Strawberry Lemon Chia Pudding

Chia seeds have amazing health properties.

Here are just a few:

1. Important for digestive health – high in fibre

2. High in Omega 3

3. Good for your bones – high in Calcium

4. High in Manganese – another nutrient that is good for bones

5. Helps reduce belly fat – stabilizes blood sugar

6. Lowers cholesterol

Great reasons to eat chia seeds, right?

It helps that they are also simple to use.  Buy them in bulk and store in your freezer.  Now you will have them on hand to add to smoothies, dips, puddings and also your baked goods, such as muffins and cookies.

For this recipe, I began by stirring together chia seeds, shredded coconut and ground cinnamon.

The next step is to add the liquid ingredients and stir until it is well combined.  Give it a taste to see if you would like to add any sweetener.

At this time, you need to let the chia seeds swell.  That will take about an hour, maybe more. Put your bowl in the fridge and cut up the strawberries.

Add the strawberries to the pudding. You may wish to purée a small amount of the pudding to give more of a red colour.  This is completely optional.

Serve in your favourite bowl and enjoy!

Let me know what fruit you like to add to your pudding.

Thanks for reading!

Strawberry Lemon Chia Pudding

Author: Barbara Dolan

Recipe type: Dessert or Breakfast

Prep time: 10 mins

Total time: 10 mins

Serves: 4 servings

Need a quick dessert for guests stopping by? Want a delicious breakfast that you can make the night before? This tasty recipe is for you! You can easily substitute the strawberries for the fruit that you have on hand. The coconut water can be substituted with a juice of choice or water.

Ingredients

1. ½ cup chia seeds

2. ½ cup unsweetened, shredded coconut

3. 2 teaspoons cinnamon

4. pinch Himalayan salt

5. 1 cup coconut water

6. 1¾ cup coconut milk (1-400ml tin)

7. 2 teaspoons lemon rind

8. ¼ - ½ cup lemon juice, preferably freshly squeezed (1 or 2 lemons)

9. 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

10. ¼ cup maple syrup (optional)

11. 1 cup fresh strawberries, diced

Instructions

1. In a bowl, stir together the chia seeds, coconut and salt.

2. Add the coconut water, coconut milk, lemon rind, lemon juice and vanilla extract. Stir until well combined.

3. Put in the fridge for about an hour or until the chia seeds have swelled and the pudding is thick.

4. Taste the pudding and decided if you would like to add the maple syrup or sweetener of your choice.

5. Stir in the fresh strawberries.

6. At this point, you could serve as is or if you would like more red in the pudding, you could get out your hand blender and blend a bit of the pudding. Then stir the red colour gently.

7. Serve in your favourite bowls.