Healthy Chocolate Chia Pudding with Banana and Peanut Butter

Last weekend I got my cooking mojo back and by Friday night these beautiful baby-led weaning chia puddings were setting in my fridge. I woke up on Saturday morning, and while my husband took our boy Dylan to football, myself and Oscar took to the kitchen to get our photos. He is only just gone 3 years old and honestly, he is a little hand model! ‘You like this way Mamma?’, ‘I do this way, Mamma? Each time his little eyes, peering at me, wondering…can I have a little taste now? I probably say it a hundred times a day, but he is just so damn cute.

He has become my amazing little helper who just presumes he’s helping the moment I say I’m cooking. It really is an incredible thing to watch. I see him try foods through cooking with him that I never thought possible, just because he’s standing on a chair, by my side, stirring. He likes to be at the epicentre of everything that is going on in that bowl. He wants to add, he wants to mix and stir and most importantly, he wants to tell his Daddy he was the one who made it.

If you haven’t cooked with your little ones before, then this is a perfect recipe to start with. Firstly, there isn’t actually any cooking! I naturally sweeten the coconut milk with some bananas then add the remaining ingredients and voila … Chia Pudding (baby-led weaning safe). It really is that simple.

You have the option of adding whole or ground chia seeds. That really is up to your preference. I find with the ground ones they have a slightly bitter taste so you may need to add a teaspoon of maple syrup. Whole chia seeds are yummy too but it really is up to you and how you like it.

Chia seeds are one of my favourite additions to our diet as they really are little nutritional warriors!  They are high in fibre, an excellent source of Omega-3 and Omega-6 fatty acids and are also a great source of calcium along with many of other vitamins and minerals.

The best part about this recipe though is that it takes less than 5 minutes to prepare. I had written 3 but I thought no-one would believe me, so I gave it a generous 5 in the end. Believe me, you can get this entire dish created and in your fridge in the blink of an eye.

I hope you love this recipe as much as me and my little pro-hand model do 😀

Happy Hump Day,

Aileen & Oscar xoxoxox