Without fail, regardless of the diet, I will start craving things I would normally never eat just because it is now “off limits”. I am like a teenage girl when the boy she kinda likes starts ignoring her: OBSESSED.

Which is why breakfast was the hardest meal for me while I was on the Whole 30. I like my breakfast so sweet that it could be confused with dessert. I put up with eggs for a few weeks, but towards the end I had to indulge a little. Enter my cinnamon roll chia seed pudding. A creamy, sweet pudding with a touch of cinnamon and a butter-cinnamon swirl on top. Just enough sweetness to squash any cinnamon roll craving I was having. 

If you aren’t familiar with chia seed pudding, its this the kinda funky, questionably looking, paleo-friendly dessert. Despite how it looks, it is an amazing substitute for things like yogurt, pudding, or ice cream. The chia seeds themselves just act as a thickening agent and all the flavor comes from whatever you soak them in. The resulting texture is almost exactly like pudding. 

Making it is pretty easy, too. I use almond milk as my base, but coconut milk or cows milk would work too (if you are’t paleo). To the milk I add some honey for sweetness (a mashed banana works too), vanilla, and cinnamon then mix it all together. Once all the flavors are evenly mixed into the milk, I stir in the chai seeds. That’s pretty much all there is to it! 

The pudding has to refrigerate overnight so the chia seeds can plump up and soak in all that flavor. Once it’s ready, just spoon it into a bowl and top with a little bit of ghee mixed with honey and cinnamon for that butter-cinnamon swirl that makes a cinnamon roll a cinnamon roll. 

For a little extra nutrition, I also like to top mine with some chopped pecans and blueberries. I always have frozen berries on hand, so that’s what I used. But any berry would be delicious!

How about that for a healthy cinnamon roll substitute!

Enjoy!

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