Happy Saturday!
Meeting with cool clients? Check. Grocery shopping? Check. House cleaning/floor mopping? Check. Lunch with my wonderful cousin, who’s in town for the weekend? Check. Editing? Check. Plans to hang with a dear friend tonight? Check. Beautiful, sunny weather? Check.
In spite of a long week, this day has been a joy from start to finish. Not least because I got to play around with a cool new breakfast. During the week, when I’m rushing around and transporting breakfast to the office, I tend to stick to the tried and true. Raw options include fresh green juice from the juice bar near my office; avocado pudding (with or without sprouted bread); bananas with nut butter; or dehydrated buckwheat with almond milk. Cooked staples are my beloved oats or oat bran; leftover grains, reheated with nut milk; baked yams; and sprouted grain bread with nut butter. Simple, easy. (For more of my fave brekkies, check out this post).
On the weekends, when I have a more time and access to my juicer, blender, and stores of culinary creativity, I like to mix it up. I’ll often throw together a smoothie I’ve been meaning to try, a new juice combo, or something altogether new.
Today, I decided to try a blended chia pudding. I’ve shared some recipes for regular chia pudding with you all before; the idea this time was to blend the pudding, rather than leaving the chia seeds whole, which creates that tapioca effect you see below:
My game plan was simple: blend 1 oz chia seeds (this is about 3 tbsp) with 3/4 cup nutmilk and 2 tbsp of carob powder in my Vitamix. I quickly realized I was out of nutmilk, so I whipped up a hazelnut milk like so:
Hazelnut Milk (Yields at least 4 cups)
1 cup hazelnuts
4 cups water
1 tbsp coconut oil (an idea stolen from Sarma’s recipe for Brazil nut milk; helps to emulsify)
4 pitted dates
1 tsp vanilla extract
Pinch salt
Blend all ingredients on high for a minute or so. Strain through a cheesecloth or nutmilk bag, and serve. Will keep for 3-4 days in the fridge.
True to the plan, I blended 3/4 cup of my (very tasty) hazelnut milk with the chia seeds and 2 tbsp of carob (but you could also use cocoa powder). I tasted the pudding, realized it needed a bit of sweetness, and added a few drops of stevia; if you have a sweet tooth, you could add agave, dates, or raw honey to this recipe!
The result was a simple, tasty chocolate pudding. Now, I have to warn you: this is not a super-sweet indulgent treat like my chocomole. I liked it a lot, but I would describe it as “plain” — not too vibrant in flavor. You could definitely add sweetness to it, or additional chocolate flavor; you could also spike it with peppermint or orange extract. But I enjoyed the simple, nutty taste just the way it was; it was a perfect, mellow flavor profile for breakfast.
Lately, my girl Angela has been whipping up some crazy cool breakfast parfaits in all sorts of charming glassware. Inspired by her efforts, I decided to serve my pudding as a parfait, layered with slices of my fave fruit. After dusting off a wine glass — those babies don’t get much use in this non-drinker’s apartment — I came up with this:
OK. So maybe this “parfait” wasn’t quite as perfect as one of Ange’s creations:
In fact, it was a bit of a hot mess:
But hey, I tried. And it tasted great.
My favorite thing about chia seeds? Calcium! 1 oz, my friends, contains about 180 mg calcium, which is about 18% of your daily recommendation. This is especially cool for those of us who don’t rely on dairy to meet our calcium needs. Chia seeds also boast Omega-3s (which I’ve written about here) and a ton of fiber, so they’re pretty worthy all around. No wonder that, when I recently gave away a shopping spree at iHerb, so many of you wrote in to say that chia seeds would be your purchase of choice.
Guess what? You’ve got another shot at getting some for free! The kind people at Chia Seeds Direct – who are my go-to source for chia seeds — have offered one of my readers a 2 lb bag of chia seeds. These seeds are high quality, inexpensive, and shipped quickly, so it’s my pleasure to support them with this giveaway! To enter, simply do one, or all, of the following:
- Leave a comment on this post, telling me what sort of chia recipe you’re dying to try
- Tweet this giveaway, and leave a new comment to tell me you did
- If you’re not following me on Twitter yet, please do, and then leave me an additional comment to say so.
Good luck! I’ll announce the winner next Saturday, the 22nd.
On that note, I’m off to enjoy the rest of my day. Have a great night!
xo
I'm a Certified Clinical Nutritionist, a former book editor, and a post-baccalaureate pre-med student at Georgetown University. I'm passionate about helping people to discover and enjoy plant based foods in a simple and healthy way. My name is pronounced like "Jenna." 
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I’d like to try your recipe — the coconut oil is a new idea for me because I usually have my chia seeds with nut milk, raw granola and banana. So it’s time to shake things up for a bit!
As for your giveaway question…I am wondering if there are any good savory chia recipes out there. Maybe it’s too weird? Anyway, just throwing out a thought.
I tweeted your giveaway at http://twitter.com/luiyuming
I’m dying for a chia tapioca pudding – just like old school childhood days.
I am dying to try a plain chia pudding but this looks good too – I wonder if you could make a chia “bubble tea”
I would try chia pudding with coconut kefir- I just thought of it, but it sounds great!
Um, I’m going to be totally unoriginal and say this parfait looks divine. I’ve never used chia seeds before, so I’d have to do some investigating!
This is a recepie in Swedish, but you can all adore the pic of this lovely chia and mulberry pudding: http://sjusorterskaka.blogspot.com/2010/04/raw-food-utmaningen-frukost.html
The recepie in English (serves 1):
1,5-2 dl almond milk, sweetened
3 table spoons dried mulberries
2 table spoons Chia seeds
1 apple
1/2 tea spoon ground vanilla bean stalk
1 pinch cinnamon
1 pinch ground nutmeg
1. Pour the almond milk into a bowl and season with vanilla, cinnamon and nutmeg.
2. Add chia and mulberries, stir and let sit for 10-15 minutes before stirring yet again. Let rest in the fridge over night.
3. Dice the apple and spread over the pudding. Decorate with mullberries and some more cinnamon!
Oh the joy!
This is exactly the type of recipe I’ve been meaning to try. I have made my share of chia pudding but never blended the seeds after soaking. Might even try this today!!
I have been wanting to try chia seeds ever since I stumbled across your blog! I also see Angela’s delicious looking overnight nights oats and can’t wait to try them!
Im really eager to make Angela’s VOO and Banana soft serve parfait!
My friend just gifted me with a lb of chia seeds, so i’m dying to make my first chia pudding!
I just recently started experimenting with chia seeds and I love to make chia puddings! I’d love to win!
I have been dying to make overnight oats with chia seeds!
I just made this Gena — it’s ridiculously good! This may be a good one to add to the breakfast repetoir!!
I would love to make some of the vegan overnight oats recipes with chia seeds I have been seeing!
I like adding some chia seeds to my oatmeal. It gives it an interesting texture, plus lots of nutrients!
i really want to try a chia carrot cake recipe that I saw on no meat athlete. It looks really interesting and I’ve only made puddings with chia seeds before, so I’d love to try something new.
I’d definitely try the pudding out…looks delicious!
Wow, this looks amazing!! Hot messes are the best in my opinion!
I’ve never tried chia seed but I’m so enamored by how visually stunning all the chia seed puddings I see are. I would love to give one of those a shot!
(ps – hot mess? never judge a book by it’s cover!!)
i’d love to make some chia pudding! great omegas!
tweeted! @healthypurpose
I would love to try your recipe! I am always interested in creating new breakfast options and the chia seed pudding is looking tasty!
I would like to try the recipe you posted about today!
I have been adding chia seeds to my oatmeal and smoothies and LOVE the addition! I really would like to try out a pudding to see if I like it because I am very sensitive to textures…i would love to win 2lbs of chia seeds!!
Thanks for hosting the giveaway! I would love to try the pudding, for some reason I haven’t yet.
Thanks for the giveaway! I’m dying to experiment with more chia pudding concoctions!
wow. i’m not even vegan & this is something i will be making ASAP! it looks de-lish. well done!
I’d sprinkle them on a banana-date syrup-tahini mash that I make- and now I’m hungry again!
Good timing! I’m almost out of chia and could use some replenishment–my fave use for chia seeds right now is for cereal messes that I take to the office – couple kinds of cereal, chia seeds, rice milk, maybe some bee pollen, all stirred together to make a nice mushy mess.
Yum, chia seeds! I would love to win so that I can make some of that tasty tapioca-like pudding.
I definitely want to try making a blended chia pudding! What a great idea. I also like using chia seeds for my running habits
but I have never tried them the way that the cultures of Latin America used to use them: with maize masa and water as a refueling drink…crazy.
tweeted the giveaway
I want to try chia in anything (never had it) but I would love to experiment with chia pudding!
hm, I’d think I’d like to try your recipe
Actually, I’ve been meaning to make your tapioca-type chia pudding for a while now!
I would love to try any kind of Chia-Pudding!
i’ve never had chia pudding, but your blended version looks especially delicious! i would love to try my hand at making it!
I’d love to try this recipe! I’m not a huge fan of the plain chia pudding and have been meaning to try it blended like this or maybe with some cashews and dates!
And I’m following you on twitter
I just read Born to Run and I’m dying to try Chia Fresca/ Chia Iskiate.
I’ve been dying to make some chia pudding!
I’m up to trying your pudding recipe using coconut oil–I usually just add chia to oatmeal to thicken it up but your creation sounds tasty:)
I would love to make a chia fresca with the chia seeds!
I would love to try some chia pudding. It looks really good.
I’ve never tried chia seeds, but I’ve really been wanting to try them as a pudding.
I’d like to try this. I’ve not had much luck with chia recipes – getting the ratio of liquid to seed has continued to escape me despite my best efforts.
It’s good. yours looks like I could possibly make it one day!
And yes, I would love to have chia seeds to make anything and everything. twice.
Hi Gina!
I’m dying to try Raw ‘Rice Pudding’
Here’s the recipe:
4-5 tbsp chia seed
2 cups almond milk
raw honey or agave syrup to taste
Combine the ingredients to your taste. Leave the chia to soak for at least 10 minutes before consuming. You can also add other flavours like vanilla, cinnamon or cardamom.
i’ve tried chia pudding, but id love to try the blended version, as i love chocolate pudding!
I would just love to try any recipe with chia seeds. I have never had chia seeds before, but I have been very curious to try them lately as they’re all over the blogosphere.
I think I’d start with this recipe.
I’ve been out of chia seeds for a few weeks and need to get more! I just want to keep making the overnight oats from Oh She Glows blog.
I have to admit….I’m so intrigued by chia but have yet to try anything with them. Please keep writing about them! Maybe if I WIN, I will stop being afraid and do something with them!
Thanks,
Elizabeth
I want to try this pudding recipe, fo sho.
There is nothing better than a delicious hot mess. Seriously.
I once made a chia chocolate cracker recipe that I found online – it was phenomenal. I would love to give it another go or attempt some savoury chia cracker variations.
I would definitely want to try this blended recipe. I like chia seed pudding unblended, but the texture is not my favorite.
And…I am now following you on Twitter!
i’d love to try some chia seed pudding!
Chia pudding. Chia in oats! I’ve been wanting to try chia for quite a while.
I love chia pudding and I have a few chia dehydrator recipes I’d like to try. Thank you for this opportunity!
I would do a rendition of a Vietnamese dessert called che. Most che besides some type of sweetener has coconut milk, tapioca (substitute chia seeds), taro/purple yam, mung bean, sliced seaweed and even corn. Sounds like an odd combination, but it’s actually really good!
I would love an opportunity to win a bag of chia seeds because I’m dying to try out a pudding recipe from Sarma’s book Living Raw Food. I’m not a raw foodist, however, I’m very interested in learning easy raw recipes to start down the path of eating more raw/living food. I can’t wait to try out chia seeds! By the way, I really enjoy your blog. I love the pictures of the recipes you make. They look yummy!
I would love to try out your pudding from the omg, I made dessert post! P.s, I love your blog! I am a holistic nutritionist myself, and your blog is amazingly inspiring! Thanks!
I am now following you on tweet and I made a tweet about your post!
I want to try some chia pudding so badly!
Guess I can’t participate as I do not tweet.
Though if I would win Chia seeds, which I can not get where I live, I would try your pudding recipe and the chia + apple pudding and the chia seed porrige by Loulou.
Mmmm I got some “chia goodness” cereal a bit ago, it’s yummy, little bits of dried fruit and nuts in it, and spices. I need to get some plain chia seeds to try out! Sounds Yummmy!
i just adore chia pudding! Chocolate powder, stevia, and mint=heavenly!
I would love to win some chia! Thanks for the great recipes.
I would love to try chai as a savory porridge, still haven’t discovered a recipe
i am DYING to try your christmas chia pudding!
The tapioca looks so yummy! I have been hearing many so good things about chia seeds lately. I really want to try this recipe for banana soft serve vegan overnight oats from Oh She Glows:
Ingredients:
1/3 cup oats
1 cup almond milk
1 tablespoon chia seeds
1 banana, mashed
1/2 scoop Amazing Grass Amazing Meal chocolate powder (optional)
Directions: Whisk ingredients together and place in fridge overnight. In the morning, make the Banana Soft Serve.
Here is a link to the recipe:
http://ohsheglows.com/2010/05/10/how-do-you-feel-about-womens-magazines/
Chia vegetable stir fry! I’m notorious for using chia for breakfast puddings only…trying to switch it up a bit to get more use out of these fantastic little seeds is my main goal lately.
I would try your pudding….I’ve never used chia seeds so, this would be a good place to start…once I tried it by the recipe, I would get more creative and add my favourite things: bananas, avocados and cashews in various combinations.
Desperately wanting to try Vegan Overnight Oats with chia seeds…
I haven’t tried chia seeds yet, but I’m psyched to check them out b/c of all their nutritional benefits!
I would try Heather’s (of HEAB) Carrot chia juice:
“I blended 2 cups water with 1 cup carrots and 3 TBSP chia seeds in my Vita-Mix. I then put my juice in the fridge to allow it to thicken. 15 minutes later, I blended the carrot juice with a frozen banana and 7 frozen strawberries.”
Sound soooooo delicious!
I think I would try the vegan overnight oats with chia seeds – sounds yummy
Hi Gena,
Since it’s my first experience with chia, I’d just stick with making a simple pudding if I won these!
Thanks for the great giveaway,
Kelly
Hi again,
This may not count for anything, but while I’d like to follow you on twitter, my company blocks access to all social networking sites and I don’t have a home computer. However, you are one of the few blogs on my blogroll on the Minneapolis Vegan Examiner site =).
Lately, I have been grinding up seeds, like pumpkin, flax, and sesame, to use as a salad topping. I’d love to incorporate some chia seeds in my blends. Thanks, Gina!
I’d love to win me some chia! I’ve been wanting to try a chia pudding but haven’t, so if I win, I will vow to try one finally! Thanks!
katkirkwood@gmail.com
I always mean to add chia seeds to my smoothies but I keep forgetting! I definitely want to try this breakfast parfait. Yum!
I would love to try the chia pudding, it looks amazing! do you have to blend it? I need to get my hands on a Vita Mix very soon!!
Awesome giveaway! I have been making basic chia pudding for a while, but now want to try the blended version.
I also just tweeted the giveaway
I would love to try Overnight Oats with Chia seeds!!
I would be super excited to try making all kind of puddings with chia seeds… it would be fun to experiment a bit! (And with 2 lbs, I’d have plenty of seeds to experiment with!)
I sent out a tweet, too!
I love adding chia seeds to bulk up my oatmeal, but I am dying to try them in my veggie soups to thicken and creamify.
I LOVE the calcium factor as well, since I eat a very limited amount of dairy.
I am dying to create my own raw chia seed pudding recipe! I’m thinking coconut will be a major player…
I want to try a sort of chia tapioca pudding!
Mmmmm…
AND I’m now following you on Twitter!
AND Tweeted!!
And I just tweeted
I’ve been wanting to make your original chia seed pudding for awhile now. It sounds delicious!
After reading Born To Run, I’m dying to try any Chia recipe. I learned about chia seeds 1.5 yrs ago, promptly forgot about them, and then remembered after reading that book. I would dfntly add them to smoothies in the morning.
I’m almost out of chia seeds and am in desperate need of restocking! I love adding chis seeds to baked goods! They are a great fatty substance replacement for muffins
I tweeted – @rafdarrow
Yum! Love your parfait! I would love to win some chia because I really want to make a chia pudding like Heathy’s or Averie’s…and I want to make your chia breakfast..yum!
I would like to try a bread recipe with chia seeds by Kristen Suzanne. . .it sounds great! These seeds are wonderful little critters!
I LOVE chia seeds – I think I’m borderline addicted! : ) I mostly eat them in my overnight oats or as a desert in some chocolate almond milk. I’d love to try Angela’s chili where she used chia seeds to thicken the chili! Thanks for the awesome giveaway!
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