Chocolate Pudding

So along with pregnancy comes a whole lot of cravings. This pregnancy seems I am craving even more than I used to. I figure it's due to spending 2 1/2 years sticking to the Weight Watchers plan so that I could finally lose all the weight I have gained over the years. Now, because I can't "diet" I want EVERYTHING! Hehe! This could be a bad thing!

I am constantly looking up recipes online and baking for my family. They have asked that I don't stop baking once this baby is born. Something tells me they've missed the goodies I used to make all the time. :) I LOVE to bake...and that doesn't exactly go very well with a "life style change" like Weight Watchers.

Every couple of days the house is filled with delicious smells of chocolate chip cookies, snicker doodles, chocolate chocolate chip cookies, peanut butter cookies, no bake cookies, muffins, more cookies, and what ever else I feel like eating at the time.

Recently I decided that I really wanted some chocolate pudding but I didn't want to deal with all the artificial ingredients in the instant pudding found at the local grocery store and the all-natural products are extremely high in price. *Sigh* Therefore, I decided to search for a tasty recipe. And Hooray, I found it!


• 6 tablespoons sugar
• 4 tablespoons cornstarch (slightly heaping)
• 2 tablespoons cocoa (heaping)
• 1 pinch salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract (optional)
• 2 cups milk
Directions:
-Combine all dry ingredients in a small sauce pan until all lumps are gone and blended well.
-Add milk, whisk, and place on burner turned to med/high -- stir constantly until mixture thickens and begins to boil. Set timer for 1 minute and continue to stir.
-Remove from heat and add vanilla, stir well. Let sit for 5 minutes, stirring twice. Pour into serving dishes and either serve warm or chill in the refrigerator.


I never knew how tasty warm chocolate pudding could be. Now there's no need to buy that "stuff" at the store, especially when I can have something that tastes so much better. I can have chocolate pudding any time I want to! Empowerment! Hoorah! :)