Repeater Recipes – Chocolate Avocado Pudding

23 Feb

This is a recipe in my Repeater Recipe series, a series of posts where I feature previously posted recipes that show up often in our meal rotation. It’s also a good chance to introduce some ‘classic’ recipes to my new readers.

First Appearance on the Blog: August 23, 2010

I had forgotten about this recipe until a few weeks ago when, stocking up on avocados (one perk of Super Bowl Week grocery specials), I got home and then wondered just what I was going to do with 6 ripe avocados. One can only eat so much guacamole. If one is me, than that one can eat a LOT of guacamole, but still, some variety is nice. I also had several ripe bananas and somehow, out of the dusty corners of my mind, I remembered this pudding.

I ate it twice last week and am planning on it again this week. It’s always a good time for pudding. This pudding has an incredibly creamy texture. It’s not ultra rich or decadent, so if you are going for a sinful tasting dessert, this isn’t your recipe. But, if you are looking for an everyday treat that is slightly sweet and has just enough chocolate flavor to satisfy a craving, this is a good one. My kids love it as a dip for fruit and graham crackers.

Chocolate Avocado Banana Pudding

Creamy and fresh – a great mid-afternoon snack. It doesn’t taste like a decadent dessert, but is great for a everyday snack. It’s also a great dip for graham crackers and bananas.

  • 1 ripe avocado
  • 3T rounded cocoa powder
  • 2-3 Tbs coconut or any other non-dairy milk (as needed)
  • 1 ripe banana
  • 1-2T honey or 1 packet stevia or sweetener of choice
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  1. Combine all in blender or food processor
  2. Process and scrape bowl a few times until thoroughly combined and fluffy.

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What I Ate Wednesday – A Day in Pictures

22 Feb

A Day in Photos (and a few words)

Oatmeal + Peaches
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Tea (7am)

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‘Hold me while I drink so I’m not cold’

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Feet Crossed

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Vegetable Juice + Curling Iron

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Tea finally enjoyed (9 am)

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To Market, To Market

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Crockpot + Apple Snack

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Double Pleasure – Met a friend for lunch AND got Indian Food

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Traffic

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‘Look!  Part of me is outside the car.  WHILE you’re driving!’

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‘Mom, stop taking pictures and let’s go home’

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Peanut Noodles

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Uno

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Linking up with What I Ate Wednesday at Jenn’s Peas and Crayon’s Blog:

Natural Rainbow Smoothies – Daily Buzz Moms 9×9

21 Feb

This post was written as part of the DailyBuzz Moms February 9×9 Challenge: Somewhere Over the Rainbow. I am honored and excited to be one of nine bloggers chosen to share a rainbow-inspired blog post. The nine posts will be featured on Feb. 23 on DailyBuzz Moms.

In my corporate food science days (oh paycheck, how I miss thee) I worked with different companies that supplied colorants to the food industry.  If you, as the product developer, were willing to put the term ‘natural and artificial colors’ on your product label, you could get just about any color you wanted.  It often came after significant R&D work, as colors can be quite finicky to work with in certain food products.  I once worked on a cake mix that we had to reformulate because the dark brown color we used caused blue streaks to appear in the batter when water was added to the dry mix.  Apparently consumers don’t like to see blue streaks in their chocolate cake mix.  Who knew?

When formulating a product with the goal of labeling ‘natural colors,’ your color palate was a bit more limited.  See, nature doesn’t have any Blue Raspberries or Arctic Blueberries to provide that oh-so-natural-looking Smurf Blue color to yogurt or frosting or cereal.  Natural reds, oranges, yellows, greens and some purples are pretty easily obtained thanks to carrots, beets, algae, spices and berries. (And sometimes crushed beetle shells. Yep – read about it here) Still, when the label says ‘natural food color’ it simply means the color originated from a natural source.  To get the colors out of the natural source, there is quite a bit of chemistry and processing involved.  Meaning, you don’t simply drop some ground beets into a vat of yogurt to make it pink.  More like you drop some concentrated liquid that was made by processing beets with hexane or acetone and other solvents and then stabilized with a natural acid.  Mmmm, acetone.  Wait, isn’t that stuff in nail polish remover?  Yep.

While ‘natural’ food colors are indeed a better choice than ‘artificial’ food colors, I think the best and healthiest food colors are those that come straight from the plant to you.  Nature makes some bold, amazing and enticing colors.  They can be pretty tasty too.

Want to start your day with a rainbow of truly natural colors?

Red Smoothie – Frozen Strawberries + Apple Juice

Orange Smoothie – Carrot Juice + Oranges + Ginger + Frozen Peaches

Yellow Smoothie – Frozen Pineapple + Frozen Banana + Pineapple Juice

Green Smoothie – Fresh Spinach + Fresh Kale + Frozen Peaches + Water/Ice

Blue(ish) Smoothie – Frozen Blueberries + Frozen Banana + Coconut Milk

Purple Smoothie – Frozen Blueberries + Frozen Blackberries + Frozen Cherries + Water

Combining all six of the smoothies creates a cheerful and vibrant rainbow smoothie full of nature’s colors, vitamins, minerals, fiber, antioxidants and protein.

While the all-in-one cup smoothie was awfully photogenic, my kids preferred the single serving, single color little smoothie shots.  They tasted each one and picked their favorites.  Orange was tops for me, Red for my girl and Yellow for my boy.  The husband was outside doing yard work (sorry dear) and didn’t get to choose a favorite.

I will freely disclose that I do not routinely get up and make six separate smoothies in the morning.  While my plant-powered diet does give me plenty of energy, it does not make washing out the blender six times or hauling out all the frozen fruit in my freezer feasible or remotely pleasant for a school morning.  My daily smoothie is generally a combination of the green and purple smoothies.  It’s not as vibrantly singularly colored, but it is very filling and tasty and lets me start my day with 2-4 servings of fruits and vegetables consumed before 8am.

PS – Nature’s colors can be potent dyes, so I recommend consuming your natural smoothies on non-carpeted floors.  :)

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Something else to do instead of laundry

20 Feb

I’ve got two kids at home today (in honor of President Day) and they are ready for some entertaining, so no relaxing Monday morning for me.  My act is not remotely together, so a Menu Plan Monday post is laughable.  I’m not even sure what we are having for lunch today.  :)

I did want to share the latest procrastination-enabler memory enhancement game that I play way too much:

http://www.realage.com/better-memory/word-games

True, the site is geared for those, uh, older than me, but I might as well start working on my memory now.  I love the Word Bubbles game.  My highest score is 2530.  Someone challenge me!

Pass on any games or Apps you’ve been enjoying.  I need more reasons to put off folding laundry.

Happy Monday folks!

Blender PB & B Cookies

16 Feb

I’ve had my vita-mix for almost a year and a half now and it is easily our most used appliance.  It mostly does smoothies, but occasionally I let her how her power over other foods.  Like dry oatmeal.  In order to make oat flour. In order to make cookies.  With peanut butter, ripe bananas and chocolate chips.  Need I say more?

Actually, this recipe could be made with a less powerful blender, as all of the ingredients are pretty soft and easy to blend, so if you don’t have a vitamix (we call ours The Precious), don’t fret.

Peanut Butter & Banana Blender Cookies

This cookies are wheat free, vegan and have only 1/3 cup of added sugar.  They are also tender, delicious and freeze well. Win win.  Could be made gluten free if you use gluten-free oats.

Ingredients:

  • 2 1/4 cups quick oats
  • 1/3 cup sugar
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 2 ripe medium bananas
  • 2 Tbsp coconut oil
  • 2 Tbsp peanut butter
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 1/2 cup chocolate chips

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 350F.
  2. Place 1 1/4 cups of quick oats in a blender or food process and blend/process until a fine flour is formed.
  3. Place oat flour in a bowl, along with 1 cup of quick oats, sugar, baking powder and salt.  Mix.  No need to rinse out the blender yet.
  4. Place bananas, coconut oil, peanut butter, and vanilla in the blender and blend until smooth and uniform.
  5. Add banana mixture to the oat mixture and stir until combined.  Stir in chocolate chips.
  6. Drop batter by spoonfuls onto a parchment paper lined cookie sheet.  Batter doesn’t spread much, so they can be placed pretty close together.
  7. Bake for 8-10 minutes, or until bottoms are starting to brown.

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WIAW- Valentines Day 2012

15 Feb

Last night as she was getting ready for bed, my daughter (she’s 6) said “remember how Monday night we were all excited for Tuesday to come and be Valentine’s Day?  And now it’s all over.  It’s kinda sad.”

The day may be over, but we have it recorded in pictures (and there are two bags of candy and paper Valentine’s card for me to sneak into the trash when no one is looking….) and in our memories.

For today’s What I Ate Wednesday post for the WIAW blog party hosted by Jenn at Peas and Crayons, please enjoy a peek into our Valentine’s Day foods.

For the last 4 years our little family  has been celebrating Valentine’s Day with special foods. It started with pink-sauced pasta and cupcakes four years ago and is now a day full of pink, red and heart shaped foods.  I love it and hope that it is a memorable tradition for the kids and one that makes up for my many less-than-perfect mothering moments.

Kid’s Breakfast:

heart shaped toast + jelly, strawberries + whipped cream, vanilla + strawberry yogurt, juice + sparkling water

My Breakfast:

Juice: beets, kale, lemon, ginger, apple, carrots, celery

I packed the kid’s lunches and my daughter’s turned out to be the most ambitious lunch I’ve packed for her all year.  Good thing Valentine’s Day in only once a year, as this mama doesn’t have the patience or drive to do this daily.

Heart Shaped Everything!!  Peppers + Carrots, Little Cake, Apples, Cheese Quesadilla

Since the little boy is way less into all the hearts and such, I took the easy way out and packed him a mostly normal lunch.  If there was a day that celebrated Super Heroes (and not the Presidential kind, so President’s Day does not count), he’d be all over it.  Or maybe a Transformer’s Day.

Strawberries + pineapples, broccoli + cucumbers, cheese puffs, cheese quesadilla

I quickly packed up some teacher gift’s.  I am the queen of last minute and it’s a crown I’d love to outgrow.

They got Maple Cinnamon Granola with Nuts and Fruit and Chocolate Dipped Stirring Spoons.

I made myself a cup of tea and grabbed a cookie

and took the kid’s to school.  If you’ve already had a glass of beet juice that day, it’s absolutely okay to have a cookie for breakfast.  It’s a scientific fact.

I spent most of my Valentine’s Day morning and early afternoon doing such glorious activities as laundry, dusting and picking up the 9234 little pieces of red and pink paper scraps that my little card-making daughter leaves lying around the floor like a trail, in case I ever need to find her.

I stopped for a non-pink/red/heart shaped lunch, purposely getting in some greens and protein.

Sauteed Kale + Fried Egg

I did some baking and frosting:

Cookies – Beet Colored Vanilla Sugar Cookies from Eat, Drink and Be Vegan.

Heart Tarts – Pillsbury Pie Crust Dough with either strawberry jam or chocolate chips for filling

Both are topped with a frosting made of beet juice concentrate, powdered sugar and almond milk.

I also had a pink (cranberry blueberry) kombucha.

The school day ended and the Valentine’s Day celebrations re-started.  We examined every.single.valentine out on the driveway (she couldn’t even make it inside the house, she was so excited) while eating apples.

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We then played with some neighbors and I happily watched the kids burn off some sugar energy running around the sidewalk and ‘playing ninja’ in the driveway.  It was my daughter, son and 2 other boys playing and I made sure she was the one ninja of the four that was not shirtless.  Just looking out for my girl….

Dinner was our fourth annual Valentine’s Day Pasta Dinner.  

We have Penne with a Rosemary Tomato Cream Sauce, heart shaped foccacia bread (from the Betty Crocker Red Cookbook Recipe),

red fruits and vegetables and cookies.  This year there was also strawberry pseudo-jello (the whole foods vegan kind)

and can I just say that pseudo jello is delicious?  I’m eyeing the leftovers for breakfast today, you know, after I drink a beet juice and all.

Now it’s back to our non-themed, lower sugar life.  We’ll always have the memories…. and I’ll have the leftover jello….and will surely be stepping on pink and red paper scraps for at least the next 3 days.

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Lovely Things

14 Feb

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Things I’m Loving Today:

  • A little girl who has fallen in love with reading.  It took all my willpower to not push her into reading for the last year (clearly before she was ready) and seeing her discover and love it ON HER OWN time has been one of my most favorite parenting moments to date.
  • A little boy who, when asked what letter comes after Z, says “Now I know my ABCs!.”
  • A husband who draws so little attention to himself but loves his family with such strength and devotion it’s humbling to experience.
  • This little blog that brings me a small sense of purpose, connects me with like-minded friends and serves as a portal to the outside world.
  • Those of you that click over and honor me with your readership and comments.

Menu Monday

13 Feb

It’s a chilly Monday, I’ve got a cup of hot tea, my little guy is occupied for the next 30 minutes with Dinosaur Train and I am happily sitting down to check in with the worldwide web.

Here’s the plan for this week’s eats:

Monday:  Tempeh Chili from the Peas and Thank You cookbook – my first time trying this recipe – and cornbread.  I’m also going to make this VegVeeta dip from Dreena Burton’s blog.

Tuesday: Our annual Pink & Red Valentine’s Dinner.  Click here to see last year’s recap.  We’ll have the same main dish, Penne with Rosemary Tomato Cream Sauce, and lots of red and pink sides.

Some of the red/pink/white foods for Valentine’s Day:

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Guess who started making some homemade beet food coloring last night?

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If it colors the cookies and frosting as well as it colored my hand, we’ll be set.

Wednesday: Noodles and Vegetables with Peanut Sauce

Thursday: Waffles and fruit

Friday: Out to eat – mama’s night off

Linking up with I’m An Organizing Junkie’s Menu Plan Monday

Eleven Things

10 Feb

Stephanie at My Thorns Have Roses tagged me for the 11 things post.  The rules are to post 11 facts about myself, answer the 11 questions she asked and then ask 11 of my own questions of another 11 people.

Here goes nothing:

  1. I have a fear of walking over grates and I worry that will prevent me from going to and enjoying New York City some day.
  2. The majority of my workout playlist comes from Glee.  I have no idea what I’d workout too if that show wasn’t around.  I don’t even really watch the show anymore, but I still get the songs from iTunes.
  3. Early on in my first job a coworker was reformulating a chocolate frosting.  She needed to figure out what flavor profile to target, so she bought a huge table full of chocolate – pudding, bars, cakes, ice cream, cookies, bars, frostings, candies, etc – and had a few of us from the lab come over and rank our favorites.  I loved my job that day.
  4. The first funeral I attended was my grandmother’s when I was 33.
  5. I avoid WalMart at all costs.  It absolutely steals your joy the minute you walk in.  I think they pipe some joy-stealing chemical through the air.
  6. I like to have something to read whenever I sit down to eat alone.  There is always a magazine or book I’m re-reading on my table.
  7. I like reading adoption blogs and am very inspired by those families, especially the ones that adopt special needs or traumatized children.
  8. I thoroughly enjoy people watching at the gym and have elaborate life stories in my head for several of the women I see often.
  9. I’ve never had a broken bone that required a cast.
  10. I had hot tea for the first time on a flight to Australia at 17.  Until that moment I never knew tea could be served hot.  It was a revelation.
  11. I don’t get the hype around Justin Bieber.  At all.

1. Who is your favorite comedian?

Demetri Martin.

2. Do you see yourself blogging 5 years from now?

I have no idea.  Probably, as it’s become a nice way for me to record our lives and take little snapshots in time of what we are reading/eating/doing/learning.

3. What’s your favorite form of exercise?

Yoga in a group setting.

4. What did you get into the most trouble with as a youth?

I was embarrassingly good as a youth.  Although one time a group of us got together to work on a group take-home chemistry test.  We met in one of our friend’s empty rent-homes, thus there was no home phone.  (There was also no toilet paper, so we pretended we were on a scavenger hunt and knocked on a neighbor’s door to get some.) This was in the pre-cell phone days and although we were WORKING ON A CHEMISTRY  TEST, all of our parents were furious because we were out of touch for so long.

5. If you found out you were going to die tomorrow, what would be the FIRST thing you did after leaving the doctor’s office?

Hug my kids. Second thing would be to get a full-fat, full sugar Frappacino and then head to the park with my family.

6. What would you name a movie about your life?

Eat, Pray, Read, Sleep, Blog.

7. What was your favorite grade in school?

An A+.  Just kidding – 12th grade

8. If you could have an intimate dinner with any celebrity, who would you choose and why?

Intimate like romantic, I’d go with Ryan Reynolds, assuming I wasn’t married.  Of course.  :)

Intimate like private conversation, I’d go with Jennifer Garner.  She just seems like someone I would like in real life.

9. If you had to relocate yourself to an entirely different country, where would you choose?

Australia.

10. Are you with the person you want to spend the rest of your life with?

Yes, even if I am willing to cheat on him with Ryan Reynolds.

11. Is there any topic you absolutely refuse to talk about on your blog?

I don’t see myself ever talking about sex or politics.

I want to tag some readers and frequent commenters.  Please answer one (or all) of these questions:

  1. Who was your favorite relative when you were a kid?
  2. What is the first memory you have?
  3. Have you ever gotten in an argument with a stranger?
  4. If you could choose between a weekend away alone or with friends, which would you choose?
  5. Favorite musician?
  6. Do you have any phobias?
  7. What would be the first thing you would do if you won the lottery?
  8. What would be the things you grabbed if you had to flee your house quickly due to a fire?
  9. What were you doing when you heard about 9/11?
  10. Do you have a will?
  11. What is your Starbucks (or any coffee shop) order?

Valentines Day White Chocolate Spoons

9 Feb

I am not a crafty mom.  That’s why I have a food blog and not a craft blog.  God, who has a huge sense of humor, has given me a crafty, artistic daughter.  So, I’m slowly conquering my tendency to start cleaning up art supplies within 2 minutes of getting them out, trying to embrace the inherent messiness of crafts with kids and, really, just get over myself.

I get Family Fun magazine and am honestly impressed at the creative yet reasonable crafts they have in each issue.  Most don’t require 5 trips to the craft store and  skill with wood working or metal welding like other craft magazines.

I saw this craft in the February Issue and this thought process followed:

Spoons with white chocolate and sprinkles. Hummmmm.

I can do that.

Sprinkles are easily contained on a cookie sheet.

Melted white chocolate is easily contained in a ziploc bag.

Only two stores to get supplies: craft store for ribbon, clear bags, and Wilton sprinkles,  grocery store for spoons and white chocolate.

I can do that.

A craft the kids will enjoy, one that is good for gifts, one that only requires one trip to one craft store, one that can be done for $15?

I can do that.

And I did.  We did.  And, dare I say, it was fun.

In process (with some neighbor friends).

Finished Product

Close Up

Are you a crafty person?

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