Chia pudding not as bas as it sounds | Cabin Fever Cookbook

A few months ago I started seeing a nutritionist. I have a handful of really fun medical issues as well as several food allergies, and my doctor wanted me to try making small adjustments to the things I eat to see if that would help. The goal was to create better balanced meals and snacks while still hitting my nutritional needs.

After several sessions, my nutritionist asked if I had ever tried chia seeds. They are a good source of protein, healthy fats and vitamins, and they are really easy to incorporate into the things I would normally eat.

So I bought a bag of chia seeds and into the cabinet it went, where it’s been sitting since April.

Two weeks ago I pulled it out, googled some recipes and started experimenting.

The first thing I tried was adding seeds to my drinking water. I buy bottles of cucumber-flavored water that I swear tastes like bananas. I added 1 teaspoon of chia seeds to 16 ounces of “cucumber” water, shook it up, then let it chill in the fridge until the seeds plumped up a bit.

Drinking it is like having chunky water. They don’t add any flavor, but provide a really neat texture that makes it fun to drink, at least for me.

Chia seeds do this wonderful thing where they get slimy, but it’s a good slimy. They plump up and soak up liquid and get this gelatinous coating. If you have enough of them together in a small enough space, you end up with a chia seed pudding. The pudding will take on the flavor of whatever base liquid you use, so I recommend using something you enjoy drinking.

In my household, that means my son’s favorite plant-based drink: chocolate flavored pea milk.

The chia pudding recipe I used comes from Yumna Jawad at Feel Good Foodie. She recommends using 1 tablespoon of seeds for every 1/4 cup of plant-based milk. You mix the seeds with the milk, add sweetener, and then let it sit in the fridge for two hours. The pudding keeps for up to seven days.

When I made this with the chocolate pea milk I left out the sweetener because I thought the milk was sweet enough. It really wasn’t. When my kids asked how it was I answered that it was OK.

“You’re really writing about how this pudding is just okay?” my daughter asked me. “I feel like you need to have more enthusiasm about that.”

I drizzled honey and added fruit and whipped cream, and suddenly it transformed from being eating my milk to something that tasted like chocolate tapioca pudding.

My daughter tried some and started laughing.

“I’ve never had crunchy tapioca,” she told me. “I liked it.”

My son, on the other hand, pulled a face and lamented over the misuse of his poor pea milk.

Chia seed pudding

Recipe is from feelgoodfoodie.net.

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons of chia seeds
• 1/2 cup of plant-based milk
• Honey or sugar to taste

Directions: Pour milk into a cup or small bowl. Add chia seeds and sweetener, then stir until seeds are fully incorporated. Keep stirring to break up any clumps. Seeds should be evenly distributed throughout milk. Store in refrigerator for at least 2 hours, until seeds have expanded and liquid is gone. Pudding should have the consistency of tapioca.

Serve with whipped cream or fruit as desired.