You’ve All Heard of Chia Pets, but What about Chia SEEDS!?

In honor of our 1,000th view of our blog (That you! We feel so special!), we have decided to do a joint post about a superfood we’ve all grown quite fond of recently, Chia seeds!

Here’s what you need to know about them:

• Tons of fiber, protein, and omega-3 fatty acids
• The shell of the seed does not need to be crushed in order to absorb the nutrients
• Little perceptible taste
• The same seed that gave us Chia Pets!
• Can be used as an egg replacement in vegan baking

So, you may be able to use a thousand of these seeds in each recipe and they also have a thousand uses! (Hence our 1,000 viewings post being the designated “Chia Seed” post).

We’ve each made our own chia seed puddings and used them in other things. I love how flexible these recipes are to be altered to your personal preferences. I can’t wait to experiment with some new flavors!

If you’re feeling up to it, you can also add chia seeds to water or juice. Stir and let sit for about 15 minutes and then you can just drink them up! The texture takes some getting used to, but if you like it, it’s a great way to add some more chia seeds to your day!

-Sam

The three of us have all recently tried chia pudding. It’s delicious, but there are many other uses for Chia seeds, too.

Chai Chia Pudding:

• 1/4 cup chia seeds
• 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tsp + maple syrup
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon
• pinch cardamom
• 1 cup + almond milk

To be honest, the only part of this I actually measured was the chia seeds. 1/4 cup of chia seeds was a lot for me (filled a pint ball jar). It was a bit much for me all at once, but it was certainly delicious! I definitely didn’t need much sweetener for this recipe and it tasted heavily of cinnamon.

Chia pudding before setting

Mix everything together. Stir your chia pudding about once every 10 minutes or so for the first hour. It will become thick pretty quickly. Let sit overnight. Eat for dessert, snack, breakfast tomorrow! Add more almond milk as needed. I think I ended up using well over a cup, but I started with probably only a cup. The chia seeds are able to really soak all that liquid up! You can see in the picture below how thick it becomes. Seriously fun texture to play with! (Let’s be serious…I had to play with my food this time).

Finished Chia Pudding

I adapted this recipe from Basic Chia Seed Pudding from “Choosing Raw.”

Chias in Smoothies:

Coconut Water Strawberry/Blackberry/Pineapple Smoothie

I have used chia seeds in smoothies, too. You don’t notice them at all once they are all blended up in there! I’ve used them in my simplest recipe ever.

• 1 can coconut water
• 1 tbsp chia seeds
• 1 1/2 cups frozen mixed berries

The picture above is a smoothie that looks really similar to the one in the recipe. You can obviously add chia seeds to ANY smoothie recipe. I did not find it to change the texture much, but it was also a relatively small amount of chia seeds to liquid ratio and I did blend them. It might be different if you simply add chia seeds without blending or if you add more. Let me know in the comments if you try this!

Use 1,000 chia seeds!

-Robin

1000 Chia seeds! In honor of 1000th viewing of our blog! We are so happy to have you sharing our food adventures with us. We really didn’t think we were quite so similar in our love of vegetarian, vegan, raw and low-sugar desserts when we started this. I think we’ve spurred each other to try new things, too. I find myself going back to previous posts by Robin and Sam to try their recipes and find inspiration for new ideas. All of us like to experiment and quickly change and adapt recipes to suit ourselves.

Take the Chia Seed Pudding, for example. Sam and I tried a version when eating out at Quintessence in New York City, right before seeing Kinky Boots. We loved it and Sam was the first to try it. He passed the recipe on to Robin and I, and we quickly went to work.

Plain and Simple

Simple Chia Seed Pudding

• 1 Tbsp Chia Seeds
• 1 c unsweetened soy milk
• 1 Tbsp maple syrup
• 2 tbsp raw oats

(secret: I don’t really measure anything…) I mix the chia seeds, milk, and maple syrup first. And just like Robin, I stir them frequently for the first hour. Then I add the oats, stir, and refrigerate overnight. It comes out pleasantly thick and sweet!

I eat this for breakfast, lunch or a snack (they are beginning to think I’m crazy at work). Yummy! and healthy! Who knew those strange little seeds could be so good, and good for you?

-Patty

Related articles

• Chia Seed Pudding (chicorganicmama.com)
• Ch-Ch-Ch-Chia…Seeds (fitsoulandspice.wordpress.com)
• Sweet Potato + Almond Butter + Chia Seeds (rdeliciouskitchen.wordpress.com)