Chocolate Chia Pudding

I bought my first "superfood"  this week:  Chia Seeds.  Chia seeds have more omega-3 than any other plant source, and are loaded with antioxidants, calcium, protein, and fiber.  

Two things influenced my purchase:  David Wolfe's lecture in my weekly podcasts from my class at IIN inspired my interest in superfoods in general, and at last month's FBLA meeting Dorothy Reinhold of Shockingly Delicious made a raw strawberry chia jam that was absolutely befitting the title of her blog.  Lo and behold, there it was in front of me this week at COSTCO!  The bag was not cheap, at about fifteen bucks, but I'm told the bag will last forever.  In this recipe I used only two tablespoons of chia seed, so I'm guessing that's true.

I wanted to start out with a simple, easy recipe.  I've heard chia makes a great pudding, so I adapted a recipe from food.com to try it out.  I modified the recipe by using soy milk instead of almond milk.  In future I'd like to try adding a bit of cardamom to compliment the cinnamon and cocoa in the pudding.  The final product tasted great and had the right gelatinous mouth-feel consistency.  I just kept thinking this would make a great dessert at a Halloween bash, as the pudding had a purplish-gray tinge reminiscent of brains.  I'll have to look into adding a food coloring next time.

Chocolate Chia Pudding

Yield:  2 Cups

2 c Vanilla Soy Milk

4 Tbsps Chia Seeds

2 tsps Cocoa Powder
1/2 tsp Cinnamon
1 Tbsp Maple Syrup (to taste)

Using a whisk, mix all ingredients together.  Refrigerate, checking back to mix a second time to avoid clumps.  Refrigerate overnight or at least four hours before serving.