Nearly Fat Free Vegan Chocolate Pudding

I am on a never-ending quest to satisfy my chocolate tooth. The challenge is to do so healthfully. I am not a big fan of guilt; especially guilt tied to food, so I choose to eliminate it from my life by creating dessert dishes that are both healthy and satisfying.

I Last year I had the good fortune to go to Hugo’s Tacos in LA and experience their amazing vegan soft-serve ice cream (click HERE to read my post about it). I was shocked and thrilled to learn that they use sweet potatoes as the base of their ice cream. That revelation has led to me ALWAYS having a stash of steamed sweet potatoes in my refrigerator. I eat them constantly and throw them into smoothies on a daily basis for the simple fact that they are a natural fat-free source of creaminess and wonderfully high in Dietary Fiber (aka they keep you full).

Another ingredient that makes it into my smoothies daily is zucchini. According to Nutrition Data, zucchini has a glycemic load of zero and is a good source of Thiamin, Niacin, Pantothenic Acid, Dietary Fiber, Protein, Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Vitamin B6, Folate, Iron, Magnesium, Phosphorus, Potassium, Zinc, Copper and Manganese.

The other day as I was drinking my smoothie I had a revelation; why not make chocolate pudding with a base of zucchini and Japanese sweet potatoes?

You didn’t know chocolate pudding could actually be good for you, did you?

Ingredients:

Makes 6 cups

3 cups zucchini, quartered and diced
¾ cups unsweetened vanilla almond milk
2 tsp Singing Dog pure vanilla flavor (alcohol free)*
6 large Medjool dates
6 packets SweetLeaf stevia
1/2 cup cocoa (I used fat-free Wonderslim Wondercocoa)
1 generous scoop SunWarrior Chocolate Warrior Blend protein**
4 cups steamed Japanese sweet potatoes, peeled and packed tight

Preparation:

Prepare the Japanese sweet potatoes by washing them and steaming them for 30-35 minutes. Once steamed and cooled, peel the skin off of the sweet potatoes.
Place the zucchini, almond milk, vanilla, and stevia in your high speed blender. I do not believe a standard blender will yield the same silky-smooth results, so definitely aim to use a high speed blender.
Blend on high until completely smooth using the center agitator as necessary (will take approximately 2 minutes).
Once the mixture is smooth, add the cocoa, protein blend, and steamed and peeled Japanese sweet potato.
Blend the mixture on high for another 2 minutes. The mixture will be thick, so be sure you use the center agitator to help the blender blend the ingredients well.

I know it is hard to wait, but trust me when I say that this pudding is even better cold. Try to restrain yourself from eating it at this point (you can lick the blender afterward) and pour the pudding into a glass container and refrigerate until cool, then serve.

*It is very important to use alcohol-free vanilla. Standard vanilla tastes bitter unless it is cooked.

**If you avoid protein powder, you can eliminate it and use a total of ¾ cups cocoa.

Source:http://www.onegreenplanet.org/vegan-food/recipe-nearly-fat-free-vegan-chocolate-pudding/