I Believe in Chocolate Pudding

Warning: diet sabotoge coming up. Now you can't say I didn't warn you...

So many of my friends are on exercise regiments and eating plans right now, trying to drink more water and eat fewer calories. While I admire their dedication and encourage them every step of the way, I haven't joined the team. In fact, I feel like I'm the anti-dieter and I need to justify myself a bit.

I don't post recipes for sweets and such just to taunt people. I just don't see them as the antithesis of healthy. In fact, I'd like to point out that dessert is a very important component to health.

I read somewhere about a study conducted to determine different cultural perceptions of food. To summarize the study, the French equated cake with celebration and the Americans equated cake with guilt.

It may seem unpatriotic, but a life of guilt is not one I choose to live.

Here's my niece demonstrating that cake = happy. And I just like to have an excuse to post adorable family kid pics.


NPR has a segment called This I Believe. People write essays stating what they believe, and the good ones are read on the air. I've always liked this segment, so allow me to steal this idea and put my own spin on it.

- I believe in real food. Rice instead of Rice-a-Roni. Fruit instead of fruit snacks. Fresh fish instead of fish sticks. Cheese instead of Cheez Whiz.

- I believe in fat. If I eat Special K and skim milk for breakfast, I'm hungry in an hour. If I eat some granola with apricots, walnuts and a little full-fat yogurt, I'm happy until lunch time. Tastes better, too.

- I believe in less meat, more veggies. Despite being married to a hunter, we eat a lot of meatless meals, or meals where meat is more of a side than a main event. Less steak, more stir fry.

- I believe in dessert. Have a piece, love it, then leave it. If it's not delicious, don't bother.

- I believe in waste not, want not. Between our family, the dog, the bird feeder, and the compost pile, very little food ever sees the trash can around here.

- I believe in the joy of movement. Taking the dog for a walk, gardening, dancing, joyriding on a shiny red Schwinn, lifting babies up for a cuddle - I like the occasional gym workout too, but it's the daily motions of life that shape the person.

- I believe in sharing. Taking freshly baked cookies over to your neighbor's house. Inviting friends to your home for dinner. Eating with people you love whenever you can.

Any beliefs you would like to add? I'd love to hear them! As you think about it, here's a recipe that encompasses many of my beliefs listed above. Why's that, you ask?

- It's simple
- It's delicious
- It uses up milk that passes the sniff test...but probably should be used up soon
- It's best when shared


Chocolate Pudding
Adapted from Cook For Good by Linda Watson

2/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup cocoa powder
3 Tablespoons cornstarch
Pinch of salt
2 and 1/4 cups milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Whisk together sugar, cocoa, cornstarch, and salt in medium pot so no lumps remain. Add 1 cup of milk and whisk until smooth. Add remaining milk and whisk again. Set pot on medium heat, whisking occasionally at first and then more frequently as it thickens (don't let pudding burn to bottom of the pot). When it starts to bubble, whisk constantly for one minute, then remove from heat. Stir in vanilla. Pour into serving cups or ramekins. Allow to cool a few minutes. Serve warm or cold, storing any completely cooled leftovers in the fridge with plastic wrap on top.