

 
Happy Monday! While today is day 8 in MoFo festivities, I will be opting to take the weekends of this month off to spend with the family-lots of decluttering, cleaning and general fun to accomplish with my loves! So this is entry 6 for me.

Today I want to post about another quick snack my two year old enjoys. Chocolate fudgesicles! These aren't your ordinary run of the mill fudgesicles, though. These are packed with nutrition and the best part is, my kid loves them. With a capital "L"!

Although I still feel a bit like a delinquent mom when I let her have one after breakfast.

The idea behind this recipe is to make a very thick smoothie, flavored with lots of Cacao powder. The thicker you make it, the more creamy it will be when it freezes! And please note that I use the term "recipe" very loosely here. This is basically a green smoothie in popsicle form, there is a very wide margin of error!

That said, I have been experimenting with this recipe to make about 6 pops (And I always end up with extra, which the kiddo will drink while waiting eagerly for the pops to freeze. I really need a second set of molds!)

Into the Vita Mix, I throw:
6 or 7 medjool dates, pitted
Enough water to cover the dates by about a half inch
1 banana
1/3 to 1/2 cup of cashews
1 heaping handful of washed spinach (pictured) or kale
1 heaping Tbs each of chia, flax and hemp seeds (called the seed trifecta in this house)
1 1/2 Tbs of vanilla extract (alcohol free is preferred in raw desserts, this can also be called vanilla flavoring, though I am using up my extract first and they turn out fine)
3 Tbs organic raw cacao powder, or more or less to taste

To start, place the dates and water in the blender and let them set for 10 minutes or so to soften. This will make them a bit easier to blend. After that, load up the blender with everything else listed-plus anything else you might want to throw in (liquid stevia for sweetness, different nuts or seeds, etc). Remember that you are basically making a thick, creamy chocolate smoothie here-anything you typically put in your smoothies you could add if you like. Experiment!

 Pour into molds (these are BPA free rocket pops by Tovolo, gifted to us by a lovely grandmother. This company also makes stars and a large groovy style set. So cute.)

Freeze and enjoy one! Or two. Hey, they are good for you, right?

Happy Monday!