**Sponsored post in partnership with Truvia® & Healthy Aperture Blogger Network**.

Graduation gown – check, thesis paper – turned in, one last presentation is left and I will be a free woman. I just hope my professor kindly grades my paper. That has been pretty much my life lately – tell me what did I miss? What’s new in your life? Two weeks really isn’t a long time but I feel like I was gone for way too long. Hopefully I am going to stick around a lot more because I want to share all things holiday-inspired with you all until the end of the year. We will then get back to smoothies and salad in 2017. Just kidding..On that note, I am kicking this holiday-season (and National Diabetes Month) with Lightened Up Pumpkin Bread Pudding. I avoided ‘bread pudding’ all my life for no reason. I had my first ever Nutella bread pudding at Del Frisco’s and regretted not trying it sooner because it is custardy, sweet, and all things delicious.

Basic bread pudding (according to the NY Times) is made with bread, heavy cream/milk, eggs, butter and sugar but you can easily dress it up with chocolate, nuts, spices and other fruits. My

Lightened Up Pumpkin Bread Pudding is made with baguette, 2% milk (or use dairy-free milk), Truvia® Nectar, and pumpkin puree. It does cut calories (esp sugar) significantly + baking them in a single-serve ramekin helps control the portion size. I hope everyone in your family including individuals with diabetes will be able to enjoy Lightened Up Pumpkin Bread Pudding as a part of their balanced diet.

Truvia® Nectar, blended with stevia leaf extract and honey has 50% fewer calories than regular sugar and can be used as a replacement for honey, agave or other sweetener for drinks, oatmeal, yogurt, or your favorite recipes. Here is a handy conversion calculator in case you need it. Truvia® Natural Sweetener is safe and could be used for people with diabetes or if you follow low-carb diet. You can find Truvia®  at select retail stores nationwide along with other sweeteners.

You can enjoy Lightened Up Pumpkin Bread Pudding by itself but what if I told you chocolate sauce made with Truvia® Nectar makes it that much more better. I adapted this chocolate sauce recipe from David Lebovitz, which can be used for waffles, pancakes, or ice cream. I may or may not have eaten Lightened Up Pumpkin Bread Pudding for breakfast and dinner as it heats up beautifully the next day. It is not too heavy on pumpkin if you are not a pumpkin person.  Besides chocolate sauce, a dollop of whipped cream or scoop of ice cream will work beautifully here if that’s what you fancy with your Lightened Up Pumpkin Bread Pudding!

Bye now, I have a final presentation to prepare.

Lightened Up Pumpkin Bread Pudding

Author: Dixya @Food, Pleasure, and Health
Serves: 4

Ingredients

• 3 cups cubed 1″ baguette
• 3/4 cup milk (I used 2%, non-dairy or whole milk works too)
• 1/4 cup Truvia nectar
• 2 large eggs
• 1/4 cup pumpkin puree
• 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
• pinch of salt
• butter, to grease ramekins
• For the chocolate sauce:
• 1/4 cup water
• 1/4 cup Truvia
• 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/2 oz bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, finely chopped

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350F.
2. Grease ramekin dish with butter and set it aside on a large baking sheet.
3. In a medium bowl, whisk together milk, eggs, pumpkin puree, Truvia, salt, and pumpkin pie spice together.
4. Toss bread cubes into the bowl and let it soak for few minutes.
5. Divide it equally into 4 ramekin dish and bake until the custard is set for 30-35 minutes.
6. Serve it warm with chocolate sauce (or your fav topping)
7. In the meanwhile, heat water, truvia and cocoa powder in a medium saucepan.
8. Whisk the mixture frequently as it boils.
9. Remove from heat and stir in chopped chocolate until melted. Set it aside.

Notes

** you will have extra chocolate sauce for other uses.

I was asked to participate in the “#UseNectar” campaign as a member of the Healthy Aperture Blogger Network. I was compensated for my time.”