Chia seeds

[wifezilla]

taste pretty damn good on a flax muffin with some natural peanut butter

[Bfranke]

I posted sometime ago about the bars, wondering if anyone was using the seeds. Didn't order any then as got no posted ideas. Well, I ordered some tonight....3#!!! Read about making 'milk' with it, higher in calcium than regular milk. Quite a few other recipes. Once it gets here, I will try some things with it. I also like the idea of using it for the fat in recipes. I have the Oat Fat Replacer and Z-trim and use them all the time for baking but this will give me one more thing to use. And if it keeps me full longer, what a bonus.
Thanks for resurrecting this subject again.
Bette

[mermaid]

Great, Bette! That reminds me to order that book the guy wrote about chia seeds with a whole lot of recipes. I have to Google it to find it again. I'm also going to click on that Z-trim stuff you mentioned and see what that's all about.

[Bfranke]

Book: The Magic of Chia by Jim Sheer

I found a recipe for Chia Milk:

Chia Milk (makes full blender jar — 5 cups)
4 Tbsp. Chia seeds 2 Tbsp. Walnuts 2 Tbsp. Raw sesame tahini 2 Tbsp. Unheated, unfiltered honey dash of vanilla (optional) 5 cups water (see our webpage, How to "Make" Good Water) In a jar or glass, soak seeds and walnuts overnight in 3 cups of water. Pour into blender jar, add 1 cup of water, and turn on blender, running it at medium speed. With blender running, add tahini, honey, and vanilla, then add 1 more cup of water. Blend only until smooth.

Chia milk is rich in EFAs and protein. Because of the soaking, it is also particularly rich in enzymes. Because of chia seeds' antioxidants, it will keep well in your refrigerator. Use it within a week as a substitute for other forms of milk. (Maybe you'll decide that chia milk isn't a substitute for anything; rather, other forms of milk are a substitute for chia milk.)

and Cookies:

Chocolate Chip Cookies
2 cups Spelt Flour
1 1/2 to 2 cups Chia Gel
1 cup grated carrots, carrot pulp, or finely chopped zucchini
2 tsps Baking Powder
A pinch of Celtic Sea Salt
1/8 tsps Stevia Powder or 12 to 15 drops Liquid Stevia (concentrate).
1/4 cup raw honey (optional)
2 tsp pure vanilla
1 egg
1/2 cup coconut oil or soft butter
1 cup chopped walnuts
8 oz. Ghirardelli semi-sweet chocolate Chips or Carob Chips

Pre-heat oven 350ºF/176.6ºC. Mix flour, baking powder, Stevia powder, and salt in food processor; warm coconut oil and honey. Add to flour, eggs, and vanilla. Add veggies, chopped walnuts and chocolate chips. Mix well. Let age for 20 to 30 minutes.

Using a teaspoon, place on lightly greased cookie sheets and bake at 20 to 25 minutes or until firm.

Makes about 2 dozen cookies. Enjoy!!!

To be LC, they will both require tweaks. Also mentions adding seeds to cereal/oatmeal, soup, smoothies. Found more recipes in pdf files for banana bread, pumpkin bread, muffins. Again, will require tweaking, but soon as mine arives, I will try somethings. I can send you the pdf files if you send me your email addy...pm it to me.
HTH,
Bette

[DENMW]

Originally Posted by Lillianna

My co-workers already think I'm nuts for eating coconut oil (I have the big jar of Nutiva on my desk).....Wait 'til they hear I'm eating Chia Pets..... :-)

I have worked with my coworker for 25 years and she has seen me do some pretty strange things with my eating as you can imagine. Every time I have something new at lunch she raises her eyebrows and says "what's that?". Can't wait to see her reaction on this one.

OK, I have these little guys soaking, now what? I'll add some to yogurt, but what else do you use them in? Also, how much is this do you have a day and how long does the gel stay fresh. Do you need to refrigerate the gel?

Thanks.

[Bfranke]

Refrigerate the gel. One article says 7-10 days in the fridge. Use 1/3 cup per day. Use it in salad dressing, peanut butter, mixed with butter, mayo, in a smoothie with protein powder and fruit. Use as part of the fat in a baking recipe.

I am waiting patiently for mine. I plan to use 1 tsp dry in my morning cereal to start. From what I read, eating them raw is best, but I did find recipes where they are cooked. I also plan to make a bar for those in between munchies.

HTH,
Bette

[Bfranke]

Found this on this board:
Did I Discover the 'Secret' of Dreamfields Pasta?????
So much info...so little time!!!
Bette

[DENMW]

Thanks Bette for sharing that. Wow, between the Chia and CO I should stay pretty healthy, huh? Good for just about everything.

[Bfranke]

My Chia seeds arrived!! I have some gel getting ready for the morning...I have chia seeds soaking to make milk. My DH, who is so anti anything new, is all excited. He plans on having some chia at every meal. I plan to have a T in my Kellogg's Fiber cereal, protein pwd, an apricot and 1/2 small overripe banana in the morning. Can hardly wait to see how this goes.
I will be doing more with chia seeds as time progresses.
Bette

[Trudi]

I just found organic chia seeds online -- can't wait to try them!

[scb1988]

My natural food store doesnt have them

[mermaid]

scb1988--even if they don't carry them, most natural food stores will special order them for you if you ask.

[Bfranke]

Last night for my supper I made a protein shake....the Chia milk, strawberries, vanilla protein powder, 1 T chia seeds, 1/2 c water. Was very good.
Today, I made the Chocolate Chip Cookies w/chia and Chocolate Chia Coconut bars, and Jell-o SF Instant Chocolate Fudge Pudding w/Chia Milk.
For supper, for my DH, I made mashed potatoes and added Chia Gel.
My breakfast was Kelloggs Fiber cereal, 1/2 banana, 1 apricot, protein powder and 1 T chia seeds.
My DH had his usual oatmeal with raisins, protein powder and a couple T of Chia Gel.
We are enjoying using the Chia...my DH's Blood sugar levels are very good, and his BP seems to have come down. Do I call this a miracle drug?
Bette

[mermaid]

Sure sounds like a miracle something!

Please share your coconut chia bar recipe, Bette. That sounds delicious.

[Bfranke]

I found the base of this recipe on the web. However I tweaked!!

Bette's Chocolate Chia Coconut Bar
1/2 c coconut oil
1/3 c cocoa
1/2 c xylitol
1/3 c coconut water (can use coconut milk/cream or yogurt)
28 g chia seeds (little more than 2 T)
1 1/2 c unsweetened coconut (I used the NOW brand med coconut)
1/4 c almond meal
1/2 t vanilla extract
dash of salt
1/4 c coconut flour
30 g vanilla whey powder

First 4 ingredients---cook some in micro to dissolve xylitol. It was actually kind of like a chocolate syrup when I took it out.
Add rest of ingredients and mix well. Put in end of a jelly roll pan (11" X 15") on plastic wrap. Smooth out to make an 11" X 6" bar and refrigerate till solid.
Cut into 12 bars, approximately 3" X 1 3/4". Wrap individually, and refrigerate.
These are really good.......I could have kept eating them. And you get lots of coconut and chia, and I added protein, so should all be good for us. And they were plenty sweet.

For the ingredients I used, 12 bars, each: 190 calories, 1.14g protein, 7.47g carbs, 5.18g fiber, net 2.29 carbs

Bette

[seb]

I'm going to my local health food store today to check out chia. Very interesting, and Bette, those bars sound wonderful.

[mermaid]

Thank you Bette. This has all of my favorite goodies rolled into one. I'll make this today. I really like that it does not require baking. Woohoo!

[Bfranke]

Mermaid, I was impressed with it not requiring baking...seems somewhere I read that the uncooked chia are more healthy. Only problem with this is that I could just sit and 'nibble' and eat the whole batch! Not a good thing! But, one a day is doable...though I did eat 3 yesterday!!!
Bette

[wifezilla]

Another Chia Discovery.............

I love ground turkey, but sometimes it can be dry. I made stuffed peppers yesterday, and, noticing I had not had much fiber that day, I decided to pour some chia seeds (about 1 tsp) in with the ground turkey to boost the fiber and add some nutrients. Not only did it add fiber and nutrients, it made the ground turkey SO JUICY and REALLY TASTY! It was like a flavor booster!

I <3 Chia!

[mermaid]

Those coconut bars were very good, Bette. I do think I overate them, but I am on a maintaining break right now, so oh well. I have been throwing them into just about everything now and I noticed that I don't get tired enough to want coffee when I eat chia seeds. I was needing it every afternoon to perk up.

Yesterday I did some heavy duty barn cleaning for 3-1/2 hours. Normally I have to take several sit-downs during that time, and it makes me all out of breath and sweaty. This time my stamina was so much better. I took no breaks except to gulp water, blood sugar stayed good, I had much less sweat and no shakines. Was it the chia seeds I have been eating? I really do wonder!

Thanks for the meat tip, Wifezilla. Sounds good.

[wifezilla]

Cleaning a barn for 3 1/2 hours?? I guess I should quit whining about cleaning the cat's litter box, huh? LOLOLOL

I am thinking the chia would work well in meatloaf, too. I can't wait for my shipment to get here so I can do some more experimenting.

[seb]

I bought chia seeds yesterday and made the gel. I put it in my yocheese this morning with a dash of heavy cream (for added fat) and some SF lemon jello powder. It was like having lemon tapioca. I loved it and it was very filling.

The ground turkey idea is great. I am thinking of dozens of ways to use this and get some good omega 3s into my diet.

[DENMW]

That was quick. I just added some to my coconut bark.

Great idea about adding them to ground turkey. I bought some ground turkey breast today to make homemade turkey sausage and I was just thinking that they are a little dry. Do you think the chia gel would work better than the seeds?

[wifezilla]

Not sure Linda, I guess that would depend on how thick the gel is. If you are making sausage, I guess you could add some seeds to the meat and let it sit for a couple of hours and then check the consistency. Then you can add more chia or add water depending on what you get. That is the basic method I used to make the strawberry chia jelly....I sprinkled chia on the cut frozen strawberries and then tinkered after it sat overnight.

[mermaid]

Linda, I have noticed that it takes water or watery substances to make the seeds soft. If they are in fat such as coconut oil they stay crunchy, so your sausage may end up with crunchy seeds instead of soft ones. I would use the gel for that just to be sure, unless you would like little crunchies in there.

Edit--I just rethought that. Meat probably does contain enough moisture to soften the seeds, especially when you cook it.

[Locarb4me]

This is amazing to me. I also thought chia was a marketing term! I would like to try these since I am having issues with late-day hunger pains. Sounds like adding chia gel to some foods would deal with that.

Mermaid (Lorena) are you a member on Kimkins site or just following the plan on LCF? I would like to talk to you more about it, the way you make it work for you.

[mermaid]

LoCarb, I am also a member on the other site, but mostly hang out here. I only do KK part-time, then maintain on Atkins the rest of the time. Sure wish I could still lose weight on Atkins.

[Locarb4me]

I ordered me some chia seeds today!

Did ya'll know the white ones supposedly are better than the black ones?

[Locarb4me]

Mermaid, your cute siggy line reminds me of a sign in my living room: "I often say something I haven't thought of yet."

[mermaid]

Do tell about the white seeds...