breakfast

Dr. Oz would be so proud of my breakfast consumption. Folks, we've got a whole lot of fiber going on here. I won't even begin to tell you what I thought I should name this post. 

I am a big fan of breakfast. Nothing too fancy and nothing greasy, just some good instant oatmeal.  I used to only like the Maple and Brown Sugar Quaker instant oatmeal (Yes, Quaker is a must. I tried the Target brand...never again.  Some things just should not be messed with.)  Then upon urging from a friend of mine, I tried the Apples and Cinnamon oatmeal.  And...wait for it...it's like angels are singing from the Heavens every time I eat it. I love this stuff. Where have you been all my life?!?! 

(Pardon me, sometimes I tend to be dramatic.)

Anywho, we have two never ending bags of flaxseeds and chia seeds that I use for the homemade granola I make once or twice a month.  But these bags are big and I felt like I should find another use for them.  So, I decided to mix in about a tablespoon of flaxseed and about a heaping teaspoon of the chia seeds and see how it turned out.  

Fantastic. That's how it turned out!

I'm totally digging my morning routine with the healthy additions to the oatmeal.  I think I might really outdo myself in future oatmeal bowls by adding a little walnut action! Watch out!

And the best part?

I used to start getting hungry before 11:00 am, but now I'm totally full until I have lunch around noon.  Totally impressive to me.  Those chia seeds are really doing their job.  (Added perk: every morning when I grab the bag of chia seeds from the pantry, I sing the Chia Pet song.  Yep, I know, you are totally singing it too now. Aren't ya?)

It's good to note, however, not to go hog wild on the chia sends. Not only do they expand to 10x their size (or something like that) but because I sprinkle them in at the end of mixing my oatmeal and hot water together, they don't become super wet - so they stay pretty crunchy. Which isn't bad when you don't include too many but if you go bananas with the chia seeds, you'll feel like you have a mouthful of birdseed stuck between your teeth.  (Totally not something that I'm interested in, at least.) 

Recipe: blackberry chia jam

I am a big fan of jam. Homemade jam to be exact. My mom set a high bar in life to always keep a freezer full of jam. I was actually at my sister's house once and she offered me jam, and I got mad, saying, "why did mom send you jam and not me?" (We both live on the west coast - no where near where the jam lady (i.e. our mom) lives. To which she replied, "I made it!" And then I said, "you can do that?!" Nothing like opening up a (at the time) 29 year old's eyes that being a grown up means that I could actual make my own jam.

Mind blown.

I made 2 batches (not pictured) of strawberry jam earlier this spring, but we are going through our stock like rather quickly. (I blame my newest obsession of flavoring my plain yogurt with jam, it just tastes so much better than the yoplait strawberry - nothing against yoplait, we still keep them in business as Mike only prefers their strawberry yogurt.) Anyway, I like to flavor plain yogurt with a spoonful of jam and then top with homemade granola. I probably have this at least once a day either for breakfast or as my lunch with a few veggies and dip. So now you can now understand how quickly I could be tearing through my jam. 

I found a Pinterest recipe that I thought looked easy (check out my Jam & Bread pinterest board - it appears I am a virtual hoarder of jam recipes) and gave me the opportunity to kill two birds with one stone - homemade jam AND including more chia seeds into my diet (chia seeds are also in my granola) I am a big fan of their omega 3 power punch and I also sing the Chia pet theme song every time I access the seeds in the pantry (added bonus: Ch-ch-ch-chia! 🎶) 

The chia blackberry jam is quite easy to make.  The consistency was a bit different (picture Nickelodeon Floam) and it's not sweet. It adds a bit of flavor to my plain yogurt but not too much.  It's not that I'm missing a bit more sugar in my yogurt, however it is different than the homemade strawberry jam.  Next time I think I might use strawberries, maybe it was the blackberries that lacked sweetness.  I'm glad I made it, however I'm not sure that it will ever be included in a pb&j sandwich.  

Here's the recipe that I used:

Ingredients
1 cup blackberries
1/2 cup chia seeds
1/2 cup water
1/3 cup honey
3 Tbs lemon juice

Directions
Mash berries
Mix in all ingredients
Cover in plastic and set in refrigerator at least 30 minutes.