Have I mentioned how addicted I am to chia seeds? A far healthier addiction compared to the one discussed in my recent blog on the additives-addiction cycle, but an addiction nonetheless! I’ve spent some time thinking about these little black and white balls of goodness, to try and work out why I love them so much. Clearly my body is enjoying the nutritional value and in need of some extra omegas etc, but there’s more to my addiction than good messages about what my body’s needs.
I think it’s the awesome texture of the chia seeds after they’ve been soaking in either coconut milk or yoghurt – reminds me of when my Mum used to make me tapioca custard as a kid. We used to call the plump little tapioca balls ‘frogs eyes’! So I guess you could say the little chia seeds all juiced up from soaking are a bit like little ‘tadpole eyes’ ? 🙂
And with kidlets sometimes needing that little extra incentive to try new foods, why now throw around the words tadpole eyes and see where it gets you. It may backfire on you (ewww I’m not eating tadpole eyes!), but if they’re anything like our darling son, they’ll love the challenge of eating something weird! (Our son had a goal when travelling around Europe to try the weirdest foods possible in each country – snails, calf tongue, goose liver, cock’s testicles… you get the idea!) Anyway, my point is, with kids liking all their senses stimulated, a bit of texture, different colours, along with some bizarre associations, may just be the incentive to get them trying chia seeds 🙂
Now I may be a little slow getting on the whole chia seed craze, and I must admit, usually I am a bit skeptical of the latest fad foods throwing around that ‘superfood’ word so often, but man alive, they really are good! I could go on about the number of studies supporting their nutritional value and list all the goodness in them, but there’s enough of that info out there. Good old google can help you out if you need to know the why orwhat, or check out a few links I’ve put at the end of this blog post to get you started.
As you may be cottoning on, ultimately, I’m all about the how, so here’s a few ideas on how you can get some chia seeds into you…
6 WAYS TO EAT CHIA SEEDS
1. For breakfast
Add chia seeds to your porridge, omelette, smoothie, juice, yoghurt or cereal to boost your morning goodness intake. Or have dessert for breakfast and make a chia seed pudding – just add fresh fruit and nuts to make it look more like breakfast!
2. For snacks
For a super easy lunchbox snack, try chia seeds soaked in yoghurt (in our house this week they were soaked in five:am vanilla yoghurt) with extra good bits added. Our kids are adding organic sunflower seeds, pepitas, sultanas and almonds to theirs for school snacks. Yummo!
3. For dinner
Use them instead of rice or pasta to make a risotto (Check out The Stone Soup’s Recipe for a Chia Seed & Mushroom ‘Risotto’ ), or add chia seeds to your stir fry, vege patties, fish cakes or rissoles.
4. For dessert
What about a chocolate chia seed pudding like this one from Free People or check outAdditive Free Bites‘ recipe for lemon coconut chia seed muffins.
5. In cooking
Add them to your favourite recipes. For example, pop them into
- muffins – try adding them to my cheese mini muffins recipe,
- cookies – for example these gooey cookie dough cookies,
- energy balls – try these ones posted by Natural New Age Mum or these yummyChoc Jaffa Bliss Balls by The Whole Daily,
- muesli bars – try this muesli slice thanks to Healthy Angels,
- chocolate brownies – for example these delectable gluten free Chocolate Chilli Berry Brownies from The Whole Daily, or
- sprinkle them on top of your favourite bread or bun recipes
6. As a replacement
You can even use chia seeds as an egg replacement in baking or cooking or as a thickener in soups or gravies, as recommended by Sarah Wilson.
Ok – so you get the gist… You can add chia seeds to just about anything and boost your nutritional intake with a mere sprinkle of these little gems!
Want more recipes? Check out The Food Werewolf Website Recipes page and Pinterestboard for more ideas or click here to see what The Chia Co suggests
What’s your favourite way to get all the goodness from chia seeds? Hop onto myFacebook page or comment below to share… I’d love to try your recipes!
Haven’t tried chia seeds before? Go ahead and try them! Tasting something for the first time is always fun 🙂
Enjoy your tadpole eyes!
Loren x
PS: Want more info on the benefits of nutritious chia seeds? Here are some sources to get you started: Source 1 Source 2 Source 3 Source 4
