My favorite quick and easy snack at the moment. No baking, no mess, no guilt!

Chia seeds are not really a novelty anymore and I must confess to have had a love and hate relationship with these, over the years. They aren’t local for sure, not to where I live and they are tiny and tend to fall and get stuck everywhere! OK, that’s just me being clumsy and unfair.

Chia seeds have plenty of health benefits including being rich in omega-3 fatty acids, which is good for a vegan. They have proteins, calcium, magnesium and a bunch of other minerals. That’s why I bought some again recently.

There is another reason for getting back to them: I used to love making chia puddings. No cooking, barely any mess… I realized this was perfect for my current living quarters. In the AirB&B we we were renting, I didn’t feel like baking. In our new apartment, considering the unfinished kitchen and the mess, I still don’t feel like it!

So here we are, with my raspberry chia pudding ‘recipe’

Ingredients first:

• a handful of chia seeds
• almond milk or whatever you prefer
• a spoon of agave syrup. Mapple syrup works as well
• a spoon or more of shredded almonds (optional and can be replaced)
• a handful of frozen raspberries (of course fresh ones would be even better!)

The process:

While your raspberries are defrosting, pour your chai seeds in a jar and add milk. Stir, let the chia seeds soak in. Come back a while later, add milk if necessary, stir some more… repeat until the seeds have soaked everything they could possibly soak and desired consistency.

To me, at this point, the right consistency is a little more liquid than the desired end result. This allow me to add the agave syrup and most importantly the shredded almonds.

Sometimes, I don’t mix the almond to the chia seeds but rather make a bed of almond for the raspberries. Sometimes I do both.

Once happy with the texture, cover the mix with the unfrozen raspberries and enjoy!

Variations?

Of course you can skip the almonds! Or replaced by something else. The sweetener can be different too.

But to me, the main variation is usually about the dressing.

If I’m feeling fancy, I do the chia pudding in a big jar and then pour into little ones in layers. Sometimes, I even make a quick raspberries purée for one of the layer, using the ‘less good looking raspberries’ while keeping the whole raspberries for the top.

Sometimes I go crazy and add whole raspberries in one of the layers, pushing them on the side of the glass containers so they show a little when serving. And sometimes, I even use other types of berries! Yes, totally crazy I know! and delicious I must add!

Well, that wasn’t much of a recipe… as usual! Some things don’t have to be complicated to be good.

This little snack is surprisingly filling and doesn’t make me fell guilty when I have an extra spoon or 2 of it! Maybe it should, I don’t know actually?

I should also mention that it does keep in the fridge for a day or so, but I never got to a point where it stayed longer, so I can’t really say what happens after that ;-)`

Snack or dessert?

Of course, this could be your dessert!

The reason I’ve been having this as a snack is because I’ve been skipping desserts at most meals. I’m usually full after my main course and I no longer crave ‘sweet’ after a meal.