Chocolate Pudding

Wednesday nights are karate night at our house, which means Ian has to go to karate class, Brendan won't be home for dinner, and the kids and I have to eat dinner early to get Ian to class on time. This means I make kid friendly fare for dinner. Who wants to force the kids to eat the perfectly good food I usually make by myself. That kind of coercion is better handled by two adults. So last night we had chicken patties, chicken nuggets (child's preference), apple slices and chocolate pudding.

Before Wednesday night, my kids thought pudding came in a six pack of plastic cups from the grocery store. I don't think I have ever "made" it for them. While whisking the pudding mix into the milk I decided to put the pudding into dessert glasses instead of one big bowl. Anything looks prettier in a tall footed dessert glass than in a big bowl, and my kids, having never had pudding made at home, may have needed some enticement to try the thick brown dessert.

As I pulled the pudding from the refrigerator, Ian and Zoe were obviously excited to devour the contents within. Emma, my extremely picky eater, was interested, but was not allowed to partake at this time due to her still working on her single chicken nugget I required her to finish. Ian had his eaten in no time and declared, "This pudding even tastes better than Jello pudding!" (He was playing on the computer when I emptied the contents from the Jello pudding box into the milk.) I graciously thanked him for his compliment.

Zoe, on noticing Ian's happiness with the dessert and the pretty dish it came in scrambled to clear off her high chair tray. She handed me her plate with half a chicken nugget remaining and her sippy cup and demanded a spoon to be immediately brought to her so she could indulge in the chocolatey goodness. I began eating mine about the time Zoe finished hers and she noticed I was putting peanuts in my pudding. She asked for peanuts in her dish and scraped every last bit of chocolate out with the peanuts. Even when she could no longer get any measurable amount of pudding out of her dish, she asked me at least three times to refill it with peanuts, which she ate with her spoon.

Emma, upon completing her chicken nugget and with both visual and oral displays of how wonderful the chocolate pudding was could no longer hold back. She decided to try it. I brought it out to her and with a small amount on the end of her spoon, she tasted the chocolate pudding. She declared the pudding "the best" and continued to take little spoonfuls. I asked her if she really liked it, because she has a habit of saying she likes something if she thinks someone wants her to like it, but in truth may not like it very much at all. Her response was, "I do like it. Do you want to see me say Yum?" She then stuck a spoonful of pudding into her mouth, smiled a big, brown chocolatey grin, and said, "Yum!"

I think it's safe to say I'll be making pudding again.