S'mores Chia Pudding

Inspired by a campfire classic, this easy to make S'mores Chia Pudding is the perfect back to school snack. This conversation is sponsored by WhiteWave Foods. The opinions and text are all mine.

With the start of another school year also comes the start of another cross country season for my son. And with after school practices every afternoon and meets just about every week, I am always trying to find quick, satisfying, and energy packed snacks for my son to fuel his practices and race days and to hold him over after practice until dinner time. Being a teenager, he would rather be eating potato chips washed down by a few chugs of a sugary soft drink. ;) Determined to come up with a few snack choice compromises that we could both love, I headed to my local Kroger to shop their Natural Foods Department...

Chocolate Raspberry Chia Seed Smoothie

This creamy & healthy Chocolate Raspberry Chia Seed Smoothie only tastes like a decadent treat...

I am partnering with Hamilton Beach today to bring you all this recipe. As always, all opinions expressed below are 100% my own.

I have had a love/hate relationship with making smoothies. I love sipping on smoothies and packing them full of the good stuff. But I have often found myself hating actually having to blend them up. 

You do that first pulse of the blender just to have to take a spoon to scrape down the sides of the blender cup and scoop up what is laying on the bottom to get it all blended in and smooth & creamy. And often times I have to repeat that once or twice more. 

I know that a fancy pants high tech blender would solve my little blender conundrum, but have you all seen the price tags on some of those blender models?? Yikes! 

When Hamilton Beach approached me about giving their new Wave-Action® Blender a whirl (see what I just did there ;) ), I was all in. I mean, what did I have to lose? Besides possibly my smoothie/blender frustrations. 

And the first thing that I whipped up in my new sleek & shiny Wave Action Blender was this smooth and creamy Chocolate Raspberry Chia Seed Smoothie. 

I kind of have a thing for making smoothies that tastes just like desserts since my mean sweet tooth can often get in the way of my attempts to eat healthier. ;) This creamy and chocolaty smoothie satisfied my sweet tooth without the guilt...

Raspberry-Orange Chia Seed Scuffins

Muffins meet scones in these bright, moist, and healthy Raspberry-Orange Chia Seed Scuffins- the perfect way to start out your day...

I had never heard or seen the term scuffins before until I had stumbled upon a recipe for Strawberry Cream Scuffins from Better Homes & Gardens. Yes folks, a scuffin is just what it sounds like- a scone + a muffin = a scuffin. Sometimes I am just blown away by the creativity and cleverness I discover and find every day in the online culinary world! :) While I was definitely intrigued by BHG's concept for a scuffin, the recipe for their Strawberry Cream ones were far from being categorized as healthy. ;) Not that there is anything wrong with that, but since swimsuit season is literally knocking on the door for me (our local pool opens this weekend & I will be on a beach in about a month) I wanted to come up with my own healthier version of their scuffins.

I lightened up and brightened up their more pastry like scuffins with these Raspberry-Orange Chia Seed Scuffins. I replaced the heavy cream with almond milk & Greek yogurt, gave it a fresh, bright flavor with fresh orange and raspberries, and threw in some nutrient-packed chia seeds just for added assurance. ;) And instead of a super sugary icing for this, I used my vanilla yogurt glaze on these moist & dense scuffins...

Vanilla Bean Chia Pudding

A simple healthy recipe gets a kick of intense vanilla flavor in this Vanilla Bean Chia Pudding...

Okay, you all- I finally jumped on the chia seed bandwagon, and now I am wondering why I ever waited so long. I may have had a little bit of a prejudice against them before because all I could think of when someone mentioned chia seeds were chia pets. Do you all know what I am talking about? (And now that jingle from the television commercial is stuck in my head- Chi, chi, chi, chiaaaa... ;) )

But nevertheless I had been kind of curious about chia seeds for the past few months, but I had no clue where I would even buy them here in small town West Virginia. Then lo and behold, one day I was shopping at my local ALDI and there they were on the shelf- a bag for less than $3! I mean, what did I have to lose really? So I grabbed a bag and started asking around to my fellow food bloggers what were their favorite ways to enjoy and prepare them. Many said that they loved sprinkling them over yogurt (which is yum, by the way) or mixed into smoothies. But again and again, they mentioned chia pudding.  

The first couple of times that I tried making chia pudding I got the ratios off, and my pudding ended up more like a slurpy mess.  But this latest attempt? I nailed it! :) I decided that I want to stick to a simple chia pudding recipe, but added a kick of intense vanilla flavor. By stirring in a simple teaspoon of vanilla bean paste, this healthy and easy to make pudding becomes almost like a creamy vanilla dessert. You could also substitute a teaspoon of vanilla extract, but trust me on this- splurging a little for some good quality vanilla bean paste is so worth it for this recipe. Enjoy this Vanilla Bean Chia Pudding simply as is or feel free to top it with your favorite fruits, berries, or nuts...