Pudding (from Avocado)!

The kids like it too.  Nuf said...

Dark Chocolate Pudding

Yield: Serves 4-6

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 3 hour Chill Time

Total Time: 3 hours 10 minutes

Deep dark chocolate pudding that is made with a secret ingredient...avocados!

ingredients:

1 cup unsweetened almond milk
2 ripe avocados, peeled and pitted
1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons pure maple syrup
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon almond extract (I didn't add this)
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Pinch of sea salt
Raspberries, for garnish

directions:

1. Put the almond milk, avocados, cocoa, maple syrup, vanilla extract, cinnamon, and salt into your blender and puree on high for 30 to 60 seconds, until smooth and creamy. You may need to stop and scrape down the sides with a spatula.

2. Transfer the pudding to glasses, ramekins, or jars and chill in the fridge for at least 3 hours.

3. To serve, top each pudding with fresh raspberries.

Note-the pudding works best with ripe avocados that don't have any brown discolorations. The pudding is best the day it's made, as the avocados will oxidize and the flavors will change over time.

Recipe reprinted with permission from The Blender Girl: Super-Easy, Super-Healthy Meals, Snacks, Desserts, and Drinks--100 Gluten-Free, Vegan Recipes! by Tess Masters, copyright © 2014. Published by Ten Speed Press, a division of Random House, Inc.

Homemade Bars

Continuing on the path of less-inconvenient foods (eating well takes more time and planning than eating junk), I decided to make some bars.  My inspiration came from cragmama's homemade Lara Bar post.  I (and my food processor) learned the hard way that dates have seeds - big, unchewable, un--processable seeds.   But once I figured out, I was able to make my first 2 batches, and the initial taste testers are all giving thumbs up.

• 1.5 cups cashews
• 1.5 cuts dates (with seeds removed!)
• handful of dried black cherries
• pinch of salt

Process then nuts a bit and then start adding dates.  This gives you the base for you bars.  Before you food processor catches on fire, add salt and cherries.  Dump the resulting stuff into a loaf plan lined with saran wrap and chill.  They are as 'bar like' as I would like yet, but I will play with the ratios and processing time to fix that in the future.

A Simple One

Ingredients

• 6-hole muffin pan
• 6 eggs
• sautéed veggies of your choice (onions, garlic, mushrooms used here)
• salsa or pico de galo

With 5 minutes of prep and 15 minutes of cooking (in a toaster oven) this is one of my favorite meals.  I eat 2 of them and reheat the others later (for breakfast or lunch).

Saute the veggies
Oil the muffin tin with avocado oil
scramble the eggs and divide evenly among into the muffin tin
add the veggies when done
bake on 350F for 15 minutes in the toaster oven

Packing Lunch

Work lunches are non-trivial with Whole30, even if you are surrounded by restaurants.  Assuming you don't mind asking the waiter for ingredients lists (like I do), you are likely to find few dishes that are Whole30.  On a trip to Raleigh NC, the best I could do at a well regarded establishment was pulled pork on a plate with 2 sides of green beans.  The meat tasted like it had brown sugar in it and the beans were cooked in butter. On another occasion (at work), a lunch spread was provided:

• pizza (dairy)
• sandwiches (grains)
• chips (grains)
• 'nutrition' bars (sugar)
• salad (with 2 kinds of cheese and only creamy dressings)
• brownies (sugar, dairy, grains)
• donuts (duh)

The only Whole30 item on the table was a container of chopped onion for the sandwiches.  I made due with a bag of almonds I brought and picked some plane veggies from the salad.

Fortunately, we've been cooking a variety of tasty meals at home, so when I'm in the office, I can take  tasty lunches like this:

• a lime to spruce up my glass of water
• strawberries
• leftover spinach and egg frittata
• dates and dried peaches
• pumpkin soup
• a small glass of smoothy