I Might Never Eat Ice Cream Again

 Is there anything that a big ol' bucket of chia seeds can't do? 

I started using chia seeds a while back in place of pill-form laxatives and to bake with. (Did that even sound right???)

Anyway.

Chia seeds are awesome baked into bread, sprinkled onto sandwiches and salads, and in smoothies. Because they are also priced very reasonably, I don' think I have been without one of the big 2-lb, 9-dollar buckets for a while now.

The ones I get are
just under $9.00
for 2 pounds

But now... Oh, boy, now I've found a recipe that takes chia seeds to the next level.

I present to you something that tastes 6 million times better than my photo of it looks.

 

I'm a bad photographer!

That is chia seed pudding - or, as I call it, chia seed ice cream. Some people call it "Nice Pudding". Cute.

Listen. I got the first basic recipe from this Clean and Delicious video. I didn't have some of the stuff she had and I didn't want to make multiple flavors. This is her base recipe here and you can find variations under her video.

Original Chia Pudding Base Recipe (from Clean & Delicious):

• 1/2 cup unsweetened almond milk (or your favorite milk)
• 2 tbsp. chia seeds
• 1 tbsp. maple syrup (or your favorite sweetener)

Combine all ingredients in a wide mouth mason jar and stir well.  Refrigerate for a minimum of 4 hours and up to 5 days.  Enjoy with your favorite toppings.

Nutrients per recipe: Calories: 202; Total Fat: 9.5g; Saturated Fat: 1g; Cholesterol: 0mg; Carbohydrate: 24.4g; Fiber: 9.5g; Sugars: 11.9g; Protein: 6.5g 

I gave you hers so that you can see the nutrition label she put up. As I said, I did not have all the things she did so I went with this:

My version of the recipe:

• 1 cup liquid (which was coconut cream thinned with coconut water since that's what I had)
•  3 tbsp. chia seeds
•  1 tbsp. Specially Selected Raw Honey (from Aldi's because I was out of Nature Nate's Unfiltered)

• 1.5 tbsp. Hershey's unsweetened 100% cocao powder (don't ask me the difference right now)
• 1 tsp. Ceylon cinnamon
• A drop or 2 of vanilla extract 

Combine all ingredients in a wide mouth mason jar and shake well.  Refrigerate for a minimum overnight and eat really cold. I will even put it in the freezer for 20 minutes or so beforehand.

My photo came out horrible and I keep forgetting to get photos before I eat it up! I am going to post other people's nicer shots on this post...

I was having a weird kitchen pantry kind of day. I was going to use coconut milk for my liquid but... You're supposed to be able to get coconut milk by mixing a certain amount of water into the cream but I was too impatient to look that up. My concoction came out so yummy that I love it. It's like very cold, slightly melted chocolate ice cream.

Oatmilk or vanilla soy might be great in this but I am kind of loving the coconut cream and think I will keep that part.

The best thing about this is that I end up getting my daily serving of chia seeds even when I am tired of blending up my blueberry-chia smoothies. I love me some blueberries but, boy, I get tired of them after about a week or 2. Also, coconut cream is cheaper than blueberries and, without looking up the details, I know I read somewhere about how good cacao is for the body. 

This is so much like chocolate ice cream that I keep telling myself that I can indulge more often. I really like ice cream but rarely bother getting any because it's too many useless calories. This stuff, on the other hand...

So yeah. I just wanted to pass along that recipe. I had never heard of using chia seeds this way. In the future, I might doll things up with chocolate shavings or by adding some blueberries or strawberries as a topping. Lord knows I have a bunch of frozen blueberries. A few weeks ago, Hyvee mistakenly put 2 of those 1-pound containers of fresh strawberries in my delivery. When I called to let them know, they told me it was their mistake so not to worry. I rinsed and froze those bad boys. Now I have a way to use up some of them.

Some Tips & Recipe Variations

• My pudding ice cream does not get thick enough to scoop like some others.  This all depends on what liquid you use and how many seeds you use. I am fine with my thinner version. 
• Here are some variations and some troubleshooting tips (too thick thin, or lumpy).
• More tips on lumping issues.
• This Black Forest version might tempt some of you.
• How about meal-prepping or freezing your pudding?
• And if you want to make it a protein pudding.
• Chia pudding does not have to be sweet. Here is one recipe and here is another.

I'm going to shut this post down now. I have some chocolate pudding that's just about ready for my evening snack!

Peace

--Free