Chia Pudding

This is one of my go-to recipes for a quick and healthy breakfast or snack. It’s easy to make and can be topped with a wide variety of things - any fruit (fresh or warmed frozen fruit), cocoa powder (stirred in), nut butter, nuts, seeds, granola, etc etc. It’s also a great make-ahead meal for the next few days. Chia seeds are considered a superfood for good reason - they’re high in omega-3 fatty acids, fiber, calcium, magnesium and iron.

You can make chia pudding with any milk. I always make it with homemade cashew milk that I pour over the chia seeds directly from the blender. (A high speed blender is helpful for this.) Note that if you mix the chia seeds with slightly warmed milk (like the homemade cashew milk), they will absorb liquid faster than if it is cold.

The one “trick” to making chia pudding is to stir it pretty often during the first few minutes so the chia seeds don’t clump. Once your pudding starts to thicken, it’s unlikely to clump.

For homemade cashew milk, the general proportion is 1 cup water to 1/4 cup raw cashews. Add some sea salt and blend for a minute of so. Because it’s being used in chia pudding in this case, there’s wiggle room in the proportions.

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Chia Pudding

Notes: You can easily scale this recipe up or down as long as you keep the ratio of 3 tablespoons whole chia seeds to 1 cup milk. I often make this with 15 tablespoons chia seeds and 5 cups milk (in two jars).

Raw cashews for cashew milk (1/2 cup-ish)
6 tablespoons whole chia seeds
Sea salt
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 tablespoons maple syrup

Measure your chia seeds into a large mason jar.

Fill the blender with about 1 3/4 cup water, pour in raw cashews until you reach 2 cups, and sprinkle in a little sea salt. Blend it up.

Pour the milk over the chia seeds and stir right away. Come back and stir again several times over the first 3-5 minutes so the chia seeds don’t clump. Once the pudding starts to thicken, you don’t have to worry about clumping. Add a pinch of sea salt as well as the vanilla extract and the maple syrup, and stir well to incorporate. The pudding needs to sit for at least about 20 minutes before it’s ready to serve.

Favorite toppings:

• Warmed frozen cherries & cocoa powder (stirred in)

• Banana slices, chocolate chips, peanut butter & hemp seeds

• Warmed frozen blueberries and fresh peach and a scoop of almond butter

Store chia pudding in the fridge. Enjoy!

Peanut Butter Energy Balls with Buckwheat, Chia Seeds & Dark Chocolate

Snacks have a high bar as far as I’m concerned. They need to offer some healthy fat, fiber and protein, and they need to be compact, easy to eat, low in sugar, and satiating. A successful snack keeps you powered for a few hours without heading for the cupboard where all the chips and popcorn are stored before dinner. Snacks are also where cravings often show up, which is why chocolate and peanut butter are used here.

This recipe is written for natural peanut butter, ie. peanut butter that contains only roasted peanuts and sea salt. Please don’t buy the other stuff - it’s full of refined sugar and hydrogenated oils. If you’re craving more sweetness, you can always add a bit more honey.

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Peanut Butter Energy Balls with Buckwheat & Dark Chocolate

7/8 cup toasted buckwheat groats
2 tablespoons chia seeds (whole)
1 cup natural salted peanut butter (I generally use creamy)
3 tablespoons raw honey
Pinch of fine grain sea salt
3 oz dark chocolate, chopped

Combine the buckwheat, chia seeds, peanut butter, honey and sea salt and stir well. Incorporate the chopped chocolate until it’s well distributed. To form each ball, press the mixture together with your hands to firm it up, then gently roll into a ball. Theoretically, these store in the fridge for quite some time, but they won’t last long at all.

Dark Chocolate Hazelnut Butter

Chocolate and hazelnuts are a classic combination, and for good reason. This spread is my homemade version of the commercial varieties that are available in stores. If you have a food processor, this is very easy to make. We often eat it on bananas, as well as straight from the jar when an afternoon pick-me-up is needed.

Cacao vs Cocoa

I use a lot of cacao powder in my kitchen for this spread, for chocolate cherry chia pudding, for chocolate cake on birthdays, for port balls, for hot chocolate mix, and even for chili. You’ve probably noticed that sometimes it’s called “cacao” and sometimes it’s called “cocoa',” and while there isn’t one hard-and-fast rule for when each word is used in food marketing, generally speaking “cacao” refers to raw beans / powder while “cocoa” refers to roasted beans / powder. Raw cacao is less processed and full of antioxidants. When cacao beans are roasted and further processed, those benefits are reduced. If you'd like to read more, there are good overviews here and here.

Long story short, if cacao / cocoa is frequently used in your kitchen, it’s worth finding a high quality one that’s tasty, raw, organic and fair trade. I use this brand and I store a big bag of it in the bottom of the fridge and refill a small glass jar that lives in the cupboard for everyday use.

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Dark Chocolate Hazelnut Butter

Special equipment:
Food processor

2 cups raw hazelnuts
1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons coconut sugar
1/2 cup unsweetened cacao powder (see headnote for more on cacao and cocoa)
1/4 cup virgin coconut oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Pinch of sea salt

Preheat oven to 325 degrees, place the raw hazelnuts on a rimmed baking sheet and roast for 15-20 minutes, depending on your oven. As soon as the nuts smell toasty and fragrant, it’s time to pull them out. Let the hazelnuts cool on the baking sheet.

Place all the ingredients into your food processor and blend. Adjust with more coconut sugar if you’d like things a bit sweeter.

This will store in a 16 oz jar in the fridge for a couple weeks. Note that, similar to other nut butters, it will firm up in the refrigerator.

Makes 2 cups