This week I decided to change up my breakfast game a bit. I’ve been eating porridge for breakfast for so long, which has been a perfect habit for winter, but I thought it might be time to try something new. This coincided with me getting a health assessment at work where it was recommended that I bring more varied things into my diet, and try new things. I was more than happy to oblige and give something new a go, after all life can get pretty boring if you don’t switch it up every once in a while. The idea is that when you have porridge with milk every day, you aren’t getting as much nutrients as if you were to swap out some of the porridge for some nuts, seeds or fruits. So I thought it was high time I started experimenting.
While my parents were down on the weekend, we went to this great café where I had chia pudding. It was really delicious, and I loved all the fruit that they packed into it. While we were eating, mum was telling me how easy it is to make chia pudding at home, and I know she’s made it for dessert in the past due to its pudding like consistency. So when I was thinking of what to make, inspiration struck. I mean, what is more exciting than pudding for breakfast? Well, healthy pudding isn’t quite as exciting as self-saucing pudding, but we can’t have it all, right?
The great thing about chia puddings is that you can literally put anything you want in them. No matter what you have lying around, or what is on sale at the grocery store, you can chuck it in. It is an incredibly low maintenance dish, and you can change it up each time you make it! What’s more, you don’t even need to cook it, so it is actually super easy to make. Who doesn’t love a low maintenance breakfast? I love having things on hand that you can just grab out of the fridge on the run, and not have to worry about messing about.
I found strawberries on sale at my local grocery store and decided that this would make a great addition to my chia pudding. Berries in general I find really lend themselves to this breakfast, although banana goes really well too! But you can really put in whatever you want, I just figured I would share my recipe based on what I made, but you can really customize it however you want.
- 3 tablespoons of chia seeds
- 1 cup of almond milk you could use coconut milk
- 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon of cinnamon
- 1-2 punnets of strawberries
- 3 spoons of coconut flakes
- 2 teaspoons of cacao nibs
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Chop up your strawberries into thin slices, and prepare 3 jars and set aside.
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In a medium bowl, combine the chia seeds, almond milk, vanilla extract and cinnamon. Stir to combine, ensuring the cinnamon is evenly distributed throughout the mixture.
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Layer half of the strawberries in the bottom of each jar. Add equal amounts of the chia seed mixture to each jar until there is none left. Top with the remaining strawberries.
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Place the lids on the jars and put in the fridge overnight. This will give them enough time to soak up the milk.
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To serve, top each jar with coconut and cacao nibs on the day.
And that’s really all there is to it! I told you it was simple. For something that seems like it will be complicated, it was one of the simplest breakfasts I’ve ever prepared. I think because it is a health craze, I always thought it was going to be harder to make. But for once something that is healthy actually doesn’t require a million ingredients, so it is a winner in my book!
This dish made for an awesome breakfast during the week, and really cut down on my time in the kitchen of a morning. Even though porridge is easy to make, you still have to cook it, so having a cook free breakfast was a winner in my book!
The flavour from the cinnamon and vanilla makes the chia pudding taste delicious, and surprisingly sweet. You can also add sugar if you want, but I didn’t think it needed it once you had the strawberries in there. It was healthy, simple and tasty, what more could you want? Plus you feel like your sort of eating dessert (well, a healthy version) so that’s always a nice way to start your day!
Until next time, happy eating!
Ella xx