i eat chia pets for breakfast

breakfast this morning included a new to me food



ch-ch-ch-chia!











yes, that chia.

i know i've heard about the benefits of chia for a few years now

and when i ate a strictly vegan diet i knew of chia's gelling properties that was excellent as an egg replacement

i, however, chose to use ground flax seed as my "gelling" agent in baked goods (still do actually)

but i knew from the interwebs and blogs that chia pudding was a thing

i was highly skeptical.  always browsing the expensive bags of chia, but afraid of commitment

afraid that this can't possibly be a delicious food and jell-o pudding replacement

until i saw trader joe's offered a smaller bag at a smaller price

and i went home with some chia.

so i did some googling




and found this here

and was basically floored that flax does nothing for you unless ground

which i usually used it ground in baked goods

but used to sprinkle the whole seed on breads, yogurt, cereal, etc

and now i find out i was getting zero benefit

whereas chia is ready to go as is

awesome.

so anyways - chia pudding

there are like 1 million recipes out there when you google chia pudding

the back of the package said to mix

1/4 Cup chia + 1 Cup liquid plus any mix-ins and sweeteners

and to refrigerate 2-3 hours or overnight

and i had this light chocolate almond milk

so i thought chocolate milk + chia = amazing chocolate pudding

with redonkulous nutritional benefits

ok, so it doesn't really look like pudding

it kind of looked like mud with seeds in it

but i was pleasantly surprised

it tastes like a less sweet (probably because my chocolate almond milk was "light") chocolate pudding with the texture of tapioca

which i like tapioca, so no big deal

the seeds do kind of stick in your teeth, so you should probably do a "selfie" on your phone for a quick teeth check before smiling at anyone

don't tell me i'm the only one who does this.

i added a banana to the mix for more texture and flavor

i'm thinking the flavor options are endless - you could make more of a jell-o using fruit juice, use plain almond/rice milk and flavor with sweeteners, fruit, honey, vanilla, etc

or just google some of the endless recipes

or just add some seeds to smoothies, oats, cereal, yogurt...etc

these were the stats MyFitnessPal reported after i entered in my recipe

Ingredients	Calories	Carbs	Fat	Protein	Sodium	Sugar
Trader Joe's - Chia Seeds, 4 Tbsp	280	4	20	12	180	0
Drink - Chocolate Soy Milk (Light Silk), 1 cup	90	15	2	3	80	14
Banana Raw - Banana, 1 banana (medium) 120 g	108	27	0	1	1	15

Total Calories = 478

Carbs = 46

Fat = 22 (good fat from the chia seeds)

Protein =16

Sodium = 261

Sugar = 29


too some 478 calories may look like a lot of calories

but i try to eat a good breakfast to ward off any snacking later in the day

and the chia pudding may not have looked like much, but i can tell you it's staved off my hunger

and kept me feeling full thanks to all that protein and bulkiness of the meal

i also ate this post workout - so i needed something filling in my tummy or i would be ravenous

i probably won't make pudding often for breakfast, but for a snack or throwing some seeds into my oatmeal or smoothies is probably where i will use them the most