Chocolate Breakfast Pudding

As I close in on 50, I'm starting to think a little harder about what I put in my body. I'm not the type to choose foods because they're labeled "healthy," but I am paying more attention to what gives me the most nutritional bang for the buck. Calcium and fiber are two things I've been told I'm short on, so I've been looking for ways to work more of them into my diet. My problem with calcium and fiber supplements historically has been that they tend to alter the taste and texture of the foods you add them to. Chalky yogurt, gritty smoothies that taste like wet cement aren't things I get excited about.

But I think I've finally cracked it with this chocolate breakfast pudding. With just four ingredients blitzed together in a blender, what comes out is dark, rich, and decadent enough to pass as dessert, but it's loaded with both soluble fiber and calcium (not to mention polyphenols from the cocoa powder). I like to dip fresh fruit in it like a chocolate fondue, though it's also delicious on its own. Some mornings I stir in a spoonful of peanut butter, or some yogurt along with a few drops of orange blossom water to change things up.

My hack for turning this into a high-fiber breakfast is glucomannan. It's a soluble fiber from the corm of the konjac plant and is what's used to make shirataki noodles. Its superpower is its ability to thicken cold liquids into a smooth, neutral-flavored gel. No heat, no grit, no aftertaste. You just blend it cold, and the pudding sets in front of you.

Because the cocoa powder is the main flavor ingredient here, the quality matters. I use Valrhona's Dutch-processed cocoa powder. This just means it's been alkalized to neutralize its natural acidity, giving you that rich chocolate brown color and deeper chocolate flavor.

I've also been experimenting with blending in other supplements. To boost the calcium profile, I add a few grams of calcium oligosaccharide powder, which dissolves cleanly into the milk with no chalk or off-taste. Whey powder works as well if you want more protein.

One last thing worth knowing: the absorption that thickens the pudding keeps happening in your stomach, so make sure you drink plenty of water or coffee alongside, especially in the first day after blending. I usually eat a batch of this high-fiber pudding over three or four days.