Vegan chocolate peanut butter popcorn

I had a movie night with my little brother Peter today. We're keen to go and watch The Wolverine in cinemas, but we're both a bit behind and haven't seen some of the other X-men movies. And we call ourselves comic fans? For shame!

I figured that a movie snack was definitely needed and so I decided to pull out my popcorn maker. I just had a look through my blog archives and found my old post for spiced popcorn. I can't believe that it was all the way back in February. Wow, time flies!

I didn't want to just settle for plain popcorn tonight so I Googled some recipes for chocolate popcorn. A lot of the recipes needed melted chocolate (which I didn't have in my pantry) and butter; but that didn't stop me though. 

After being inspired by a vegan recipe for chocolate popcorn, I decided to put together my own recipe for chocolate and peanut butter popcorn. I like my chocolate bitter and my popcorn crunchy. This recipe definitely delivered.

Peter and I watched X-men Origins: Wolverine. I was actually surprised at how much I enjoyed the movie. Not sure if the popcorn had anything to do with that, but all in all I was not disappointed. I give it a 7/10.

Can't wait to watch The Wolverine!....maybe I can sneak a bag of my chocolate and peanut butter popcorn into the cinema. 

Vegan Chocolate and Peanut Butter Popcorn

Serves 4 

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup popcorn kernels
• 1 tablespoon coconut oil 
• 3 tablespoons cocoa powder (or more if you like it extra chocolaty. I used dutch-processed cocoa powder because the flavour is much more intense)
• 1 tablespoon crunchy peanut butter
• 2 tablespoons maple syrup or agave nectar

Directions

1. Pop the popcorn in a popcorn machine or place in a paper bag and pop in the microwave.
2. Melt the coconut oil and mix in the cocoa powder, peanut butter and maple syrup.
3. Pour chocolate mixture over popcorn and mix until evenly coated.
4. Serve while it's still warm. Any left overs can be put in the fridge and devoured later :)

Vegan Banana and Peanut Butter Hot Chocolate

I have lost count of how many hot chocolate recipes I had made, but tonight I add another one to that list of goodness knows how many. 

This hot chocolate was definitely needed. I've had a busy week and today was my unwind day. Nothing better to wind down with on a winters night than a nice hot cup of cocoa. 

There were two separate recipes on the website Knitted Bliss for Banana Hot Chocolate and Peanut Butter Hot Chocolate, but I decided to combine the two flavours into one.

I really love the banana-peanut butter flavour combination so this was great. I've made a chocolate banana and peanut butter smoothie before, but I've never tried it as a hot drink. Tastes good both hot or cold if you ask me.

On a side note, my brother and I were watching some episodes of the TV show Friends today, and we watched the episode "The One With All The Resolutions". In this episode, Ross made a New Year's resolution to do something new each day. For the first time ever, I felt like my life was like a tv show because I'm doing something new just like Ross. 

One of Ross' new things was to wear a pair of leather pants. He got too hot wearing them and took them off in the bathroom of the girl he was on a date with. When he tried to get them back on, they wouldn't go up because either they shrunk or his "legs expanded" from the heat. It's a funny episode, as is every other episode of Friends.

Maybe my something new one day can be to wear a pair of leather pants. At least because it's winter, I won't get too sweaty in them :)

Vegan Banana and Peanut Butter Hot Chocolate

Serves 1

Ingredients 

• 1 cup soy milk (I used vanilla soy milk)
• 1 tablespoon dutch processed cocoa powder 
• 1/2 ripe banana
• 1 tablespoon peanut butter (crunch or smooth, and add more if you prefer)

Note: if you're using unsweetened soy (or other non-dairy) milk, then add 1 teaspoon of vanilla essence and 2 teaspoons of any sweetener. 

Directions

1. Blend the peanut butter and banana together with about 1/4 of the milk in a food processor. 
2. Heat the remaining milk and the cocoa in a saucepan until hot.
3. Add the peanut butter and banana mixture and stir well to combine. 
4. Pour into mug. 
5. I suggest using a big mug just in case the hot chocolate is too thick for you. That way you can just add extra milk and not get any over flow. We must not waste any of the hot chocolate!!

Icy pops

Technically I made these icy pops yesterday, but they needed a day to freeze so I could only eat them today. I've been wanting to make icy poles/ice pops/popsicles (whatever you want to call them) for awhile, but could never find the moulds. It was only after I told my mum that I wanted to buy the moulds that she went out to Target and Big W to buy me some. She's sweet that way. 

I spent last night searching for fruity recipes, but a lot of them took more effort than just whizzing it up in the blender. I found heaps of great recipes which I will try later, but as soon as i saw a banana and peanut butter recipe, I had to try that one first. I love the banana and peanut butter combination. It's the perfect marriage of creamy, salty and sweet. 

I got the original recipe from here, but I made a few alternations and they still turned out yummy.

My vegan version of the Crunch Peanut Butter-Banana Icy Pops:
2 Large bananas
1 cup vanilla soy milk
1 1/2 tablespoons maple syrup
5 tablespoons 100% crunch peanut butter

Method: Blend everything in the food processor and pour into ice pop moulds. Leave a bit of space at the top as the mixture will expand as it freezes. 

Note: Before you take them out of the moulds, place them in some warm water so that they can be removed easily. 

My little brother enjoying his icy pop :)