I am feeling soooo incredibly proud today!!  Proud of Husband for completing his first 10K race ever!!  So proud of his drive, motivation and overall awesomeness for working so hard, sticking with running and really proud of him for entering a race and putting himself out there.  I know it’s not easy to do that so I am absolutely beaming with pride for him!!  Well done hubs!!

10K Completed!! Way to go Hubs!!

As a special after race treat, I prepped up some delicious chocolate chia pudding last night so I could make some lovely chia pudding parfaits today for him.  He always jokes that he will be an awesome old person because he loves the texture of old people’s food…puddings in particular.  This chia pudding is remotely healthy and is made with uber simple ingredients.  You can eat the pudding on its own…which is delicious or you can kick it up in to a fancy schmancy parfait to really showcase your wicked awesome skills.

Okay so here is what you do!  Whisk together all the ingredients for the pudding in a bowl.  Whisk the hell outta that bad boy!!  The lion even helped me and he whisked like a boss!!

Add some almond milk to the Chia Seeds

Other ingredients such as cocoa powder

This is what it looks like once it’s completely stirred.

Place the pudding in the fridge overnight or for at least 3 hours.  You need this time for the magical chia seeds to do their thang!

If you aren’t familiar with Chia seeds or have never used them before..do not be afraid.  Chia seeds are actually one of those super foods that some might think are just super trendy but they actually live up to their name and have massive nutritional value!!  Not just used for entertainment purposes for your Jerry Gar-Chia pet.  Chia seeds are tiny black seeds (you can also find white ones now) that pack a huge punch!  Chia is apparently the ancient mayan word for ‘Strength’ and the seeds back in the day were considered an important food source because they provided sustainable energy.  These little buddies are pretty bland on their own so that leaves the possibility of adding them to many different things a massive bonus! Add them to smoothies, yogurt, sauces to thicken them, sprinkled on oatmeal…choose your own adventure and get down with your healthy self!!  These little guys are loaded with fiber, protein, healthy fats, Zinc, Vitamin B1, B2 and B3 and they are loaded with antioxidents!  There is really nothing bad I can say about them.  Some people are deterred by the price of them because at first, a package looks expensive but considering how little you use on any given dish and their ability to go a long way…they are pretty affordable.

Chia Seeds

Here is what the pudding looks like the next day…GLORIOUS and super thick compared to the liquid the night before!!  See, it’s like David Copperfield came over last night, decided not to wake you up with his creepiness and just made magic healthy pudding happen and then POOF…he disappeared.  You still got your pudding so don’t think too much about it.

Its thickened up quite a bit

Get some glasses and add a few spoonfuls of the pudding to the glasses.  Next add granola and chopped bananas.  *I used peanut butter granola because who the heck doesn’t love chocolate peanut butter together??  Strawberries are not in season so I opted for bananas as the chopped fruit aspect.  Oh yeah!!

Look at these beauties!!

YUM!

Chocolate Chia Parfaits
With Peanut Butter Granola and Bananas

Chocolate Chia Pudding Parfait

Ingredients

• 4 Tbsp of chia seeds
• 1.5 cups of vanilla almond milk (or any other non dairy or dairy milk if you prefer)
• 1/2 tsp vanilla bean paste (or vanilla extract)
• 2 Tbsp of of Maple Syrup
• 1 heaping tsp of unsweetened cocoa powder

*Whatever you want to use in your parfait layers (granola, fresh fruit, seeds, coconut)

Directions

1. Whisk all ingredients for your pudding together in a bowl until its completely mixed together.
2. Place in fridge overnight to thicken up and set.
3. Once pudding is set, place a few spoonfuls in a glass, then add granola/fruit/crumbled cookies, then more pudding…repeat until you have reached the top of the glass.

You can prepare these in advance and place in your fridge so you can just pull them out when you are ready to serve which makes these a great dessert to serve when you have company over…nothing to prepare while your guests are in the house.  woot!!

Hubs loved these lil bad boys and it was the perfect ‘some what’ healthy treat after a massive accomplishment of a 10K run!!!  The lion gobbled this bad boy up too…just not with the granola…he likes one texture at a time so a parfait seems to be his worst nightmare…just pudding for this kid.  Ya win some, ya lose some…no big deal!

Hope you enjoy these tasty and moody little parfaits you fine people!!

xo