Tag Archives: chia seed

Strawberry Chia Seed Jam in the Crock-pot

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I have made strawberry jam in the crock-pot before. Using apple for the pectin to make it gel. For me that process it hit or miss, one time I used apples it set up fine the next time we ended up with strawberry syrup. Then I got some Chia seeds to use as egg substitute in baking. You mix 1 tablespoon Chia seeds in 3 tablespoon of water let it set for at least 15 minutes. The seeds absorb the water and you are left with this jello type mass to use in place of your egg.

That got my dark mind racing, ideas began to form. I think there may have been evil plotting music playing in the background. Or that might have been in my head. I asked myself, can it work? Will Chia seeds be the gel that holds my jam together?

I went to Pinterest (I go there now before heading to Google) to search this out. I discovered that yes, yes you can use Chia seeds. Once I discovered that golden gem of knowledge I began to form a recipe. I then tried that recipe out. Eureka! It worked!

 

Strawberry Chia Seed Jam

Ingredients:

4 packets of Truvia (or 6 for a sweeter jam) You can also use granulated sugar. ½ cup.

2 pints strawberries, cut in half

¼ c. lemon juice (this will help the strawberries keep their red coloring)

2 tbsp. Chia seed

In the Crock-pot add berries, lemon and Truvia. Cover and cook on high for 1 hour. Stir and mash your mixture up some. Cover and cook 1 more hour. Stir. Cook uncovered for 2 hours or until the mixture thickens/reduces down some. Stir in Chia seeds. Let set about 15 minutes. Then pour into your jars. Refrigerate and/or freeze.

Strawberries, sweetener and lemon juice in crock pot

Strawberries, sweetener and lemon juice in crock pot

I wish I could tell you exactly how much this made but it seems the day I made it and before I could put all of it into jars the husband went on a PB&J kick. I did manage to fill two 4 oz. jars and one 8 oz container before he confiscated the rest. He ate a lot of PB&J over the following days. His only complaint… he would have liked it to be a little sweeter. Next time I make the jam I will use more sweetener.

Nice and cold. oh so yummy

Nice and cold. oh so yummy

That was a month ago. I froze the 8 oz container of the jam. Today I thawed it out to see how well it held up. It was still great.

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Chia Seed Pancakes

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Yes it is true I have a new love in my life. I have fallen for Chia seeds. I use the Chia seeds to replace eggs in most of my baking recipes. This weekend I used them in my pancake mix. If you are wondering how Chia seeds affect the taste, they don’t. Your baked goods will still have the same great taste you are used to. The only thing I noticed different about my pancakes and this could be all in my head is the pancakes seem to soak up the syrup more than my usual pancakes. Still they are very tasty pancakes and more filling since Chia Seeds contain fiber.
The Chia seeds I am using now I got from Amazon. My local Ingles carries them also. I think Wal-Mart may carry sell them. You will think they are pricey (I did at first) but I use them a lot. A LOT and I have only used have a bag. They go far.

This is the basic egg replacement how-to for 1 egg:
1 tbsp chia seeds
3 tbsp water
Mix in a small bowl, let set for 15 to 20 minutes for the seeds to absorb the water and gel. I like to call it Chia Goop. You can also make the goop ahead and store in fridge for up to a few days so it is ready when you are ready to bake.

Scratch Pancake Recipe
1-1/4 cup flour
1 tbsp. coconut palm sugar (or regular sugar)
1 tbsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1 egg (replace with chia goop)
1-1/4 cup milk (more or less, depending if you like a thick or thin batter)
1 tbsp. melted butter or oil
1 tsp. vanilla extract

This is what the Chia seeds look like after they gel.

This is what the Chia seeds look like after they gel.

You can also use box mix (I use them a lot, I find the store brands are better than the name brands)
Just add 1 tbsp coconut palm sugar and the Chia goop
Even the complete mixes that don’t call for egg I still add the Chia seed goop. If you don’t want to use the Chia seed, still add an egg to the complete mixes. It just makes a better pancake batter.
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Open Sesame Chia Seed Candy

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I have been wanting to do this for awhile. I have went through tons and tons of Pins to find the perfect recipe. Is there a perfect recipe for this? I don’t know but I found the perfect recipe for me, it was more the measurement and technique I needed. I omitted and added a few things here and there.
What am I talking about?

Sesame Seed Candy!

Yes that little bitty pale unassuming seed that adorns out hamburger buns. You take that seed, work a little bit of magic, and BAM! You have a nice little candy that makes a great tasting, sorta close to healthy snack.

Here is the original Sesame Candy recipe. Below is my adapted recipe along with my account of the whole process.

Sesame Chia Seed Candy

Ingredients:

1 c. Sesame seeds
2 tbsp. Chia seeds
3-4 tbsp. honey
3 tbsp. coconut sugar

Dry roast your sesame seeds for 5-7 minutes. Pour into a bowl add the Chia seeds and mix well. Set aside. In a small pot add the sugar and honey. Bring to a boil, now simmer for 5 minutes. Stirring constantly. Add seeds. Stir. Pour onto a piece of wax paper or a silicone baking mat. Cover with another sheet of wax paper, roll candy with a rolling pin until about ½ inch thick. With a knife cut/score into 1 inch squares. Let cool. Break apart. Done!

I measured out my sesame seeds, put them in the pan to toast. I toasted mine the full 7 minutes because I wanted some of my seeds a dark brown color. After toasting I pit them and the Chia seeds in a dish. I happened to have my small pie dish close by so I used it.

Ready for toasting

Ready for toasting


Toasted Sesame seeds mixed with Chia seeds

Toasted Sesame seeds mixed with Chia seeds

The pot was on the stove to heating up while I mixed my seeds together. So the pot was hot when I started measuring out the honey. I poured my first tablespoon in and it went wild with the boiling. So I had to work fast to get all the honey and the coconut sugar in the pot, while trying to stir at the same time. FYI: have what you need in arms reach, closer if you can. I was like a crazy woman trying to do all that at once with everything I needed in different place around the kitchen.

Boiling, boiling, get that stuff a boiling.

Boiling, boiling, get that stuff a boiling.


5 minutes and a lot of stirring later I poured in my seeds and began mixing, this comes together quick. At first you think that is not going to be enough honey mixture to coat that much seed. It is plenty.
I did not have any wax paper so I used one of my new baking mats. I used another to lay over top. I also don’t have a rolling pin (mainly for the husbands safety) so I used this high tech gadget called a can of soup. Worked fine.
Ready to roll

Ready to roll


High tech rolling technique.

High tech rolling technique.


Okay as soon as I finished rolling I tried to remove the top baking mat. Nope not a good idea some of the candy mixture was coming up with it. I just stopped pulling the mat and mashed it back down over the candy. I popped the whole thing in the freezer for maybe 2 minutes. Took it out while it was still warm enough to cut. This time the top mat came up easily. Not wanting to damage the bottom mat I used a butter knife to ‘cut’ the candy into squares. I did not cut all the way through the candy.
You can see in the upper right where I tried to lift up the top mat

You can see in the upper right where I tried to lift up the top mat


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After letting the candy cool a few minutes I broke the pieces apart. Both mats had sticky stuff on them but I only had to run water over them for a few seconds and they were clean. I think I might be in love with silicone baking mats.

How did the Sesame Chia Seed candy taste? Great. Sweet with a toasted nutty taste. This is going to be my midday snack at work next week. Thanks for joining me on this Pinteresting adventure.
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Loaded Blueberry Chia Muffins

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I have several boxes of blueberry muffin mix. It was on sale the other week along with chocolate chip cookie mix. It was a GOOD sale, too good to pass up. So I got two boxes of each. The next day here comes my dad with three boxes of each. He said it was a great deal and plus he thought it would be nice for his daughter to bake him some blueberry bread. The story doesn’t end there. Later that day as my husband comes home from work he announces, “hey look what was on sale”. Yes he got two boxes of blueberry muffin mix. I open the pantry door and reply to him, “yes I know it was on sale.” He sees all the boxes, laughs and replies, “Well at least we’ll have muffins during an apocalypse.”

So three boxes of muffins later I really wanted to change them up some. I decided to bake some to freeze them for workday breakfasts. Now if I’m going to have a muffin for breakfast I want it to fill me up. I opened my cabinets to see what I could throw in with the mix. There was my new Chia seeds. I can replace the eggs with that. I spotted some walnuts, some sunflower seeds, a packet of granola and some toasted coconut. I thought to myself, ‘what the hell throw it all in.”

And I did. The result: a muffin that filled me up and tasted pretty good. I did go overboard with the sunflower seeds, the taste almost overpowered everything else. So I will cut the amount in half next time. They are small muffins, at first I thought I would need two to fill me up. No. One was plenty. Is this a muffin your kids will like? Doubt it. Is this a muffin you will like? I hope you give it a go to find out.

A little something I want to share: I think the muffins would have risen more if I had used eggs instead of Chia seeds. I did bake a loaf of blueberry bread later that week, the only thing I changed in the recipe was using Chia seeds in place of eggs. I ended up with a tasty but a much smaller loaf than usual. Something I need to investigate further.
Do you replace your eggs with Chia seeds? If so, how does it work for you?

Gotha’s Loaded Blueberry Chia Muffins

1 blueberry muffin mix (or your favorite blueberry muffin)
Chia seeds to replace 3 eggs (3 tbsp chia + 9 tbsp water, sit to side for 15 mins)
½ c. water
1/3 c. oil (I used coconut)
½ c. walnuts
1 ½ tbsp. sunflower seeds
¼ c. granola
3 tbsp. coconut flakes
Blueberries (can that came with mix)

After your chia seeds have absorbed all the water and is gel like, add the seeds, mix, water and oil to a large bowl. Mix by hand.
Add walnuts, granola, sunflower seeds and coconut flakes. Mix.
Last add your blueberries. Fold them in gently.
Fill muffin tins.
Bake 20 minutes at 400 degrees.
This made a dozen.

Don’t judge a muffin by its picture. These aren’t picture perfect muffins but they are tasty.

Add 9 tbsp. of water to 3 tbsp. of seed. Let sit for 15 minutes. Replaces 3 eggs.

Add 9 tbsp. of water to 3 tbsp. of seed. Let sit for 15 minutes. Replaces 3 eggs.

Those nutty nuts

Those nutty nuts

The muffins aren't going to rise much at all.

The muffins aren’t going to rise much at all.

The small but filling Loaded Blueberry Chia Muffin

The small but filling Loaded Blueberry Chia Muffin

 

 

 

 

 

Chia Seed Egg Substitute

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Chia Seed Egg Substitute

I had been wanting to try Chia seeds for awhile now. What was stopping me was the price. Thanks to my sister Dana and her extreme coupon ways I got a great deal on a bag of Chia seeds.

I went to Pinterest, of course, to find recipes using Chia seeds. I found a few I want to try. One pin that got my attention was how to use Chia seed to replace eggs in recipes. You can add water to the seeds wait a while and bam you have a Chia seed gel thing going on.

This easy recipe will replace 1 egg.

1 tbsp. Chia seed
3 tbsp. water

Mix in a small bowl. Set aside 15 minutes.
Done.

Painless wasn’t it?

My first bag of Chia seeds. Let the adventures begin.

My first bag of Chia seeds. Let the adventures begin.


In my fancy bowl is 3 tbsp. of seeds. This will replace 3 eggs.

In my fancy bowl is 3 tbsp. of seeds. This will replace 3 eggs.


Add 9 tbsp. of water. Let sit for 15 minutes.

Add 9 tbsp. of water. Let sit for 15 minutes.


See the gel going on?

See the gel going on?