How about some Vanilla Cinnamon Chia Pudding or just plain Organic Chocolate?

How about some Vanilla Cinnamon Chia Pudding or just plain Organic Chocolate?

      With the weather being so cold, and plenty of snow to play in, sometimes Hot Chocolate becomes boring.  How to mix it up and be healthy?  Make home made pudding.  This recipe is an adaptation of Grandma's Jello Salad recipe.  Which, is one of my most popular recipes!  Give it a try.  Anyway, my son and I love Chocolate.  I try to make healthy treats for us, and can't bring myself to use the boxed pudding mixes any longer.  If I can't pronounce an ingredient, without a Chemistry dictionary, then I probably shouldn't be eating it.  Thus this recipe was born.  I made a vanilla pudding for Rice Pudding and raisins.  It was very good.  So why not make chocolate?  I used Organic Cacao powder, it's a superfood!  

Organic Chocolate Pudding

   This picture shows how silky smooth the pudding is.  In fact, my son liked it so much he keeps asking for it.  When making my second batch, I messed up the flour and sugar  measurements.  Not to worry, the result was a super thick pudding, so I just added milk to thin it out.  Worked great. So, don't freak if the pudding looks super thick, just add more milk.  Don't forget you can also use 2% or skim milk for this.  We were snowed in and this was the only milk I had.  I don't usually use this brand, but when a snow storm is on the way, you sometimes have to take what Organic milk you can get.  

When I was enjoying this delicious dessert I thought about my friend whose son has a lot of food allergies, like me, and my other friend who is opening a restaurant and wants to use "healthy alternative" foods.  

My friends son wouldn't be able to enjoy this pudding because of the milk and egg.  So I sent her a message to ask what she used to substitute eggs.  She told me Chia seeds or flax seeds.  Ok, I had coconut milk and chia seeds.  She was coming over today, so I put her to work. We created this new pudding recipe.  I'm so happy with it!   Her son loved the pudding.  The consistency was a touch thinner, and it didn't set up as solidly as a pudding, but it was setting up better as it cooled.  

Vanilla Cinnamon Chia Pudding

Homemade Chocolate Pudding 

1 cup of organic milk

1 organic egg  beaten

2 Tablespoons of organic flour

3 Tablespoons of organic sugar

1/2 cup of Cacao powder

1 teaspoon vanilla extract (optional)

1 teaspoon organic ground cinnamon stick (optional)

In a sauce pan over medium heat, 

pour 1 cup milk and beaten egg

vanilla and cinnamon (both are optional)

DO NOT LET IT BOIL!!!!!!!  

Whisk frequently (you'll see it start to thicken)

Get the flour and sugar ready to whisk into the hot mixture.  

Whisk as you put the flour in to avoid lumps.  

I put my flour and sugar in a bowl, whisk with one hand and shake in with the other hand.  

After you have incorporated the flour and sugar then whisk in the cacao powder.

If the mixture is too thick or you just prefer a thinner pudding, then whisk in  more milk until it is the consistency you like.  

After the cacao is mixed in thoroughly and there are no lumps the pudding is ready. 

Homemade Vanilla Cinnamon Chia Pudding

2 cans Coconut milk

1 Tablespoon of milled Organic Chia seeds (substitution for eggs)

4 Tablespoons of Organic Flour

4 Tablespoons of Organic Sugar

1 1/2 Teaspoons of Vanilla extract

1 Stick of Organic Cinnamon (ground well)

I put the cinnamon stick and the chia seeds in my vitamix and milled to a powder

Put the milled mixture in a measuring cup and add 1/2 can of coconut  milk.  This will allow the seeds to thicken.  You may want to add the entire can if it looks like the seeds have thickened a lot. 

Put the other can of coconut milk and the vanilla, in a sauce pan over low heat. 

When it starts to steam add the chia seeds.  DO NOT LET IT BOIL.

Whisk in the flour and sugar. 

If the mixture is not as thick as you like, add some more flour, just be careful that you don't add too much.  You don't want to taste the flour in the pudding.  

You may want to add Cacao powder to this to make it chocolate.  We couldn't because Junior is allergic to nuts, and the Cacao was packaged in a facility that also pacakages tree nuts.  

This was very good!  I was surprised to be honest.  Pleasantly surprised.  

If you like this recipe, please comment below and visit me again!  

Rice Pudding with homemade pudding, raisins and cinnamon

Rice Pudding with homemade pudding, raisins and cinnamon

Looks like Fall is here, and I'll have more time to post yummy recipes.  Might as well come out of the gate with a winner.  I have been battling Bronchitis for the last 3 weeks.  Finally went to the Doctor last Sunday where they loaded me up on medication that makes you feel worse, before it makes you feel better.  Since then, I was unable to sleep, or eat.  As I felt better, I wanted to eat, but everything hurt my stomach.  Tired of chicken noodle soup and crackers, I started combing the cabinets.  I ate a handful of raisins as I rummaged. Those were pretty good, but a bunch of those on a hurt stomach was not going to be a good idea.  Put the box back.  I found a bag of rice, made a mental note to cook some up for dinner the next day.  Then, WALAAAA, it hit me.  Mom used to make me rice pudding when I couldn't eat anything else.  I went on a hunt for a box of pudding mix, or a bag of the German pudding mix.  Nothing.  Then I remembered my Grandma's Jello Salad recipe.  Hold on, I know I said jello, but if you haven't tried this recipe you need to.  Grandma made a jello salad, then topped it with homemade pudding.  Since I always have eggs, milk, flour and sugar in the house, I knew this was the deal.  I fixed it, it was so good I nearly ate all of it.  It did make a bunch, so I couldn't eat it all.  I finished it off the next day. 
Things to remember.  The rice will absorb  the pudding, so it's best to double the pudding recipe if you are going to let it sit over night.  That way, it will still be creamy the next day.  

Rice Pudding with homemade pudding, raisins and cinnamon:

Cook rice according to package instructions.  
I used Sushi Rice, product of USA.  1 1/2 cups rice to 2 cups water

After the rice is cooked and fluffed prepare the pudding.  

1 cup of 2% organic milk
1 egg, beaten
2 tablespoons sugar
3 tablespoons flour
1 tsp. vanilla
1 cup raisins (or more, I like more)
1 tsp. cinnamon (I like more with this too)

In a saucepan add all the ingredients, except raisins and cinnamon

whisk well & constantly to keep from burning.  

Once the pudding thickens, add the raisins and cinnamon
Take off the heat, stir well and pour over the rice.  
Mix well

You can bake it in the oven if you like a crispy topping to the rice pudding.  350 degrees for about 20 minutes or until golden brown on top.  

I didn't bake it, I gobbled it up.  It's so delicious.  
As I said, I did have leftovers and I learned two things:

1) Already mentioned above, the rice absorbs the pudding
2) If you re-heat it in the microwave the rice becomes a little hard and crunchy.

SO, I did this:

1) I poured some milk into the bowl and heated it with a wet paper towel over the top.  This keeps the moisture in, and gives the rice some more liquid to absorb so it's creamy again.  
2) Made a note to myself:  next time double the pudding recipe.