I'm Gellin'

See…..

Since I’m the type of person who, more often than not , is ready to eat breakfast as soon as my feet hit the ground in the morning, I typically devour my chia oats moments after stirring in the chia seeds, without giving them a chance to really thicken up as much they could.

I was curious to see how the whole gel process worked (considering it’s probably happening in my body after I eat them) so last night I put 1 tablespoon of chia seeds in with 1 cup (8 oz) of water. Within about 5 minutes a liquid gel had formed. Isaac and I both tasted it plain. Hmm… not so great. Chia seeds have a very mild flavor and the gel that had formed around each seed create quite an interesting texture. I would compare it to the consistency of After about 30 minutes, I put the chia gel mixture in the fridge overnight. It was pretty much the same consistency when I woke up this morning, not any thicker than when I put it in the fridge last night. the picture above was from this morning.

I used the chia gel to make myself an Gellin’ Smoothie.

Gellin’ Smoothie

• 1/2 frozen banana
• 1/2 cup frozen blueberries
• 1 Tbsp. Better n Pb
• Chia gel (1 Tbsp. chia seeds with 1 cup of water)

Place all ingredients in blender and blend until smooth.

It wasn’t as thick as my normal smoothies due to the 1 cup of water mixed in with the chia seeds, however I could have easily used less water to make my gel, it really just depends on the consistency you want to make. I may try another smoothie sometime and use less water to test it out. Overall, I really liked the flavor of the smoothie, but who doesn’t like blueberries, bananas, and PB? The texture of the chia seed gel was apparent at all when sipping the smoothie, and as I mentioned before, the chia seeds don’t have much flavor so that wasn’t really a factor. And, as added proof that the smoothie was good, Isaac had a taste and liked it too!

I had a slice of ezekiel bread with Crofter’s Superfruit spread. Whenever I eat toast (which actually isn’t that often), I always just use jam/jelly/preserves or a nut butter, but I pretty much always forego the regular butter. I’m all about the sweet stuff.

Speaking of sweet, the lovely people at Crofter’s sent me their new line of Organic Superfruit Spreads to try. Today’s taste test was of the South America Macqui and Passionfruit blended with Morello Cherries and Red Grapes. It was delish- I loved the chunks of fruit within the spread. And it’s interesting to the see the base of every spread has red grapes – I don’t think I’ve ever had grapes in jelly/jam better. Pretty awesome!

And, check out all the flavors, each with a different superfruit from a different part of the world. I haven’t had a chance to try them all yet, but you better believe I will be soon…can’t wait! It was really hard to choose this morning, because they all sound so good.

South America- Macqui and Passionfruit blended with Morello Cherries and Red Grapes

Asia- Raspberries and Yumberries blended with Morello Cherries and Red Grapes

Europe- Black Currants and Pomegranates blended with Morello Cherries and Red Grapes

North America- Wild Blueberries and Cranberries blended with Morello Cherries and Red Grapes

These superfruit spreads are making their way to natural food stores around the country so be on the lookout. But guess what else? Crofter’s is awesome and has offered to share the Superfruit love by giving 3 readers (US residents) a chance to try all 4 flavors as well.

To win:

* Leave a comment on this post telling me which Superfruit spread you would like to try most

For a second/third chance to win:

* If you don’t have a blog (or even if you do) Subscribe to Eating Bird Food through google reader or other reader send me an email (eatingbirdfood at gmail dot com) letting me know you have done so

* If you do have a blog, link back to this post and send me an email (eatingbirdfood at gmail dot com) letting me know you have done so

You have until Saturday (June 13) evening/Monday (June 14) Morning at 12AM EST to enter. I’ll pick 3 winners via a random number generator and post the winners soon after. Good luck!

Tagged as: banana, blueberries, chia seed, Crofter's Superfruite Spreads, ezekiel bread, smoothie