Creamy Breakfast Chia Pudding by Amie Valpone

My journey to “Eating Clean” started over a decade ago when I was suffering from a dozen health issues and doctors couldn’t figure out what was wrong with me. After being on a cocktail of drugs and losing hope, I have learned how to heal my body from numerous illnesses including Lyme disease to Hypothyroidism and C.Diff colitis. I started my website, TheHealthyApple.com to help anyone suffering from everyday minor symptoms such as a headache and bloating to chronic illness and autoimmune disease. I soon realized I wasn’t the only person suffering and there were others out there who needed healthy recipes that didn’t taste like cardboard! I learned how to get my body working FOR me- not against me. Instead of treating symptoms, I learned how to find the underlying imbalances in my body that were making me feel sick.

My hope is that my new book, Eating Clean: The 21-Day Plan to Detox, Fight Inflammation, and Reset Your Body, helps change lives and gives you hope that you can get to the root cause of any symptom by eating and living a clean lifestyle, which means removing chemicals in our food and our environment on a daily basis so we are lowering our body burden. Something I learned for myself, that doctors didn’t tell me (and I’ve been to over 500 doctors) was that nothing changed until I started to clean up my food and my environment (personal care products, cleaning products and beauty products) because our skin is our biggest organ! I never realized how important it is to look not just at what we are putting in our bodies but also what we are putting on our bodies, as well. I also realized that I had to put my health in my own hands and be my own doctor to navigate through the world from illness to wellness and vitality!

In my new cookbook, Eating Clean: The 21-Day Plan to Detox, Fight Inflammation, and Reset Your Body, I talk about how to start cleaning up your food and your life from chemicals and toxins that are in our everyday lifestyles from our food to our cleaning products. Detox is not what you think. In this book I outline what you need to do to detox your body on a daily basis and how to eat clean to support your overall health. I want to show you that eating clean feels amazing- not because you should, but because once you see life this way, you’ll never go back. There’s not a processed cupcake I’d eat to give up for how incredible I feel and if more people realized what an important role they play in their own health, they could change the quality of their life forever.

This cookbook is filled with over 200 plant-based recipes that are free of gluten, dairy, soy, refined sugar, eggs, white flours, peanuts and other inflammatory ingredients. No xanthan gum, no binders, no fake ingredients- all pure, whole anti-inflammatory foods such as chia seeds, walnuts, ground flaxseeds and more. Here’s a fun recipe from my cookbook that can be served as a quick and easy breakfast that can be made the night before (for busy weekday mornings) or served for a lazy Sunday morning brunch. Enjoy! Xo

For a grain-free breakfast packed with anti-inflammatory omega-3 fatty acids and protein, you can’t beat chia. This makes an easy, no-cook breakfast for a weekday morning.

Ingredients:

• 1⁄4 cup Mamma Chia Organic Black Chia Seeds
• 1 1⁄2 cups water
• 2⁄3 cup raw cashews
• 6 large dates, pitted, soaked in water overnight, and drained
• 1⁄2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1⁄2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• Pinch sea salt

OPTIONAL TOPPINGS

• 1 cup fresh berries, chopped pineapple, or sliced bananas
• 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder or ground cinnamon
• Handful Amie’s Grain-Free Granola (page 121) or another granola (pages 118 and 122) or Mamma Chia Organic Chia Granola Clusters

Directions:

In a small bowl, combine the chia seeds and water; set aside until the mixture forms a gel, about 20 minutes.

Combine the cashews, dates, cinnamon, vanilla, salt, and half of the chia gel in a high-speed blender. Puree until smooth. Transfer the pureed mixture to a medium bowl and stir in the remaining chia gel. Serve immediately, topped with one or more of the optional toppings, if desired, or store in the refrigerator until ready to serve.

SERVES 4

About the author:

Amie Valpone, HHC, AADP is the Editor-in-Chief of TheHealthyApple.com; she is a Manhattan Celebrity Chef, Culinary Nutritionist, Professional Recipe Developer, Food Photographer, Writer and Motivational Speaker specializing in simple gluten-free, soy-free and dairy-free ‘Clean Eating’ recipes.  Amie recently healed herself from a decade of chronic pain including Lyme Disease, Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome, Hypothyroidism, Adrenal Fatigue, Leaky Gut, Heavy Metals and much more exhausting thousands of doctors in the country and Mayo Clinic; she shares her story of how Clean Eating  and Detox saved her life and inspires you to Clean up your food, too.  Amie lives in Manhattan, NYC where she cooks for a variety of clients including celebrities and people with busy lifestyles who enjoy healthy, organic, whole foods. Amie’s work appears on Martha Stewart, ABC News, Fox News Health, WebMD, The Huffington Post, The Food Network, Glamour Magazine, Clean Eating Magazine, SELF Magazine, Prevention Magazine, PBS and many others. Visit Amie on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Google Plus and Pinterest @TheHealthyApple. Amie’s first cookbook, ‘Eating Clean: The 21-Day Plan to Detox, Fight Inflammation & Reset Your Body’ will be in stores nationwide March 8, 2016.