Chia Fresca

First off, thanks Tim for the recipe! I love getting them from readers! Tim found this recipe in Born to Run (no, not the Springsteen song), a book about the Tarahumara Indians of Mexico’s deadly Copper Canyons, who have eaten chia seeds for years “to place them among the elite runners of the developed world, even though their society and technology are 500 years behind it” (I’ve been meaning to read this for a while, and now I have even more reason to do so!)

Chia Fresca

Total Time: about 15 minutes
Serving Size: about 6 cups
Ingredients:
1-1.5 cups chia seeds
1 cup sugar
7.5 oz. lime juice
1.5 qt. water (approx.)

1. Boil a couple cups of water and add the sugar to make a simple syrup.
2. In 2-qt. container add the simple syrup, seeds, and lime juice.
3. Stir or shake.
4. Top off with water and keep stirring mixture.
5. Serve cold and keep refrigerated.

Note from Tim:

I’ve noticed that the seeds may clump together if they are not thoroughly stirred.  If most of the seeds are floating, stir.  I use a 2-qt. container with a lid that can be secured so that I can shake it up until the seeds sink.  This stuff just goes down so smooth and it’s so simple to make.  Will last at least 2 weeks in the fridge.  The lime juice I normally get comes in 15-oz. bottles and I use half of the bottle.  Add more or less to taste.  Have fun with it!

Chia Gel Recipe and Chia Pancakes

Thanks to Facebook commenter Lori for the tip on this great video from Rene Oswald on making chia gel out of chia seeds! This gel can be incorporated into just about any recipe!

Also found this great video for making yummy pancakes with Mila!

Chia News and Chia Clinical Study

Just thought I’d let you all know about Chia seeds in the news:

1. Time Magazine Article: Feed Your Cells and Keep Them Young (Feb 11, 2010) all about the anti-aging benefits of a high Omega-3 diet (Mila Chia Seeds have 8 times more Omega-3s/gram than Atlantic farmed or wild salmon)!
2. New Clinical Study on LifeMax Mila Chia Seeds and Lowered Cholesterol from the University of Texas Health Science Center.
3. A Mercury News mention of Chia Seeds with a pretty funny ending (3/29/2010).

My mom and I are hosting a LifeMax Mila Chia party at our house this weekend and we’re making some recipes. Can’t wait!

Mango Chia Smoothie

Mango Chia Smoothie

Substitute any fruit for a delicious chia seed fruit smoothie.

Total Time: About 1 – 1/2 hours
Serving Size: 2
Ingredients:
- 2 tbsp Mila chia seeds
- 2 cups water
- 3 tbsp agave nectar or raw honey
- 2 cups frozen mango chunks
- 1/2 tsp lucuma powder

Directions
- Blend everything in a powerful blender for at least 2 minutes.

Found on Joanna Steven’s Blog.

Mila Chia Seeds Update

Hi, everyone! Sorry I’ve been MIA. I’m actually in the process of moving right now and I’ve been slacking on keeping up the website. I’ll be sure to add more recipes within the coming week.

In the meanwhile, I have been adding the Mila chia seeds into just about everything:

- mixing them into my sun-dried tomato creamcheese to put on a bagel
- adding it to salad dressing before topping a salad
- putting it into starbucks parfaits
- adding it into iced chai lattes
- putting it into cream of wheat and oatmeal
- mixing it with cilantro chutney to put on samosas (seriously…it goes well in EVERYTHING).

I took a few days off when I was on vacation (forgot to bring it with me, woops!) and again during my big office move (I’m moving, my office just moved, I’m telling you it’s been busy!), but I’m back on track now and can say that I’ve definitely been sleeping sounder these days. Additionally, it looks like some of the stiffness I felt in my back is finally gone. I can’t say for sure that this was the Mila chia seeds’ doing, but considering I’ve also been skipping out on swimming lately, it must have had a hand in this.

Either way, I’ll keep you posted and add more recipes soon!

-Sophia

LifeMax Mila Chia Seeds Review

As promised, here is a review my friend, Sean-Michael sent me after taking chia seeds for a few months:

I’ve been a vegetarian for about 10 years and in that time I have tried desperately to make myself enjoy the tablespoon full of flax oil that I knew I needed to swallow every day in order to make sure that I was getting all my essential fatty acids. But it tastes like dirt. buttery dirt on a good day…Luckily, last autumn my mother handed me a bowl of yogurt speckled with fresh fruit and what looked like gooey sesame seeds. They were actually chia seeds and they were about to change my life.

My mother said she’d heard about the seeds from a friend who was always jumping on the next healthy lifestyle bandwagon. She offered me a bag of seeds to take home and try on my own and I dubiously accepted. After several hours of googling and reading I decided that the seeds seemed like a legitimate source of nutrition, and most importantly to me at the time, I could use them in lieu of flax. Score.

You see, chia gel tastes like a very mild fresh morning dew or a subdued cucumber. Not only did it taste great by the spoonful, it was also extremely easy to incorporate into other foods. I put it in pudding like it was tapioca, I put it in my yogurt like it was granola, heck, I even added it to my peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.

So after consuming all these seeds, I honestly didn’t expect much to change. Then one day my friend told me that he’d noticed my rapidly thinning and receding hairline was making a comeback. I thought that was just wishful thinking on my part when I’d been looking in the mirror but after a few more weeks and some photo timeline evidence, I realized it was true.

Next, I read about the high amounts of protein that chia seeds make easily absorbable to your body after a workout so I started mixing the chia seed gel into my water bottle that I took to the gym. A few weeks later, three people all told me in the same week that it looked like my muscles were getting bigger.

I am officially hooked on chia seeds. They taste good, nourish my body, and make me feel great. They are not a fad, they are a life changer.

Hopefully I can report similarly great results as my chia seeds experiment continues!

LifeMax Chia Experiment – Days #1 & #2

So I finally got my LifeMax Mila chia seeds in the mail yesterday and have incorporated them into my daily food routine. Yesterday I had a really yummy salad from Primo Patio and mixed a scoop of chia into the salad dressing. Today I added a scoop to my morning oatmeal (yes, it comes with a scoop…I’m loving this stuff!). I’ve tried other brands of chia seeds and I have to say that the LifeMax Mila chia seeds really are flavorless. True, there is a granular sort of texture to them, but you don’t really feel it anymore once you mix it with something anyway.

To recap, days #1 and #2: integration success.

Oh! And my friend Sean-Michael sent me a really amazing review of his experience with chia seeds so I’ll be posting it soon in the Chia Reviews section! Stay tuned!

Chia Whole Wheat Pizza Dough

Chia Whole Wheat Pizza Dough

Add any topping for a delicious pizza!

Total Time: About 1 – 1/2 hours
Serving Size: Depending on how many slices a 12″ pizza gives you.
Ingredients:
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 scoop Mila chia seeds placed in a 1/2 cup measure, then filled with whole wheat flour level to top
2/3 cup very warm water
1 envelope (8 gram or 2 1/4 tsp) Fleischmann’s quick-rising yeast
1 Tbsp. cornmeal
2 tsp olive oil
2 tsp honey
1/2 tsp salt
Olive oil cooking spray

1. In a medium bowl, combine flours, Mila chia seeds, yeast and salt. Mix well.
2. Measure very warm water in measuring cup, then stir in olive oil and honey.
3. Pour over dry ingredients and mix using a wooden spoon to form a ball.
4. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface.  Knead for 2 minutes.
5. Spray bowl with oil spray and place dough inside, adding another quick spray on top of dough.
6. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place until double in size, about 20 mins.
7. Spray a 12-inch pizza pan with spray oil and dust with cornmeal.
8. Once dough has risen, turn out onto the pizza pan and flatten to fit the bottom and up the sides of pan.  A quick spray on top will stop your hands from sticking to the dough.
9. Top with sauce, toppings and cheese, as desired.
10. Bake in a 425 degrees F oven for about 15 minutes.  Cut and serve hot.

Found on LifeMax Mila Website

Turkey Chia Soup

Turkey Chia Soup

Perfect for crock pot cooks!

Total Time: 7 hours (set it and forget it!)
Serving Size: Quite a few people, or enough for lots of leftovers!
Ingredients:
1 1/2 lb. turkey tenderloin
26 oz. cream of chicken condensed soup
13 oz. water
2 cups chopped celery
1 1/2 chopped yellow onions
3/4 lb. chopped red potatoes
4-5 scoops Mila chia seeds
1 chopped sweet yellow pepper
1 chopped sweet red pepper
2 tbsp of minced garlic
2 tbsp ground peppercorn medley
Salt and pepper to taste

1. Place in crock pot on low for 7 hours.
2. After the 5th hour use 2 forks and pull the tenderloin apart and stir.

Found on LifeMax Mila Website

Sweet Basil and Pine Nut Chia Pesto Fettucini

Sweet Basil and Pine Nut Chia Pesto Fettucini

Total Time: 20 minutes
Serving Size: 2
Ingredients:
2 cups basil leaves (stems removed) tightly packed
¼ cup cold pressed extra-virgin olive oil
2 cloves garlic crushed
1 Tablespoon Mila chia seeds mixed with ¼ cup water to make chia gel
¼ + ⅛ teaspoons salt
¼ cup raw pine nuts
1 Roma tomato seeded, and diced for topping
2 zucchinis

1. Place the basil, olive oil, garlic, chia seed gel, and salt into a food processor fitted with the “S” blade and process until the basil is chopped. Add the pine nuts and process until smooth. Do not over process; you should still see specks of the white pine nuts throughout. Pesto will keep for five days in a sealed container in the refrigerator.
2. Use mandolin or vegetable peeler to slice lengthwise zucchini into thin strips, then stack and cut them into thin “noodles” with a knife.
3. Toss the Pesto with the noodles and top with diced tomatoes.

Found on LifeMax Mila Website from Diane and Michael and The Vibrant Kitchen©