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Family Friendly Recipes

Experimenting with Food: Creatively Cooking With Kids

Thank you House Foods for sponsoring this post.

I don’t know about you, but our household is humming with the door slamming, mud tracking throughout the kitchen, and lots of questions, like…

“When is dinner going to be ready?”

“In a hot second, boys!”

When we make meals at home, sometimes my kids love what we make, other times…it’s a total bust!

One thing my husband and I always go back to is our desire as parents to instill healthy eating habits in our children by teaching them to try new things and experiment with foods. Just because my husband and I don’t like a particular food doesn’t necessarily mean our kids won’t either.

So…we branch out!

And over the years we have been pretty surprised at what they and tried and what they love to eat! One of my kids loves to eat fish, but you couldn’t force my husband or I to eat seafood if you paid us! We just can’t stomach it. But we encouraged our son to try fish and now he orders it every time we go out to dinner!

If this isn’t branching out…well, I don’t know what is. 🙂

My boys love pudding…like LOVE pudding! So I thought to myself, well let’s throw a spin on their favorite dessert and make pudding with a twist.  

Want to know what my secret ingredient is? Tofu! For all of you that just rolled your eyes…come back to me for a second! It is actually pretty awesome! This is one of the ways I like to cook creatively with my kids.

Now, if I’m being honest, I didn’t pull this recipe out of left field. I found it in the e-book House Foods created with author Melissa Rauch, The Tales of Tofu, to help children and families eat healthier by introducing kids to less familiar, but oh-so-good for you foods. You can download a FREE digital copy of the e-book, Tales of Tofu from House Foods, using this link here).

Now, as a former literacy teacher, obviously I fell in love with the protagonist in the story, Tofu, and the message that encourages kids to “Be anything they want to be”. Music for my soul.

I figure if the character in this story can branch out…so can we!  So here it is, the recipe that is so unassuming, yet delicious. I bring to you…pudding with a twist!

House Foods Chocolate Tofu Pudding

Serves 6

Prep Time: 10 min

1 package House Foods Firm

1 cup Chocolate Chips

2 tsp. vanilla

2tbsp. maple syrup

¼ cup soy milk

Have some fun with it by adding additional toppings of your choice: shaved coconut,whipped cream, chocolate shavings, etc.

Instructions:

Melt chocolate chips until smooth and creamy in the microwave or double boiler.

Put tofu, vanilla, maple syrup into the food processor and blend together until smooth.

Slowly, add the melted chocolate and soy milk.

Blend all ingredients until well combined.

Divide blended pudding into jars.

Refrigerate for at least 2 hours.

Top with your favorite toppings and serve.

My children loved adding whipped cream and chocolate chips!  They seemed to love the added crunch.

Did you give this recipe a try? What did you love or what would you change?

I am always on the hunt for new foods to try and cooking experiences to share with my kids. Comment below and send your ideas my way!