Chia It Up

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I’m happy everyone was groovin on the shopping goodies and coconut milk kefir post from yesterday.  Go make it and tell me whatcha think.  I’d love to hear all about it!  And yeah, I’d love to go shopping with the rest of your retail addicts!

Just a quick recap of last night’s eats before I move on to cha-cha chia pets.  Here was a bed of greens with carrots, orange & yellow pepps, cukes & zukes, raw cashews, drizzled with balsalmic and a little EVOO.

Greens salad with chopped vegetables cashews balsamic and olive oil

Up close all dressed up

Closeup of dressed salad

The kind people at Chia Seeds Direct sent me 3 pounds of Chia Seeds.  What ever am I going to do with all of them?  I’ve got some ideas…

Bag of Chia Seeds Direct Chia Seeds 1.5 pounds

First idea is pretty straightforward…Vanilla Chia Pudding was 1/2 c of lowfat vanilla almond milk with 2 Tbsp of chia seeds and also added some NuNaturals Vanilla Stevia.  This stuff rocks my tastebuds.  Well worth the price of admission, fo’ sure!

Bottle of NuNaturals Vanilla Stevia

Here’s the 3 ingredients in a bowl.  I thought it was pretty cool when I added the chia seeds and stirred that they sort of bubbled a bit.  My own little Mount Kilimanjaro in a bowl.  The other chia seeds I have from WF never bubbled.  Maybe they were dead and that’s why I’ve had previous chia failures…

Vanilla Chia Pudding mixture in green and blue bowl

After 20 minutes on the countertop, you can see it gettin’ nice and thick

Thickend chia pudding mixture in bowl

I popped that bowl of pudding in the fridge and later on we noshed on this.  Stellar!

Next up was a Chia Seed Smoothie I whipped up in the VitaGod.  This one had 1 large nanna, 2 red delicious apples, 1 orange, 2 Tbsp chia seeds, dash of cinnamon…

Ingredients to make chia seed smoothies in blender

.and dash of NuNaturals white stevia powder.

Container of NuNaturals NuStevia Pure White Stevia Extract

Into the Vita went this…

Inside blender of ingredients to make Chia Seed Smoothie

And out came this…

Chia Seed Smoothie mixture in blender after being mixed

See those cute little seeds just waiting to be slurped up?

Side view of smoothie in blender

Now this was really freakin’ tasty.  It was really creamy tasting and considering there was not a drop of any nut milk, I give the little chia seeds big props.  Thanks Chia Seeds Direct!

Overhead of Chia Seed Smoothie in glass

How have you rocked out chia seeds?  Have I inspired you to try at anything new?   I’d love to hear how you love to use them.  Stay tuned because I have another chia creation I made that was really decadent…

One other thing I tried yesterday was some Vega Whole Health Food Optimizer in the Chocolate flavor.   Sequel Naturals was kind enough to hook me up.  Thank you!

Vegn Complete Whole Food Food Health Optimizer package
Nutritional label for Whole Food Optimizer

But, it was too gritty and a bit too dirty tasting, for lack of a better word.  I like to get as dirty as the next girl, just not in my smoothies.  I’m thinking that the berry flavor is gonna be a step up in the flava department.  I’ll keep you posted…

Chocolate Whole Foods Optimizer mixed up

They also sent me this book, The Thrive Diet, which I have been coveting!  Anyone remember my blown attempt to use my 40% off coupon at Border’s the other day?  This is one of the books that’s on my reading list and when the dust settles a bit ’round here, I can’t wait to dive in.  Karma, it’s great when it works out.

Thrive The Vegans Nutrition Guide to Optimal Performance in Sports and Life Book

Since I mentioned in yesterday’s post that I would show off my new furniture, so here ya go.  A table and 4 leather chairs from West Elm in dark chocolate.  Chocolate is my favorite food and I think it’s my new favorite look in furniture.  This was not an impulse buy in case you’re wondering.  We have not had a dining room or kitchen table in 5 years.  Yep, that’s right, we’ve been eating on the couch on our laps for 5 years.  It was high time to invest and we waited til we got here.  So worth the wait!!!  Do you like it?  Just really clean, simple, and modern.  Right up my alley.

West Elm Chocolate colored table with four chairs
One leather chair pulled slightly out from table

Yoga action.  Not gonna have quite as much room to stretch my legs out now that I have my table and chairs, but I worked it out in Astavakrasana.

Woman doing Astavakrasana yoga pose

:)
Averie

Tip of the Day: My chia seeds giveaway, of course!!!  If you haven’t entered, whatcha waitin for?  A personal invite? Ok, you got it.  Now go enter to win with 5 ways to enter!

What would you make if you had unlimited time in the kitchen…and an unlimited budget?  Ever watch the Barefoot Contessa or even Martha Stewart cook?  They use ridiculously expensive ingredients like a little truffle oil that’s probably worth $20 bucks a drizzle or $25 worth of raspberrries to garnish a cheesecake that took them a mere 6 hours to make.  Or they set out $100 worth of cheese and fruit for a gathering with one other couple.  I always wonder if anyone else thinks that’s nuts!?  What would you make if you had unlimited time and no grocery budget?

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Welcome to AverieCooks! Here you’ll find fast and easy recipes that taste amazing and are geared for real life. Nothing fussy or complicated, just awesome tasting dishes everyone loves!

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Please note: I have only made the recipe as written, and cannot give advice or predict what will happen if you change something. If you have a question regarding changing, altering, or making substitutions to the recipe, please check out the FAQ page for more info.

Comments

  1. I think this is the only non-bake dessert that I haven't made yet. But if I win the 2 pound bag of Chia Seeds it will be the first thing I do :)
    And powdered sugar has never made anything taste worse ;)

  2. A dusting of powdered sugar does make everything a bit better in the world! I had a snack and there was powdered sugar everywhere in the bag except on my food, and I had to dip a little to satisfy myself! :)