My goodness – this apple / pear / spinach / chia sauce has been on repeat like no other over the last few months… So much so that it’s earned itself a nickname. HULK FRUIT SAUCE. Hah! I actually have no idea how that name came to be, but the Hulk is green, so…?
I’m not sure what’s taken me so long to come up with this variation of chia pudding, but goodness gracious… Am I ever glad I finally got here. We’ve been chia pudding fans for a long time now and Grae still absolutely loves it, so make it chocolate flavoured and she’s in heaven.
Sometimes I do weird things just to see Miss G’s reaction. I don’t know…. I can’t help myself I guess. Seeing her little face light up with excitement {or crinkle up in total confusion} makes my heart happy. So today when she asked for a glass of water during her quiet play time, I surprised her with a Halloweenified glass of what she’s deemed ‘buggy water’. {Doesn’t it look sort of like a glass full of baby spiders? Yum!}
Homemade granola is somewhat of a staple in our house… Gracen and I usually made a big batch once a month or so, jar it up, and eat it as a cereal, serve it with yogurt, sprinkle it on nut butter toast, or use it as a smoothie topper.
Though it can be full of sugar and not-good-for-you fats when purchased in stores, we jam pack ours full of nutrient-rich nuts and seeds, use a good pure maple syrup to sweeten it, and include a relatively small amount of oil, so I can feel good about giving it to Grae {and eating it myself}.
While I’ve posted about our granola making adventures in the past, we’ve tweaked our recipe just a bit and I love the effects it’s been having on finished product. Normally, the one downside to healthy homemade granola is that it’s nearly impossible to make it all clustery like its store bought counterpart… That is, until you add chia (magical little seeds that they are – just look at those clusters!) Now not all of your batch will look like this obviously, but 1/3 to 1/2 of it will, which is good enough for me. ☺
Chia Granola {with clusters!}
This is a breakfast both Gracen and I love. I love it because super healthy and I can throw all of the ingredients into a mason jar before I go to bed and wake up to an already prepared breakfast. I’m sure she loves it because it’s sweet, creamy, and it feels like you’re having dessert for breakfast. And that’s okay with me. I agree!
If you haven’t yet tried chia seeds, you definitely should. They’re often called the “super seed”, and for good reason. They’re packed with essential fatty acids, fibre, calcium, and a bunch of other vitamins and minerals, plus they can absorb up to 12 times their weight in liquid. Besides using them in puddings, around here we add them to yogurt, muffins, cereal, and smoothies too. In fact, they quickly became my secret smoothie ingredient when I learned that adding a tablespoon of chia to a blender of our favourite smoothie would keep it thick and prevent it from separating (even when kept in the fridge overnight!)
But onto the recipe. Here’s what we use to make our overnight mango coconut chia pudding… Your choice of milk (coconut milk is especially delicious in this recipe), pure maple syrup, chia seeds, pure vanilla, unsweetened coconut, and a mango (not pictured because it isn’t needed until morning).
I like to make this recipe in a mason jar because it seals well and I can give the jar a little shake every now and then, but any sort of bowl or container that has a lid will do.
To get started, add your chia seeds to the milk.
Then add the coconut…
The maple syrup…
And the vanilla.
Give everything a stir…
Pop the lid on and put the jar in the fridge. If you come back to the fridge again that night, give the jar a gentle shake to prevent clumping. If not, it’s not a big deal.
Now go to sleep.
Zzzzzzzzzzzzzz….
When you wake up in the morning, retrieve your mason jar of pudding. It’ll be thick and creamy by now and will resemble the insides of a passionfruit. Grab a mango too. (Though mango / coconut is one of our favourite combinations, strawberries, bananas, and blueberries pair well with the coconut too.)
Now peel and chop up your mango into small pieces…
And add them to the jar.
Mix everything together well.
Breakfast is ready!
Miss G and I got to experimenting in the kitchen this afternoon… We had been out in the garden collecting some goodies earlier in the day, and although we’d eaten most of our finds with lunch, we had a few measly beets left over. We’d decided we’d make a smoothie, and since we regularly add spinach and kale to our blends, I figured, why not beets? The result was a BRIGHT magenta smoothie that was yummy enough for Grae to label it “pink ice cleam” and have two cups full instead of just one.
Here’s our list of ingredients: Plain organic whole milk yogurt, frozen no-sugar-added strawberries and raspberries, a ripe frozen banana, a handful of baby beets, a few teaspoons of chia seeds, and some whole organic milk.
Another must for this recipe? Supergirl and her super girl baby.
Get started by dumping your frozen berries into your blender. Closing your eyes makes for a better challenge. Nothing Supergirl can’t handle though.
Chuck in your frozen banana. Again, amp up this step by trying it with your eyes closed.
Next, add your beets in one. by. one.
And then dump your chia seeds in too.
Next, carefully add your milk. The more you can get into the blender, the better.
Lastly, add a generous scoop of yogurt.
Blend everything up until thick and bright.
Serve with a straw or a spoon. Or both.
Watch your little superhero gobble it up.
Nutrient-Rich Beet Berry Smoothie
Put everything into a blender and mix until smooth.
Enjoy!
Another perk, besides the added nutrients, to adding chia to your smoothies? They keep overnight without becoming separating and getting watery. Try it!