Strawberry Hot Chocolate

It's that time of year again, the time of year when I start craving literally anything that has sugar in it. And by "year" I obviously mean day.

I have a MAJOR sweet tooth and can't go a day without some kind of chocolate in my lifestyle. One of my favorite ways to eat chocolate is when it's covered around a nice, juicy, strawberry. One of the all time best combos in my opinion is berries with chocolate (or pretty much anything with chocolate. Like even vegetables, I'm that much of a freak).

One of my mom and I's favorite things to do is watch cooking shows on the Food Network, specifically Barefoot Contessa and Giada at Home, and just completely heckle them while the show's going. I mean, I think Giada's cool and everything but for the love of God, just say "parmesean", not "parmagiano". We get it, you're Italian.

The other day, my mom and I watched Giada make a Strawberry Hot Chocolate and seeing how this recipe was easy enough that her toddler helped her to do the whole thing, I figured it was a recipe simple enough to where I couldn't mess it up. Here's my spin on it!

Ingredients:

• 1 cup almond milk
• 1 TBSP cocoa powder (*tip - for an extra boost of protein, use chocolate whey instead!)
• 3-4 strawberries
• Chocolate chips (optional)
• Stevia to taste

Simply combine the almond milk and cocoa, heat it up until it reaches the desired temperature, blend it all up with the strawberries and chocolate chips, and enjoy!

Alternatively, to make this drink more summer appropriate, you could take this blended mixture, pour it into an ice tray, and blend it up once it's frozen for a frozen hot chocolate!

Hope you all enjoy!