So who's a fan of pudding? Rhetorical question! New favorite dessert: Chia Pudding. Chia seeds are full of omega-3's, calcium, help against cravings, and keep you fuller longer. Why would you not want that?! They soak up about 4x the amount of liquid around them. I put together:
1.5T chia seeds
1/2c 'milk'
Sweetener to taste (I prefer honey)
Add-ins of choice
There are endless possibilities to the variations of flavors you can do with this. By 'milk', you can use regular, almond, cashew, soy milk, or my favorite, coconut milk! You can use full fat, but I think lite coconut milk gives it the perfect texture. For added health benefits, I like to puree it with various fruit for a flavor change and avocado for creaminess. After my liquids are blended, I'll add the chia seeds and soak overnight. This really is a simple recipe, it's just one that needs a little creativity to come to life.
Toppings: To make this actually taste like a pudding, I'll add extracts or powders to make the taste stronger. If you like chocolate pudding, add cocoa powder. If you like vanilla, add vanilla extract. To healthify regular pudding flavors you can add a spoon of the fat free/sugar free boxes mix into your mixture when soaking. Whenever you want to eat this I reccommend putting it together the night before so the chia seeds can soak up all the liquid. Then you can add almost anything! I like fruit, nuts, chocolate chips/cacao nibs, nut butters, coconut, or even a little whipped cream!
A favorite of mine is cocoa powder inside topped with a spoon of almond butter, a few vegan chocolate chips, and unsweetened coconut shreds. Tastes just like an almond joy!
Let me know if you guys have any other flavor combinations to try, hope you enjoy :)