Frozen Chia Parfait

I tried chia seeds for the first time a few weeks ago when I bought a bag down in Charlottesville. Since then I've eaten them in chia gel, oatmeal, smoothies, salads and yogurt. They are high in fiber, protein and omega-3s and provide a nice crunch (when not soaked in liquid). Yesterday I came across a chia parfait on Alex' blog and couldn't wait to try it. This morning after the gym I made my parfait and I was surprised at how delicious it was - a lot better than I'd even imagined.

Its easy to make - stir 2 tablespoons of chia seeds into 1/2 cup liquid (I used Silk Pure Coconut coconut milk) and let gel in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes (I checked on it after 15 minutes and gave it another stir to distribute the seeds again). The chia seeds and liquid will create a pudding consistency that's perfect for parfaits (did you know that "parfait" means perfect in French?). Just layer it with your fruit and you have a refreshing parfait that's full of nutrients to fuel you for the day.

In my parfait I used:

• 2 tbsp chia seeds
• 1/2 cup coconut milk
• sliced frozen bananas, frozen mango, frozen cherries and frozen berries (blueberries, raspberries and blackberries)
• garnished with unsweetened organic shredded coconut

Start off with your fruit:

Then add a layer of chia "pudding" and more fruit:

Keep layering until complete and garnish with some coconut flakes.

Chia seeds are tasteless so they take on the taste of whatever they're mixed with (similar to tofu). This really tasted like coconut pudding! The frozen fruit made the pudding start to freeze, so it took on a frozen yogurt quality. Not only did this taste great and was refreshing, but it was satisfying and kept me full a lot longer than many other breakfast foods. 

Just 4 days until the Wallis Sands Half Marathon! Workouts this week have been:

Monday

-10 minute elliptical warm up

-Misc weights (biceps, shoulders, triceps, abs)

-45 minutes on stationary bike

Tuesday

-3.5 mile run

Wednesday

-10 minute treadmill warm up

-Chest and triceps weights, with some abs thrown in

-Quick treadmill cardio (5 minutes walking briskly followed by 10 minutes of 2 minute run/walk intervals)

-1 mile run

-1 mile run

*Today I only had short windows of time to work out, so I did weights and a little bit on the treadmill before work, then ran a quick mile during my lunch break, and ran another quick mile after work. On days when I don't have a chunk of time I like doing a few short workouts because then I feel like I still accomplished something, and there's the added bonus of speeding up my metabolism several times throughout the day.

Do you eat chia seeds? Have any other fun recipes to try?

What's your favorite workout when pressed for time?