raw vegan desserts: chocolate chia pudding

Hello friends! As I write this I am drinking a refreshing green juice and thinking about my adventures this year as the countdown is on until I'm in foggy Londontown with my beloved sister and brother-in-law. For now though, I'm all about getting my health in order so that I am in a good place to travel. In my last blog post I wrote about my travels to Shark Bay and the things I did to travel well. One of those things was to take a packed lunch with me on my flight to Perth. Did you know you can take your own food on an airplane?! Most people don't!

In my lunch bag of goodies I packed some celery and cucumber sticks, a couple of kiwi fruits, a quinoa salad and a chocolate chia pudding. In my suitcase I also took some dry organic food supplies with me, like quinoa, kale chips, peppermint tea, raw chocolate and a Loving Earth Luvju! Soooo yummy!

My quinoa salad was a throw-everything-in-my-fridge-together type salad. For a quinoa salad with an abundance of greens see my recipe here but for a more spontaneous quinoa salad add chopped greens, non-sweet fruits like capsicum, cucumber and tomato, spring onion, celery, nuts/seeds and dried fruit in with your cooked or sprouted quinoa, and mix together with some cold-pressed olive oil, lemon juice or apple cider vinegar, sea salt and cayenne pepper. This is my fallback salad plan, and it hits the easy, delicious and nutritious spot, every time!

Now,.. here is my chocolate chia pudding for you all! You can read up about chia seeds here and here; chia seeds are not only a complete source of protein but also an excellent source of dietary fibre, omega 3 fatty acids as well as vitamins and minerals such as calcium, manganese and phosphorus. You can eat chia puddings for breakfast or as a dessert or afternoon snack - pretty much for any meal of the day or whenever you need to satisfy a craving for something sweet.

chocolate chia pudding

1 cup almond milk

1 frozen banana, peeled

1 Tbs raw cacao powder (caffeine-free: raw carob powder)

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp natural sweetener (coconut nectar, pure maple syrup, yacon syrup) or 1 medjool date - optional

1/4 cup chia seeds

Handful of berries (dried, fresh, frozen)

Handful of dried shredded coconut

Blend the almond milk with the banana, cacao/carob, cinnamon and the natural sweetener (this is an optional ingredient as the banana adds sweetness). Mix together well with the chia seeds, berries and coconut, and let the pudding set in the fridge for 30 minutes to 3 hours before eating. Garnish as you desire. Enjoy!