I'm up and at it this morning! It felt pretty nice being able to 'sleep in' to a ripe old 7 o'clock this morning. Truth be told, I wallowed around in the bed for another 30 minutes before I actually managed to peel myself up. It's been a busy few weeks around the Plott house between school coming to an end for the year, dance recital chaos, and a head cold that just won't quit.

Needless to say, I was ready to hit the kitchen today to whip up this tasty little number that I've had in my head for a while now. A few weeks back (maybe a month even) I tried out a new chia pudding that the little cafe/juice bar located inside my gym had started offering. It was pretty tasty and I was surprised with the actual 'pudding' like texture.

A lot of chia puddings out there have that tapioca texture. Which is just fine with me, but not always with everyone.

When I got home, I started playing around with creating my own take on the chocolate chia pudding, and managed to come up with something even more tasty and with fewer ingredients. Yep, that's right! This chia pudding only requires 5 ingredients, and really and truly does taste like any traditional chocolate pudding.

The idea of blending this all together to get a creamier texture is really pretty brilliant. Especially, if you're planning on offering this to a child or someone with a more... picky palette.

If you wanted to try getting more of a boost to protein here, you could always try swapping the milk out for a Greek or Icelandic style plain yogurt. In doing that I think this would make for a pretty awesome pre or post workout snack/treat!

 Feel free to get creative with your toppings here. Just about anything that pairs well with chocolate, will go great here too.

I added a few dark chocolate chips and a couple of fresh raspberries to top off my chocolate chia pudding, but some peanut butter or banana would taste pretty good too!

Chocolate Chia Pudding
TheSkinnyFork.com

The Skinny:
Servings: 2 • Size: About 1/2 Cup • Calories: 226.8 • Fat: 3.1 g • Carb: 45.5 g • Fiber: 8 g • Protein: 9.4 g • Sugar: 35.1 g • Sodium: 64.2 mg

Ingredients:
3/4 C. Fat Free Milk (Any other type of milk will work too.)
2 Tbsp. Chia Seeds
2 Tbsp. Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
4 Medjool Dates, Pitted
1/4 Tsp. Vanilla Extract

Directions:

Place all ingredients into a food processor or blender and puree until thick and well blended.

Serve right away and enjoy or store in the fridge to cool for up to one day.