Let the Fall recipes begin! This is a great one to start with: my apple pie chia seed pudding. Diced apples tossed with cinnamon, cardamom, and a little sweetener, folded into a thick vanilla chia pudding, with walnuts on top. It tastes like apple pie filling and eats like dessert, but it is built the way every breakfast I teach is built.
It works as breakfast or as an afternoon snack. It also keeps in the fridge for a few days, so it is an easy one to make ahead.
Why This Works
Protein and fiber first. That is the foundation of everything I teach, and this recipe is a clean example of it.
The chia seeds bring fiber and healthy fats. The protein powder and the milk stack the protein. I use Fairlife whole milk here because it gives you more protein and less sugar than regular milk, but any milk you already have works. The apples add sweetness along with more fiber, which is what keeps this from behaving like a bowl of cereal in your body.
That combination is why you can eat something that tastes like pie in the morning and feel steady afterward.
High Protein Apple Pie Chia Seed Pudding
Makes 2 servings.
Ingredients
1 cup milk
1 serving vanilla protein powder
3 tablespoons chia seeds
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon cardamom
1 to 2 teaspoons sweetener of choice, I use allulose
1/2 cup finely diced apple, tossed with cinnamon, cardamom, and a little sweetener for extra flavor
Walnuts, apple slices, or an extra sprinkle of cinnamon, for topping
Instructions
Whisk the milk, protein powder, chia seeds, spices, and sweetener until smooth.
Let it sit for a few minutes so the chia seeds start to thicken, then whisk again so it does not go clumpy on you.
Stir in the spiced diced apple.
Cover and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes so the chia seeds can expand and create that pudding texture.
Top with walnuts, apple slices, or an extra sprinkle of cinnamon.
Thrive Tip
Blood sugar stability is one of the five pillars of The Thrive Method, and breakfast is where it either gets protected or wrecked for the rest of the day. A sweet breakfast is not the problem. A sweet breakfast with nothing holding it up is.
When you build the sweet thing on protein and fiber, you get the flavor you actually want without the crash that follows a muffin or a bowl of cereal. That is the whole idea behind eating this way, and it is why dessert flavors show up in my breakfasts so often.
How to Serve It
Straight from the jar, cold, for breakfast
As an afternoon snack when you want something sweet
Split between two jars so one is waiting for you later in the week
Make It Your Own
Any milk works. Almond, oat, whatever is already in your fridge.
Cinnamon protein powder is excellent here if you have it, and it does a lot of the flavor work for you.
Walnuts can become pecans.
The cardamom is optional. It is also the thing that turns this from spiced apples into something that actually tastes like apple pie, so if you have a jar of it, this is the recipe to use it on.
Lolita
