Logojustin leatherwood

Overnight chia pudding; or, healthy crap in a jar

Recipes
food,breakfast,healthy

I was desiring a healthy breakfast to add to the mix a while back and had recently heard from someone absolutely horrified by their attempt to order the "healthy option" at our local bakery/cafe. That healthy option? Chia pudding. If you're wondering why someone was ordering chia pudding at a bakery with a cornucopia of croissants, wonderful egg dishes, biscuits and gravy, etc… available—yes, good question.

Anyways, it had been a while since I'd had a chia pud, so I decided to try making one. Upon looking for recipes however, I couldn't really find what I was looking for. Too much sugar. Too little ingredients. I wanted a loaded baked potato of a chia pudding. So, here we are.

Overnight chia pudding; or, healthy crap in a jar

This is not an exact science, hence the title—every time I make it, it's a little different. I'm sure I'm doing it wrong, and no doubt I don't have the proportions right, but hell, it hits the spot in the morning and I generally feel pretty good after I eat it. The key is just to make sure you don't have too little liquid for the chia, otherwise you're going to be like you're a kid again and you've just put a big spoonful of Floam in your mouth.

Prep time:5 minutes
Soak time:8+ hours (overnight)
Total time:8+ hours
Yield:1 serving

Ingredients

2-3 tbsp
chia seeds
1 rounded tbsp
ground flax
1 rounded tbsp
hemp seeds
2-3 tbsp
muesli/oats
2-8 good shakes
cinnamon powder
about 1 cup
soy milk (Unsweet Silk or bust!; or whatever you like, oat, almond, almond cow, goat, cashew, cat)
1/16-1/8 tsp
vanilla extract (optional)
tiny bloop
maple syrup, agave or honey (optional, to taste)
handful
frozen berries (optional, for topping)

Instructions

1.
Put dry ingredients in a 16oz mason jar with a lid (or whatever you have that's roughly that size).
2.
Put wet ingredients in the jar.
3.
Lid on the jar and shake the crap out of it. If you let the chia sit too long with liquid without mixing, it might stick to the bottom—might need to stir. If you don't break up the clumps, beware: Floam.
4.
Soak overnight in the refrigerator.
5.
Ploop in a bowl, optionally top with granola, more berries, nuts.

Notes

There you have it, healthy crap in a bowl.

Sometimes I put a few tablespoons of muesli or just rolled oats in with the seeds, to add some more texture. You can also flip the ratio and go more overnight oats, closer to 1/2 cup oats, 1TB each of the seeds, top off with milk.

Equipment needed: 16oz mason jar with a lid (or whatever you have that's roughly that size).