Ever thought of the possibility of eating dessert for breakfast? Hold on to that thought while I add on the fact that this is a supremely healthy breakfast! Infact it's a super food breakfast! That's right and it comes from the most tiny and obscure looking seeds called Chia. Ever since folks everywhere realised the power of Chia seeds, it's been an explosion in the health foods sector of all kinds of packaged Chia. But, I request all of you not to fall for any mixes and add on's, please stick to the basic Chia seeds, since any kind of mixes might have artificial sweeteners in the package.
Recently I was asked by a parent what the daily limit of Chia seeds is. The daily recommended dose is not more than 40grams per person, that's roughly a 1/4 cup of dry chia seeds. When you soak 1/4 cup dry seeds in 4 times the quantity of liquid, they triple in volume. Infact this 1/4 cup by 4 times liquid will be serving 2 persons, so that's just 20gms of chia per person in the recipe I have got here for you.
It's never good to overdo any kind of food, always go for a variety, this is for adults and kids. Infact, here's something I have noticed off late, Vegans especially are going overboard with their daily intake of nuts and which is pushing their cholesterol to dangerous limits. Desserts with 2 and 3 cups of chopped nuts is really way more than our body can consume. Secondly, very product we buy now is coming from an ultra-modern industry which tends to over-processes even the most basic table produce like salt for example. The solution here for families is to eat simple and basic and avoid any unwanted processed food. The more the ingredients listed, the more you need to worry. Try as much as possible to stick with fresh ingredients and make your food from scratch.
So here's the recipe of Peanutbutter and Chocolate Chia pudding (this one's a big hit in my home, the kids just love it). If you want to have a go at the basic Chia Pudding, then just click here. Don't forget to tag #saffronbowl in Social media and share your creations.
Ingredients
1 cup almond milk (or the milk of your preference like Soy or Camel milk)
2 tbsps unsweetened cocoa powder/ raw cocoa powder 2-3 tablespoons pure honey/ agave syrup/ sweetener of your choice 1/4 cup Chia seeds
2 heaped tbsps Peanut Butter
A few Pecan Nuts (optional)
In a medium bowl or a glass jar, mix the cold milk with the cocoa and honey and add the Chia seeds to this and mix it well (so that's 1 part Chia with 4 parts milk). Cover this with a lid and keep it overnight in the refrigerator. In the morning, give it a good stir once again and top off swirls of peanut butter and add the pecan nuts.
These is no need to heat this up, it tastes wonderful chilled. If you wish to serve this as a dessert, you can add a dash of Vanilla essence to the milk and top it with whipped cream (for those who tolerate dairy).
Incase you are allergic to nuts, here's another way to serve the Chocolate Chia Pudding (just omit the peanutbutter), top off with seasonal fresh fruit and some desiccated coconut.
