(Healthy) Strawberry & Chocolate Chia Pudding

I've been wanting to try chia pudding for so long now - I think I've had this mango coconut chia pudding bookmarked for two years - but for some reason I've never gotten around to it.  Lately I've been craving dessert much more, likely because the days feel longer, I've been staying up later, and thus need more food to sustain me, so I've been trying to find healthy desserts that still satisfy a craving.  So when I saw Dietitian Debbie's beautiful layered chocolate and strawberry chia pudding recently I decided to give it a try!

I feel like chia seeds are everywhere lately, but if you haven't heard of this little superfood before, it's basically a tiny seed that's packed with nutrition, including lots of fiber, omega-3 fatty acids, calcium, other vitamins, minerals, and antioxidantst, and even protein!

And because they can absorb somewhere around 10-12 times their weight (I've seen various numbers floating around) and take on a sort of gel-like consistency when they do so, they're great for making healthy pudding (though of course, you can use them in many other ways, too)!

The version I came up with is different than the original idea, but this pudding is still really easy to make.  Both the chocolate and strawberry portions contain unsweetened vanilla almond milk, chia seeds, and pure maple syrup for sweetener, then the chocolate version has added cocoa powder while the strawberry version contains fresh strawberries and a little vanilla extract.

I also used Oh My Veggies' idea to blend the chia pudding after to give it a smoother texture, but you can leave out this step if you like.  I topped mine with more strawberries and sliced almonds for crunch, but you could use chocolate chips, coconut flakes, or anything else you like!

The only difficult part about this recipe is waiting for the pudding to set.  It's best to leave it overnight, but otherwise plan for at least 4-6 hours to let the chia seeds work their magic and turn this into pudding!

This makes a perfect light summer treat that satisfies a dessert craving but leaves you feeling good, and it would also totally be appropriate for breakfast!  Ryan was skeptical about the whole idea but after trying it, he said he could eat it every day, so I'd say it was a big success!

Strawberry & Chocolate Chia Pudding

Note: The idea for this recipe was inspired by Dietitian Debbie; ingredient amounts were adapted from All Recipes

Serves 4 (servings are on the smaller side)

Ingredients:

For the Strawberry Layer:

1 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk (or your choice of milk)

8oz (half a package) fresh strawberries, chopped

1/4 cup chia seeds

2 tablespoons pure maple syrup

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the Chocolate Layer:

1-1/4 cups unsweetened vanilla almond milk (or your choice of milk)

1/4 cup chia seeds

2 tablespoons pure maple syrup

2 tablespoons cocoa powder

For Topping:

8oz sliced strawberries

Optional: Slivered almonds, chocolate chips, coconut flakes (I used almonds)

Directions:

To prepare strawberry pudding, blend almond milk and strawberries in a blender until smooth.  Transfer to a bowl or container and stir in chia seeds, maple syrup, and vanilla until well combined.  Cover and keep in refrigerator overnight or until set, at least 4 hours.

To prepare chocolate pudding, stir together the almond milk, chia seeds, maple syrup, and cocoa powder, and also store in the fridge along with the strawberry pudding.

When ready, the mixtures should have a more gel-like consistency.  If you like you can serve the pudding as is, but if you want a smoother consistency where you won’t notice the chia seeds as much, transfer each mixture to the blender separately (cleaning in between) and puree until smooth.

To prepare pudding, layer chocolate and strawberry puddings in glasses or bowls with sliced strawberries and almonds in between each layer and on top.  If you like you could also top with chocolate chips and/or coconut flakes and an extra drizzle of maple syrup or honey of it’s not sweet enough for your tastes.

Asian-Inspired Mandarin Quinoa Salad

I don’t know if it’s the call of summertime (and bikinis) or just the longer hours of daylight available in a day, but over the past month I’ve started fitting a lot more exercise into my schedule.  I’d only just started getting into fitness in January but started off pretty slowly so I didn’t overdo anything (I have a bad knee that likes to act up a lot), but when new fitness classes became available in May, my sister and I started trying out a bunch and so far we've kept it up!

I’ve discovered a love for Zumba (my favourite of all classes; I am hopeless when it comes to the more salsa-esque moves but it is still so fun!) and yoga, along with a love/hate relationship with bootcamp style classes, which are so hard but also so effective!  And tonight I’m going to try my first AquaZumba class (basically Zumba in the water), which should be interesting!

All this exercise not only has me craving healthy food more, but also needing quick dinners that can be waiting for me in the fridge when I get home later than normal and am starving! I especially love quinoa salads for this purpose because they keep well in the fridge, are full of protein, and can be customized to endless flavour combinations!

I’ve been wanting to try an Asian flavoured quinoa for a while, and when I started thinking of ingredients to include in one, I remembered this mandarin chicken salad I made a while ago and loved.  So I decided to incorporate many of those same ingredients into a quinoa salad – I kept the red pepper, carrot, edamame, and mandarin oranges, added green onion, almonds, and orange juice in the dressing, and left out the chicken because there was already plenty of protein in this salad from the quinoa, edamame, and almonds (though you could certainly add chicken if you like!).

This was so fresh and every bite was full of flavour, with a wide range of textures from the crunchy red peppers to juicy oranges and buttery soft edamame.  Regardless of whether I can keep up my fitness motivation or not, I know I’ll still be making this quinoa many more times this summer!

Asian-Inspired Mandarin Quinoa Salad

Makes 2-3 main dish servings or around 6 side dish servings

Ingredients:

For the Quinoa:

1 cup uncooked quinoa (I used golden & black mix)

1 cup vegetable broth, optional

1 cup shelled frozen edamame

1 red bell pepper, chopped

1 to 1.5 mandarin oranges, peeled and chopped

2 large carrots, grated

2 green onions, chopped

1/4 cup sliced almonds, toasted if desired (I was too lazy but almonds are usually better toasted!)

For the Dressing:

2 tablespoons fresh mandarin orange juice (squeezed from about half a mandarin)

2 tablespoons rice vinegar

2 tablespoons sesame oil

1/2 teaspoon chili garlic sauce (optional for a bit of spice)

1-1/2 teaspoons honey (use agave or brown sugar to make this dish vegan)

2 teaspoons soy sauce

1 garlic clove, minced

Dash each of salt and pepper

Directions:

Bring 1 cup water and 1 cup vegetable broth to a boil in a medium saucepan.  Add quinoa, cover, and reduce heat to simmer for 15 minutes.  Remove from heat and let sit, covered, for 5 minutes, then remove lid and fluff with a fork.  Let quinoa cool.  (Note that the vegetable broth is optional to add a little extra flavour; if you choose not to use it then use 2 cups water total instead)

Meanwhile, cook edamame according to package directions - I added my edamame beans to 1 cup of boiling water, let them simmer for 3-4 minutes, then drained and rinsed them.  Also whisk together all ingredients for the dressing in a small bowl and set aside.

Once quinoa has cooled to room temperature, combine quinoa, edamame, red pepper, oranges, carrots, green onions, and almonds in a large bowl.  Pour dressing overtop and mix to combine.  Serve at room temperature or chilled.

Chocolate Cherry Almond Breakfast Quinoa

First off, sorry for the lack of blog activity lately!  I brought my laptop (aka my only computer) in to get fixed the other day because it was heating up a lot and the fan was always running so loudly that I couldn't even bring it to meetings anymore.  I thought it would be a quick fix and I'd get it back at the end of the day, but it turns out it's in much worse shape than I thought and it had to be sent away for up to two weeks!  I tried not to overreact too much when they told me that, but for a person who is on their laptop pretty much every single second of the day and depends on it for everything, it's hard to see it taken apart into little pieces and sent away, and to be left with no computer!  Luckily I was able to get a backup of what was on there today so I can steal Ryan's computer for a bit to write up a quick blog post so you guys don't think I forgot about you!

Because I can only type at a fraction of my normal speed on an unfamiliar keyboard, I thought today would be a good day to share a quick and easy recipe.  And since I just shared five ways to use quinoa in a healthy summer salad, I thought it would be fun to follow that up with a healthy, summery way to eat quinoa for breakfast!

Breakfast quinoa is kind of like oatmeal, but with more protein and less mushiness.  Cooking the quinoa in vanilla almond milk gives it a sweet and nutty flavour, and it's very hands-off so you can easily prepare it on a weekday morning while you're getting ready for work.  Combine it with fresh cherries, crunchy almonds, and a tiny bit of dark chocolate chips to add the perfect bit of sweetness, and you have a pretty amazing breakfast!

Chocolate Cherry Almond Breakfast Quinoa

Recipe by Once Upon a Cutting Board

Serves 1

Ingredients:

1/2 cup vanilla almond milk (or unsweetened milk + sweetener of choice)

1/4 cup quinoa, rinsed

1/2 cup pitted quartered cherries

2 tablespoons sliced or slivered almonds

1 tablespoon dark chocolate chips

Directions:

Bring milk to a boil in a small saucepan.  Add quinoa, cover, reduce to a low simmer, and cook 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, toast almonds in a dry skillet over medium heat until golden brown and fragrant, which should only take a few minutes.

Remove quinoa from heat, keep covered, and let sit 5 minutes, until milk is absorbed. If you are using unsweetened milk, you may wish to add a bit of sweetener at this point (to taste, you could use agave, honey, or brown sugar), then recover and let sit 5 minutes.

Add cherries, almonds, and chocolate chips to the quinoa, stir, and serve warm.

No-Bake Peanut Butter Lentil Granola Bars

Yep, you read that right, there are lentils in these granola bars - but don't turn away just yet, I promise that they're amazing!

Canadian Lentils is holding a recipe contest for Canadian bloggers; to enter, you have to create a new and unique recipe using lentils. A few years ago, I thought that lentils were a strange, gross food that only health nuts like my sister ate. Of course, I had never actually tried them, and once I did, my opinion changed completely. Not only are lentils delicious, but they're incredibly versatile, very easy to prepare, and really good for you!

I love eating lentils in the usual dishes like curries, dals, and soups, but for this contest I wanted to use lentils in a dish that wouldn't typically have them. Since I've also been wanting to make my own granola bars for quite a while now, I decided to see if I could kill two birds with one stone by trying my hand at granola bars for the first time AND incorporating lentils into them!

I decided to make peanut butter granola bars because I love peanut butter, then I threw in some dates for sweetness and almonds for crunch, along with a touch of honey and vanilla for flavour.

I had no idea if lentils would taste good in granola bars and I was worried that because I wasn't working from an existing recipe, they would turn out with a strange texture or taste. Well, I was wrong - they turned out so much better than I could have expected! The first time I made them, they were a little too much on the soft side, so I increased the oats the next time and they were perfect. I would eat these over store-bought granola bars any day!

The peanut butter is definitely the predominant flavour in these, but you also get just the right amount of sweetness and crunch from the add-ins. These are a soft granola bar, but they're still sturdy enough to hold up as a bar. I love the soft and chewy texture of these because it makes them so different from the dried-out, hard granola bars I often get from the store.

You can't even taste the lentils in them either - I tried giving one to an unsuspecting taste-tester and she couldn't tell there were lentils in them, even after I told her they're in there. But even though you don't taste them, you still get to enjoy knowing you're getting all the benefits of lentils, including fiber, protein, and lots of other good things!

The best part about these is how easy they are to make! Other than the cooking time required for the lentils (which isn't long and is hands-off), all you have to do is mix a few things in a bowl, press the mixture in a pan, and that's it! For just a little work (and not much money either), you can get a big batch of healthy granola bars to eat throughout the week!

I liked these so much that I made a new batch as soon as I'd finished eating the first one, and I have a feeling I'll keep doing so for a while! I haven't experimented much with other add-ins yet, but I think there's a lot you could do with this recipe to make it suit your tastes!
Back to the Canadian Lentils Recipe contest I'm entering these granola bars in, part of the judging criteria is how much of a response the post elicits from readers, so if you like the sounds of this recipe, leave a comment below - tell me about your favourite lentil recipes, granola bar recipes, or anything you want! I'd love to hear from you and you'd help me out in the contest! If you're too shy to leave a comment, you can also head over to the Canadian Lentils Facebook Page and 'like' my post on their wall - and while you're there, you can also check out all the other delicious entries in the contest!

No-Bake Peanut Butter Lentil Granola Bars

Makes 10 granola bars

Ingredients:

1/2 cup dried red lentils
1-3/4 cups rolled oats
1/2 cup peanut butter (or other nut butter, such as almond butter)
1/2 cup finely chopped dates (or other dried fruit, such as cranberries or raisins)
1/4 cup chopped almonds (or other nut, such as pecans or peanuts)
1 tablespoon honey (or other sweetener, such as agave or maple syrup)
1 teaspoon vanilla

Directions:

Pick through lentils to remove any debris, then place in a fine mesh strainer and rinse thoroughly in cold running water. Transfer to a medium saucepan and add 1 to 1-1/2 cups water. Bring to a boil, then cover and simmer for about 20 minutes, until the water has absorbed and lentils are cooked through. Transfer lentils to a bowl and mash with a fork (they may already be slightly mushy as red lentils don’t hold their shape as well when cooked). Let cool slightly.

Add oats, peanut butter, dates, almonds, honey, and vanilla to the bowl. Mix thoroughly until well combined (you may find it easier to use your hands). If you like sweeter granola bars, you may wish to taste the mixture and add more sweetener if desired.

Line an 8x8 square baking pan with parchment paper. Transfer lentil mixture to the pan and press with your hands into an even layer. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes, then slice into bars (cut in half, then cut each half into 5 bars). Keep bars wrapped in the refrigerator.