20 Ways To Eat Chia Seeds Without Even Noticing

For some odd reason, chia seeds elicit a negative response in people who have never tried them. It's somewhere on a scale of, "You mean 'ch-ch-ch-Chia?!" and a mashed up face of disgust. Don't ask me why this is the knee-jerk response to these little miracle seeds of which have zero taste and a satisfying crunch. So I'm going to make it easy for you if your initial reaction to the thought of trying chia seeds is fear and/or disgust. Here is a list of 20 things you can put chia seeds into and not even notice you're eating them.

1. Chili
2. Oatmeal (yummy recipe here!)
3. Smoothies (some smoothie ideas here)
4. Green Salads
5. Other Salads (tuna, chicken, egg, potato)
6. Mac and cheese
7. On Top of Pizza
8. Guacamole (add a couple tablespoons to this recipe!)
9. PB&Js (your kiddos will never know)
10. Omelets
11. Salsas and Dips (Add it to hummus to go to a new level of healthy!)
12. Casseroles
13. Yogurt Parfaits (if you're really daring, add them to this quinoa parfait!)
14. Jambalaya
15. Coleslaw
16. Marinades (Salmon, anyone?)
17. Soups
18. Apple sauce
19. Rice Dishes
20. Tacos

I promise, you will love chia seeds. They give you a noticeable amount of energy and cleanse your digestive tract. Give em' a chance! 

Protein Packed Breakfast Bowl

Mmmm. Breakfast. My favorite meal. Breakfast for breakfast is amazing enough, but breakfast for lunch or dinner... Unbeatable. While I really enjoy a good waffle or fat-laden omelet from time to time, during the week, I try to come up with food combinations that will keep me fueled all day and help repair my muscles from working out (not to mention the muscle pains that come from chasing and lifting a very healthy-sized two year old boy).

I recently stumbled upon this snack on Pinterest and it inspired me to turn it into a breakfast bowl by adding an egg and omitting a couple of other ingredients. I had it for breakfast this morning and (I promise) I have been filled with energy all day and have not had any potato chip/Oreo/peanut butter out of the jar cravings. Not to mention, this healthy, delicious, filling breakfast takes less than 10 minutes to put together.

Ingredients

• 1 large egg
• 1/2 avocado, sliced
• 1/2 C low fat cottage cheese
• 1/2 C chopped tomatoes
• Freshly ground pepper to taste
• Cayenne pepper to taste (optional. I personally like almost every food to be spicy)

Directions

1. Scramble egg to desired consistency, adding pepper and cayenne pepper if desired.
2. Combine all ingredients in a bowl. 
3. Sprinkle on more black pepper, if desired.

Three DIY Ways to Perfect Your Skin

When I was a teenager, I had perfect skin. Perfect. During the time when most of my peers were dealing with blemishes and acne, I didn't have to worry about it. (Sidebar: I had plenty of other awkward things going on, don't you worry.) Now, as an adult, I've had my share of skin troubles. Giant zits, often prominently showing on my chin, by my nose, or between my eyebrows (two brows make a nice frame for a zit!) as well as breakouts. I've tried so many face washes and acne treatments and none of them did anything. The only option was to cover them with foundation, which is fine because I really like makeup. But I have longed for that just-woke-up-and-my-face-is-naked-and-dewy-and-refreshed look for a long time.

So what did I do? I listened to the advice of friends and Pinterest, and I tried some more natural ways. What do I have to lose, anyway? 

The first thing I tried was tea tree oil as a spot treatment for acne. This one's easy. Get a bottle of tea tree oil (they sell it almost everywhere), wash your face, dip a q-tip into the tea tree oil, dab the tea tree oil onto your obnoxious little blemish(es). Done.

Here is good article on other ways to use tea tree oil
on your face. (Photo credit to this link.)

The next thing I tried was using raw honey as a face wash. My neighbor had been using it for a couple of weeks and her skin looks divine. So the proof is in the raw honey, apparently.

More on how to go about washing your face
with raw honey (and photo credit) here.

Finally, another friend (who also has an impeccable complexion) steered me in the direction of coconut oil for face washing and moisturizing... She's been using it for a while, but I finally hopped on the coconut oil bandwagon. I know, I know. I'm not on the cusp of the coconut oil trend. It's everywhere. Who knew that coconuts were the miracle cure to everything from hangovers (coconut water has a ton of essential electrolytes!) to teeth whitening (check out oil pulling! I've done it a few times and have whiter teeth and I've managed to put a halt to my chronic congestion that I've suffered from for years!).

More detailed description and photo credit here.

All you do to wash your face with coconut oil is take less than a teaspoon, smear it on your face, put a hot, damp wash cloth over your face for a few seconds to let the pores open up and take in the sweet, island-scented nectar, and wipe clean with the wash cloth. Boom. Done. I promise, if you do one or all of these made-it-in-my-kitchen beauty tricks, you will see a significant difference in your skin. And, added bonus, you will always smell of honey and coconuts!

Chocolate Mousse Smoothie

A few weeks ago, we had some friends over for dinner and so our two-year old kids could run around and wear each other down. I made my new favorite, spaghetti squash pad Thai and our friends brought dessert. A chocolate mousse made with avocados. It was amazing. Since then, I've been eating a similar smoothie version of this decadent, good-for-you dessert!

Ingredients

• 1/2 avocado 
• 1/2-1 banana 
• 2 T cocoa powder
• 1 T chia seeds
• 1 C plain almond milk
• 2-3 ice cubes
• 1 T creamy peanut butter
• 1 T raw honey

Directions

1. Combine in a blender and blend until smooth. Obviously. (Sometimes I feel like an idiot when I blog. Example: Of course readers know that you're going to blend in a blender. And of course they know to blend until smooth since it's called a smoothie. Jeesh, Chels).

Quinoa Stuffed Acorn Squash

As you might have noticed, I have been obsessed with squash this season. To be honest, I've been obsessed with squash for...? Since I can remember. I'm a big fan of just cooking them with butter and brown sugar and letting the squash do the rest (because honestly, that's all you need to do to make them extraordinary). But I'm learning that there's a billion other ways to make really satisfying, tasty, and beautiful meals out of squash. I've also been sharing my squash cooking adventures on my blog! Spaghetti squash pad Thai! Butternut squash stuffed with breakfast sausage! And tonight, acorn squash stuffed with quinoa.

Ingredients

• 2 acorn squash, cut in half
• 1 C quinoa 
• 1 C water
• 1 C vegetable stock (or chicken broth)
• 1/2 minced white onion
• 4 cloves garlic, pressed
• 1/4 C chopped walnuts
• 1/4 C raisins
• 1/4 C dried cranberries (or just another 1/4 C of raisins because no one usually has dried cranberries just lying around)
• 3 T Parmesan cheese
• 1/4 C grated cheddar cheese
• 2 T olive oil
• 2 T red wine vinegar (more or less to taste)
• Salt and pepper, to taste

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375º and place acorn squash cut side down in a cookie sheet or casserole dish with some water (about a cup, roughly). 
2. When oven is heated, put squash into oven for 30-45 minutes, until soft.
3. Meanwhile, cook quinoa. Because I'm lazy, I use my rice cooker for this. One cup quinoa to two cups liquid, in this case one cup of vegetable stock, one cup of water. Whole Foods' website has good instructions on how to cook quinoa the right way.
4. Saute onion on medium heat in a pan for about 5 minutes, until clear. Add in garlic and saute another 1-2 minutes. 
5. Add onions and garlic to the quinoa mixture along with walnuts, raisins, cranberries, and Parmesan cheese and mix thoroughly. 
6. Next add the olive oil, vinegar, and salt and pepper. I recommend adding no more than two tablespoons of olive oil and then adding the vinegar, salt, and pepper to your taste.
7. When the squash is done, remove from the oven and let cool for 10-15 minutes. Flip squash over and spoon in heaping amounts of the quinoa mixture.
8. Finally, sprinkle cheddar cheese on top of each squash half and place back in oven for 10 minutes.

Chocolate Chia Seed Pudding

I wrote a post a little over a year ago about the health benefits of chia seeds. In short, the have tons of fiber, calcium, and protein and they give you energy. I try to incorporate them into my lunch as often as possible so I can avoid the feeling of exhaustion that comes along with the 2pm hour. And in case you're wondering, it always helps with my energy in the afternoon.

The other day, I was reading a post on Mind Body Green (love this site!) and it mentioned that eating chia seeds before bed can lead to lucid dreaming! Which translates to REM sleep, which means you're going to wake up feeling amazing the next day. And the older I get, the more I believe that a good night's sleep can make everything else fall into place. The website also mentioned making a chia seed pudding and replacing your evening snack with it.

Ingredients

• 1/4 C dry chia seeds
• 1 C vanilla almond milk
• 1-2 T brown sugar (you can omit brown sugar entirely if you don't have much of a sweet tooth)
• 2 T cocoa powder
• 1-2 T honey

Directions

1. Mix together chia seeds, brown sugar, and cocoa powder.
2. Mix in almond milk and make sure to mix thoroughly, so all ingredients are well blended.
3. Put mixture into fridge and stir every now and then to make sure seeds absorb the moisture.
4. Leave in fridge for at least two hours (or overnight to eat for breakfast!) and before serving, drizzle with honey to taste.
5. Enjoy!

Vegan Tofu Pad Thai

Ingredients

• 3-4 C cooked spaghetti squash (or 1 large squash, 2 small squash)
• 1 container extra firm tofu, cut into 1/2" cubes
• 2 T low sodium soy sauce
• 1 T teriyaki sauce
• 2 T rice vinegar
• 1/4 C vegetable broth
• 2 T peanut butter (creamy or crunchy, either works great!)
• 2 T canola oil (or olive oil or peanut oil or coconut oil, they all will do)
• 1 T Sriracha 
• 1 T garlic chili sauce (omit if you don't like too much heat and replace with 1/2 more T Sriracha)
• Juice from one lime
• 4-8 cloves garlic, minced, depending on how garlicky you like things
• 1/2  container silken tofu
• 1 C shredded carrots
• 2-4 green onions, chopped
• 1/2 C fresh cilantro
• Slices of lime
• 1/4 C chopped peanuts

Directions

1. Cook your spaghetti squash (you can do this hours or even a couple days in advance). If you haven't ever cooked spaghetti squash, here are some really great instructions from Whole Foods!
2. Combine half of minced garlic, juice from lime, 1 T soy sauce, and 1 T teriyaki sauce in a plastic bag to make marinade. 15-30 minutes (NO LONGER! I've learned that marinading tofu isn't at all like marinading meat) before you're ready to prepare your meal, put the extra firm tofu into the bag with the marinade.
3. Mix together 1 T rice vinegar, vegetable broth, peanut butter, Sriracha, and garlic chili sauce and set aside.
4. Put canola oil into a large frying pan or wok on medium heat. Add carrots and garlic and cook until soft, about 2 minutes. 
5. Remove extra firm tofu from marinade and put into pan. Cook until at least heated through.
6. Turn up heat to medium high and make an empty spot in the middle of the pan. Add silken tofu and scramble for 4-6 minutes.
7. Add cilantro and green onions (save some to use as garnish), spaghetti squash, and peanut butter mixture. Cook until simmering. 
8. Serve and garnish with peanuts, green onions, cilantro, and a wedge of lime.
9. Drink with a nice fruity white wine!