Avivah Werner

Homemade Chocolate Pudding

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Avivah

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Some of you are probably wondering after reading my menu, ‘If you care about nutrition, why are you serving your kids chocolate pudding for breakfast?  It doesn’t sound too healthy to me.’

People seem to have an idea that eating healthfully means eating tasteless and unappetizing foods that have no visual or taste appeal.  Part of the fun of eating based on a traditional foods model is that you can make so many delicious foods that we tend to think of as junky and bad for you, simply by substituting high quality ingredients and using proper preparation techniques.

I find it easy to adapt recipes and transform them into something good for you.  Here’s my healthy version of homemade chocolate pudding that we made for breakfast today:

Homemade Chocolate Pudding

  • 1/4 – 1/2  c. sucanat
  • 1/4 c. arrowroot flour
  • 1/2 c. cocoa
  • 3 c. milk (I used organic non homogenized for this – didn’t want to use my raw milk since it would be cooked in the process)
  • 3 medium eggs
  • 1 T. butter

Combine the sucanat and arrowroot flour in a pan.  Stir in the milk (a whisk is very handy for this but mine was missing and I made do with a fork).  Cook over a medium heat until the mixtured is thickened and bubbly, stirring constantly to keep prevent lumps.

In a small bowl, beat eggs and gradually stir in a cup of the cooked mixture while whisking it. (Doing this keeps it from curdling or cooking into small chunks when mixed into the hot pudding mixture.)   Then return this egg mixture to the larger pot of pudding, continuously stirring. Cook until nearly bubbling, but not boiling.  Reduce the heat to low and stir a couple more minutes.

Remove from heat.  Stir in butter.  If you want to eat it warm, let it cool about five minutes and serve.  Also delicious after being refrigerated and served cold.

Notice that this includes milk, eggs, and butter – all typical breakfast foods.  It’s just mixed up in a different way than you associate with breakfast foods.  If you want to make this vanilla instead, leave out the cocoa and use 1/3 a cup of arrowroot instead of 1/4 c.  Also add in 2 t. of vanilla at the very end when you mix in the vanilla.

Next time I think I’ll make vanilla pudding instead – it will be neater to serve.  🙂

Avivah

Comments

6 responses to “Homemade Chocolate Pudding”

  1. Dina Avatar
    Dina

    I make something similar minus the butter and with coconut milk instead of regular milk as a dessert for Shabbos. I think we will try your version for our breakfast this week!

    Reply
  2. julie Avatar
    julie

    does anyone know if canned coconut milk needs a hechsher? the only place i’ve been able to find it is trader joe’s and there’s no hechsher at all on the cans. thanks!

    Reply
    1. Avivah Avatar
      Avivah

      Julie, Dina shared what she was told in the comments of the post below:
      http://oceansofjoy.wordpress.com/2009/07/09/benefits-of-coconut-oil/

      I buy the Trader Joes coconut milk, I know Whole Foods also carries coconut milk, and Yael shared that she bought some at Kroger. The Asian store I periodically go to either has a label in an Asian language and I don’t know what’s in it or has additives.

      Reply
  3. Yael Avatar
    Yael

    I had a friend ask me a question I do not feel qualified to answer. She says she is overweight (I don’t know how much) and wants to lose weight . She asked me for healthy, quick meals to make for the week and Shabbos. Now, I feel we eat healthily and most of the time quickly, but eating coconut oil and lots of nuts and seeds and other things with lots of fat goes against the common idea of how to lose weight… I know you have mentioned a book about eating fat to lose fat, but can it really be true for a person really wanting to lose weight? I want to share your site with her and encourage her to exercise as much as she can….

    Reply
    1. Avivah Avatar
      Avivah

      I know how hard it is to believe you can eat high fat foods and lose weight, since it goes against traditional dietary ‘wisdom’. There are many nutritional concepts that I used to believe that I’ve been forced to challenge after doing lots of reading. The book I found most helpful in understanding this was Good Calories, Bad Calories. Eat Fat, Lose Fat is also very good, and has three separate recommended dietary plans.

      The most valuable thing would be for her to do her own reading so she understands the principles involved. I’m not a supporter of quick fix diets, ways of eating short term to accomplish weight loss goals, and then going back to bad eating habits as soon as the weight is lost.

      I’m currently slowly losing my pregnancy weight. I can’t speak to the idea of fast and dramatic weight loss, since that isn’t my experience and I don’t even think that’s healthy. I’m confident I’ll eventually be back at my ideal weight by eating the way I do, though this process has been slowed down by being pregnant or nursing non stop for the last four and a half years. :))

      Reply
  4. Dina Avatar
    Dina

    I have to tell you this was sooooo yummy!!!! We loved it for breakfast this morning. When my mom called and my son told her we had chocolate pudding for breakfast she was kind of shocked b/c she didn’t think that could be healthy! I explained the ingredientrs, but she doesn’t really get the philosophy of how we eat, so it probably didn’t sound “healthy” to her. BTW, her ideal breakfast is an extra large starbucks coffee with syrups and four sweet and lows. Maybe you can get from that how we see healthy differently 🙂

    Reply

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