Sunday, December 18, 2011

Chocolate Avocado Pudding

My sister sent me this recipe off of The Vegan Version blog.  Chocolate avocado pudding... sounds kind of disgusting, right?  It's actually pretty tasty and you'd have no idea that there's any avocado or anything else remotely healthy in it unless someone told you. Note: do not tell anyone this is avocado pudding until they've already eaten it.  I mean, really, who would try chocolate pudding if they knew there was avocado in there?  Turns out, the texture is the same as any chocolate pudding and the taste is quite similar. I have to admit that I didn't like my first bite of it, but quickly started enjoying it.

The author who posted this recipe said that she found it slightly bitter and would add more agave or decrease the cocoa next time.  I made it as her recipe called for and agree that some sort of adjustment needs to be made. Funny enough, I couldn't figure out though if I found it too sweet or too bitter. Lack of sleep? Jerome tried it and said maybe less cocoa powder, so that's what I'll try next time. Maybe it's because I used a dark cocoa powder, which tends to be more bitter to begin with??

I made this pudding for sick little Logan.  With his flu came very little appetite. Poor guy hadn't eaten in at least 3 days.  And by not eaten, I mean he'd only eaten a half yogurt, a half cookie and a pudding in two days.  Now that doesn't mean that he isn't smart enough to request both pudding and cookies, which are both things that he only gets from time to time as a treat.  But the 'demand' for pudding started days ago.  I ignored him and just kept giving him his regular food, but yesterday, following his 3 day food strike, I started to feel badly for him and figured maybe it's not the end of the world if he eats pudding for lunch, if that's all that he'll eat, other than milk.  And out came the store-bought pudding.  And for the first time in days, I actually saw him gobble something down.  Well, half gobble, because as he got to the bottom of it, you couldn't shove another spoonful into him.  I guess pudding only has limited value when you're sick. 

But that got me to thinking that I should make this chocolate avocado pudding recipe that Ash had sent me awhile back.  So I whipped this up for Logan, figuring that if he's going to eat pudding for a meal, at least it can be healthy pudding. Figures that he wouldn't even try it.  

Perhaps now that he's starting to feel a bit better, I'll be able to convince him to take a bite of this.  I'm glad to report that he's finally on the mend. Thank goodness.  There's only so many nights a mom can take of hearing your child sob for you when there's nothing much you can do to help.  The other night, when I had to leave him with dad to go breastfeed Chloé, I whispered in his ear "mommy just has to go feed the baby, I'll be back in a minute".  And he broke down into uncontrollable sobs and I just felt terrible.  Nothing can make a mom feel worse than knowing your child is suffering and that there is nothing you can do about it.

A few short minutes later, I heard him clambering out of the bed he was sharing with Jerome and frantically trying to open the door of the room I was in with Chloé, while frantically screaming "mommy, mommy". Until Jerome scooped him up to return him to bed, amidst screams that would have led others to believe that he was being murdered.  Repeat at least 3 times.  And my heart broke just a little bit more.  Thankfully, Chloé feeds relatively quickly and went right back to sleep each time I fed her, so I was able to climb back into bed with the little burning man and cuddle him back to sleep.  Nonetheless, there were a tough few nights and I'm glad that he finally slept through the night last night and seems a bit more himself today.  Hopefully, he will soon be enjoying this pudding :)

1 avocado, pitted and removed from the shell
1/3 C agave syrup (can be found in a health food section/store)
3 tbsp. cocoa powder (preferably raw)
1/2 C water
1/2 tsp. vanilla



In a blender, mix all ingredients until smooth and the consistency of pudding.  Refrigerate and serve. 

1 comment:

The Vegan Version said...

If you figure out that adjustment let me know! I think the key may be to use raw cocoa powder as it is not as bitter. If I try that and that works I will let you know!!