Chocolate Chia Pudding

It seems that chia may be my new obsession - and I only tried it for the first time today. Actually, it was the second time, but I'm choosing to forget my first chia experience because it was terrible. (In my opinion, there are certain places that chia doesn't belong - and kombucha is definitely one of them.)

Putting that experience behind me, I decided to give chia another try after reading about chia breakfast porridge on my friend Gretchen's blog. I winged it with my own porridge recipe (coming soon!) this morning  but will be trying hers tomorrow for the kids.

Tonight, I still couldn't get chia off my mind, and I kept thinking that it would make a pretty good pudding. Turns out that it does! Keep in mind that I haven't had any traditional type of pudding in years, so my "pretty good" is coming from a different point of view. If your kids are used to Jello pudding, this one probably won't cut it. Mine thought it was great though, and I love that they're eating something healthy and thinking it's dessert!

Chocolate Chia Pudding

Ingredients:
1 cup almond milk
3 tablespoons chia seeds
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon cocoa powder
4 fresh dates

Directions:
Mix together almond milk, chia seeds, vanilla extract and cocoa powder, and set aside to soak for at least 10 minutes (longer is fine). Pour chia mixture into a strong blender or food processor, add dates and process until very smooth. Served chilled.