Easy Dairy and Sugar Free Pudding

What kid doesn't love the creamy texture and sweet taste of pudding?  Here's a healthy alternative with an added superfood kick to make both mom and kids happy.  This pudding uses coconut milk (or you can substitute any milk alternative) instead of dairy, banana as a natural sweetener, and chia seeds as a thickener and nutritional boost.  Chia seeds are a great way to sneak in more omega-3 fatty acids, fiber, and protein into your kids diets.  Check out these 10 Reasons to add Chia Seeds to your diet.

I started with this recipe for 3-Ingrediant Banana Pudding and simply added 1T of cocoa powder to please chocolate lovers.  The cocoa powder also does a good job of concealing the chia seeds from any little food detectives just looking for a reason to refuse to try it.  Garnish it with some fresh fruit, and you have a great kid pleasing snack.

What do my kids eat? Day 6 of 7

Breakfast:

Yes, some sausage again this morning along with a leftover butternut squash pancake from yesterday.  The juice was a mixture of kale, carrot, and apple.

Morning Snack:

It's hard to not get caught up in the Valentine's Day spirit.  We dipped strawberries in some homemade chocolate while it was still warm, and then chilled them in the fridge.  Yummy!  Fairly guilt free though since the chocolate only has coconut oil, cocoa powder, and honey.

Lunch:

Simple lunch today with deviled eggs and a mini-salad.  Simply swap virgin olive oil for the mayonnaise and create delicious GAPS friendly deviled eggs.  The kids love them!

Afternoon Snack:

I had hungry kids for snack time today.  They each had two plates of sliced apples and Organic Sunbutter.

Dinner:

My kids call this "Saucy Meatballs".  We just pour some Mariana Sauce (Kirkland Marina Sauce which happens to be sugar free!) over my chia seed and beef meatballs (1.25 lbs. ground beef, 1/4 cup chia seeds, and 1 egg).  Add some peas and voila a simple meal.

Bedtime Snack:

Here's another of our favorite ways to incorporate calcium and vitamin D fortified coconut milk into our diet:

Pineapple Whip

The recipe calls for Almond milk, but I just substitute coconut milk because that's what we typically have on hand.  We buy frozen pineapple chunks at Costco which makes this a simple treat to whip up.

Return to Day 5

Continue to Day 7

Banana Icecream

This delicious icecream has exactly one ingredient:  frozen bananas.  No milk, gluten, or added sugar!  So maybe it's not exactly icecream, but it does have the same creamy texture.  If you haven't tried it, then you'll be amazed.  All you have to do is freeze some very ripe, peeled bananas.  I typically just break them in half and put them in ziploc bags to freeze.  Then you just blend up the frozen banana, and you'll have a naturally sweet, yummy treat.  I actually use the Yonanas Ice Cream Treat Maker to make it, but I think that it will work fairly well in a blender or food processor too.  One trick that I have found that makes this work a little bit better is to thaw the banana just a little bit before blending it.  My kids are typically anxiously awaiting their treat, so I just pop my ziploc bag in the microwave for 20 seconds to soften up the bananas first.  You can also add other frozen fruit and/or toppings to create new flavors.  My kids like to add some frozen strawberries or maybe a little bit of chocolate syrup.  Each frozen banana makes a small, child-size serving. When I made this for my kids last night, my 4 year-old daughter squealed with delight.