So I have to continue the chocolate theme I started in the last post. I think it is currently the key to getting my youngest son to eat! We met with a developmental pediatrician last week and the subject of nutrition came up. I lamented that most of the "healthy" things the Wise Old Owl eats are hidden in chocolate and sugar. He gave me permission to feel OK about that. Phew! We do a lot of cereal bars with hemp protein and chocolate chips, and our modified chex puppy chow has Neocate Jr. mixed in it. One that I am really excited about lately, though, is chocolate pudding. It is a pretty big deal to get him to eat something "wet" like pudding. I started out making it REALLY thick and serving it warm, so that helped. He would lick a tiny bit off of a spoon, and progressed to eating a whole bite, to finally a bowl of pudding! Gradually (like over the last 8 months) I have been thinning it out and making it more like the consistency of a nice creamy pudding.

I love avocados and wish my kids would eat them, too. This recipe uses one and a half avocados because whenever I make it, I like to have a turkey sandwich first and put the other half on my sandwich. :) It's good for me to eat something healthy with the avocado before the chocolate version. The Wise Old Owl will not eat the sandwich, so he ends up with chocolate avocado pudding for lunch. But according to the doctor, that's better than nothing, so I am not letting that stress me out at the moment.

I have to give credit to Jessica Seinfeld for the inspiration from her cookbook "Deceptively Delicious." I made her avocado/chocolate pudding a few years back for Herbie. He loved it at the time, but he's moved on and no longer likes pudding. I pulled the recipe back out last year and substituted coconut oil for the margarine and it came out pretty much the same. She cooks it over the stove and adds corn starch at the end to thicken it. I've gotten to the point where I can leave out the corn starch and he will still eat it. I like to thin it down with coconut milk, that is the only milk I've tried in this recipe. I just really love So Delicious coconut milk, because, well, it is SO delicious! And the DariFree is my way of adding a little calcium, but it's not needed for taste. As a bonus, there is no need to wait for this to set up in the fridge!


Chocolate Pudding with Avocado

Ingredients:
1/4 c. coconut oil (melted)
1-1/2 ripe avocados
1 c. powdered sugar
1/2 c. unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 c. chocolate flavored DariFree powder
1 tsp. vanilla
1/4 c. (or more) So Delicious vanilla coconut milk

Puree the avocados and coconut oil in a food processor. Add the dry ingredients, then vanilla, and add coconut milk to achieve the desired consistency.

Note: Depending on the ripeness of the avocados, it may taste somewhat avocado-y. Warming it up seems to take care of that.



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