tasty, easy recipe: Chia Seed Pudding

Getting there, but not ready yet.

I first had Chia Seed Pudding at a restaurant in Philly. It was yummy, but probably not worth the price tag. However, chia seeds are amazing for you, and I have a huge sweet tooth, so I wanted to look into it more. If I could easily make something that satisfied my need for sweet, without making me feel guilty, that would be a huge win.

Thankfully Chia Seed Pudding is the easiest to make, and endlessly customizable. The seeds do all the work really.

Here's the gist: Grab a container that's easy to cover and dump a bunch of chia seeds in there. Add liquid and flavor and let sit. That's it, really!

Here's what I did more specifically. Traditionally I think CSP is made with coconut milk, but I didn't have any so I used a combination of greek yogurt (to bump up the protein even more, and add flavor) and milk. I think I used about a cup of chia seeds, a cup of greek yogurt (lemon flavor), a heavy splash of my homemade vanilla extract, then topped it off with milk until it was thin enough and there was enough liquid for the chia seeds to absorb (maybe a cup and a half?). Give it a good stir, pop on the lid, and stick it in the fridge overnight.

Amazing...

At the same time, I grabbed a little over cup of the frozen berries I have stashed in my freezer, stuck them in a bowl and sprinkled them with a half teaspoon or so of coconut sugar, and another super healthy splash of my vanilla extract. I stuck the bowl in the fridge to defrost overnight while the chia seeds worked their magic. 

The next morning I dumped the berries and all the juices that had been released into our magic bullet, and pulsed until they were completely broken up into a sauce of sorts. My measurements above, gave me about 2 servings of pudding, so I put half right into the bowl I defrosted the fruit in, and topped with half the sauce, then put the other half of the sauce over the rest of the pudding in the jar, and stuck it back in the fridge for the next day.

I recommend doing overnight in the fridge to let the chia seeds really soften, but as long as you do at least 2 hours, you should be fine. The second helping was still great on the second day too. I'm making another batch now with vanilla, coconut yogurt, so we'll see how that one turns out!

Easy, delicious, and pretty guilt free as far as snacks go!