We live in a small town.  A small town in a fairly remote area.  You know the kind.  The kind where the exemptions in free shipping meets the map.  Sigh.  That means sometimes groceries are expensive.  We like avocados here.  Unfortunately buying them at our local grocery store is sometimes cost-prohibitive.  When we head to a city, we will often stock up a bit.  A bag of avocados is usually in order.

The problem with buying a bag of avocados is that they all ripen at the same time. Now, I like avacados but I can only eat so much in a day.  My df girl eats them left, right and centre, but there were too many even for her to clean up.

Today we were able to use up a few.  My df girl put a half in her breakfast smoothie.  We had ‘hummus’ (remember the extra navy beans?) and avocado sandwiches for lunch. That’s one more down. Later in the afternoon I needed a pick-me-up and I was really craving sugar–we’re trying to ‘detox’ after a whole lot of company and way too many sweets–so I decided to make some chocolate pudding.  Chocolate is definitely hard for me to give up. Thankfully, there are ways to get a chocolate fix without refined sugar. One way is this chocolate pudding. It may sound crazy, but the avocado gives it a perfect texture: creamy and smooth and delicious.  I used this recipe from Pinterest:  Avocado Chocolate Pudding from Seeded at the Table. Oh my!  The perfect solution to my sugar craving and a much needed energizer to help me get on with my day!

Though avocados are relatively high in fat, more than seventy-five per cent is unsaturated–good fats–and no cholesterol to boot.  Not only are avocados nutrient dense in and of themselves, but they actually help boost the absorption of other fat soluble nutrients.  These are just a few really good reasons to add avocados to your diet!  That and they make great-tasting guacamole, pudding, smoothies, sandwiches, salads, salad dressings and so much more.

Chocolate Avocado Pudding

Start with a couple of ripe avocados.  In case you’re new to this vegetable(?)…nope they’re actually a fruit (a berry, nonetheless!), check out avocadocentral.com for helpful hints on choosing, storing, and preparing them.  This is my favourite way to prepare them:

• Toss two prepared avocados into your Ninja, food processor, Magic Bullet–whatever you have, even a bowl and hand mixer.
• Add 1/3 to 1/2 cup of cocoa (This cocoa from Costco is my fave…so rich.  I used 1/2 cup because I like it chocolatey!)

• 1/4 cup of honey (add a little more if you’d like it sweeter)
• 1/2 cup of your milk of choice (I used almond milk, but regular, coconut, etc. would be fine)
• 1-2 teaspoons of vanilla (I use 2 because I love real vanilla.  Again, I use the real stuff from Costco.)
• Blend it all together until it is smoooooth and creeeammmy. Enjoy!