Chocolate Peanut Butter Chia Pudding

I've been enjoying chia seed pudding for a while now.  I had been using chia seeds sparingly in dessert recipes only prior to that.  I was a little skeptical over using them as a main ingredient in a dish.  If you haven't used them before, when you soak chia seeds in water they soften, plump up (similar to flax seeds) and turn into a gel.  They make a great egg substitute or thickener in many whole food recipes.  Finally, one day I decided to go all in and make the chia seed pudding many of my blogging friends were making.  It's simple!  Soak 2/3 cup of chia seeds in 2 cups of unsweetened almond milk.  Stir every 5 minutes for about 30 minutes and you've got chia seed pudding.  It's about the texture of tapioca, and growing up that was my kind of pudding.  I was ecstatic after my first bite of chia seed pudding!  I like to flavor with a little stevia and vanilla extract.  Yum!  You can also stir in a bit of cocoa powder to make it chocolate chia seed pudding.

Okay, so now that you know my basic chia pudding recipe, let me fast forward a couple years later to my favorite chia pudding of today.  I've been eating this quite often lately, a few days a week, ever since Trader Joe's started carrying organic raw Valencia peanut butter again.  I call this Chocolate Peanut Butter Chia Pudding.  If you have picky husbands or children, just leave the word "chia" out of the name and they won't ever have to know it's a healthy dessert!


Chocolate Peanut Butter Chia Pudding
Makes 2 Servings

3 Tbsp organic non-GMO black chia seeds (I like Nutiva brand)
1 cup unsweetened almond milk
1-2 Tbsp organic raw Valencia peanut butter (to taste)
1-2 Tbsp pure cocoa powder (to taste)
Stevia (to taste)
1/2 scoop protein powder (optional)

1.)  In a clean spice grinder, grind the chia seeds into a powder.  (This step is optional.  I alternate the way I prepare the chia seeds.  Sometimes I grind them first, sometimes I leave them whole and wait a little longer for them to gel up. Both ways are delicious!  Grinding allows them to gel up within minutes, so you can eat the pudding right away after blending.)

2.)  Add almond milk and chia seed powder into blender.  Blend on High for about 15 seconds, until smooth.

3.)  Add all other ingredients to blender.  Blend until smooth.  (Add more almond milk if too thick.)  Transfer to serving dishes and enjoy.  Will last in fridge for 3-4 days.