If you’re always trying to get some extra nutrients into your children’s diets then this easy, fruity and nutritious pudding will be a great addition to after school meals.

Ingredients: (Makes 4 portions)

8 (pref organic)* strawberries
1 kiwi
Handful of blueberries
1 plum
1 flat dessertspoon of coconut oil (optional)
40g of buckwheat flakes & 50g of porridge oats
1 tbsp pumpkin seeds
7 oz Koro coconut milk (you could use almond or soya milk if you prefer)

Method: 
Firstly, grind your seeds either in the blender or a coffee grinder works just as well. Wash your fruit as you normally would, top the strawberries and peel & roughly chop the kiwis and throw in the blender with all of the other ingredients, leaving the coconut oil until last. The strawberries are kiwi are full of vitamin C to help fight any summer colds, the seeds will donate some essential fatty acids in the mix – great if you struggle to get healthy fats into your children’s diet. Kiwis have so much Vit C they were shown in a trial to significantly reduce depression when subjects ate 3 a day. The coconut oil may be useful to support the immune system as it contains lauric acid which is antifungal, antibacterial and antiviral. The oats and flakes are to add some protein and more fibre to the yoghurt, and importantly they thicken it up so it can be eaten with a spoon.

Health comparison with shop bought yoghurts Mass-produced yoghurts or puddings are more of a junk food these days and aren’t a patch on this one, and of course ours contains no sweeteners, syrup, sugar, it hasn’t had the fat (and hence those useful, fat soluble vitamins) taken out, no flavourings or colouring’s, rice starch, thickeners (urgh!) or guar gum, etc etc.. just lots of essential fats, fibre and vitamin C.

If there are any leftovers, you can add it to your muesli in the morning, just add a squeeze of lemon or lime juice to your leftovers to help it to maintain its freshness..

Prefer a gluten-free option? You can make this delicious pudding gluten-free by using 100% buckwheat flakes or quinoa flakes instead of a split with oats. There are also gluten-free porridge oats available of course, all supermarket now sell these. For buckwheat flakes, I like Big Oz, sold in health food shops.

*Why organic strawberries? Well, because strawberries are sprayed with pesticides more than the blueberries and kiwis. The Environmental Working Group (EWG) found 13 pesticides in a single strawberry.  Blueberries & kiwis were not found to be so toxic. You can read more about this not for profit organisation’s work and the other 11 foods to avoid if they ‘re not organic here.

Try it – the whole family will love this tasty summer pudding!