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.
Up close all dressed up
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…
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!
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…
After 20 minutes on the countertop, you can see it gettin’ nice and thick
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…
….and dash of NuNaturals white stevia powder.
Into the Vita went this…
And out came this…
See those cute little seeds just waiting to be slurped up?
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!
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!
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…
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.
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.
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.
:)
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?
ooh, yummy! and i just saw that apple crumble, too–fantastic :) i love wholesome sweet treats!
Deb & LilVeggie-Good luck flyin' solo, and LilVeg if you lived closer, I'd love some dessert-eating company, anytime!
A xx -So glad you like the Sun Warrior, that is music to my ears. And yeah, chias are a little…weird. You gotta get used to the texture. I hear ya!
Mamasweeds-You're my soul sister separated at birth, we've already got that established on email :)
Michele-Welcome back, glad you've got a few mins to be back in bloggieland.
Sheri-Thank you for finding me and please cmon back, I post daily with my eats and yoga, and LMK how the recipe turns out for you!!
Hayley-Glad you got my text, nope chias not essential, anything dry will totally work, you just wanna absorb some of the moisture that's in the recipe..seeds, nuts, oats, quinoa, whatever you have, I'm sure it would work.
Once again I am salivating…I really think I am in the mood for one of these. I don't have all those ingredients on hand though – RATS!! Do you have to use chia seeds in them or could you substitute with something else? As you can tell I am a recipe follower! Sometimes I tweak but it usually doesn't work out too well.
I am still laughing over your "balls being a PITA" comment. I LOVE not-so-adult-yet-still-funny/dirty humor. :)
I tweak every little recipe that comes my way…I'm a tweaker!
Found you via Lauren at Ginger is the New Pink…am just loving your blog! The yoga, the great eats, the chocolate…so much goodness over here!
Those squares look decadent and I hear you on the ball rolling.
I'm going to try this recipe on my 5 punks tomorrow, thanks for sharing it!
Sheri
I echo Jenny: oh that dessert = decadence at its finest… <— NICE quote, Jenny! ;-)
Great job, Averie! I bet your husband was HAPPY with that dessert, huh?!
I read your zuke noodle post too and you did a great job there as well. So, you're loving that spiralizer! I'll have to get one in the (near) future. ;-D
Averie – I'm so glad you commented! From your tag line at the top of the blog I think you and I would get along famously! The sass in this post confirms my first impression.
I'm definitely a recipe tweaker – and these raw treats look just the sort of thing I would tweak to use what I happen to have on hand!
Love to find another raw food adventurist to find inspiration from. Totally psyched to see what you whip up.
And now I'm off to stalk your chia giveaway!
Hey Averie,
Well I got my sun warrior vanilla protein powder and love love love it :)
This morning I had chia pud for breakfast too – 3 tbsp chia seeds, 1/4 cup soy milk, scoop of protein powder, mashed banana, sultanas left in the fridge overnight.
It was delicious! I love the chia seeds but they kinda remind me of fish eggs hehe
Looks like you're having fun with your chias too!
Check ya lata
A
Ooh, those treats look so good! I wish you lived closer because I'd be over at your house so fast to eat them.
I'm also flying solo this weekend… my boy will be gone for the next few weeks so I'm going to have to come up with new ways to entertain myself!
I'm always up for some veggie or fruit porn and bathroom humor-I refuse to grow up! :-)
My hubs is out of town too- so it's just me and my furry munchkin and the rest of the familia.
I almost refuse to follow a recipe because in some moment of insanity I always seem to think that I have a better way to do it! Ha!! Funny…note to self=- follow recipes more often!
Jenny you're a hottie so make the waiters kiss your ass and bring your food out to you any way you like it. Nuff said :)
K-Glad to hear you hate playing with balls, too. I used to make these date ball with cocoa powder but it's too much of a PITA so I just tweak til I can pan-flatten.
Michelle-considering you're at 105Degrees right now, I can imagine you're uber creative in the kitch and I would love to be there with you.
FF-Thanks for the shout out here and on my other post. Yeah, glad I have a TJs here. Sorry for anyone who doesnt…it does have great prices on staples. Raw diet = tweak or starve, I think :)
CCK-Would love to, but only if we can do a vegan cookie/or meal exchange. You have to make me some of your choco pancakes or anything else pretty much in your repertoire would work! Your food always is awesome.
Lauren-Thx for the props and yeah, that's why I was never a good/liked traditional baking…but with raw, pretty much everything can be "fixed" with more dates, more agave, more oats, etc. and so there's sooo much leeway.
Thanks ladies for stoppin' by on Sunday. Hope you're having a happy day!
I am definitely a tweaker! Which is why I am so bad at baking (and never do it). I like adding my own pizzaz to things!
That dessert looks AMAZING!! YUM!
Come cook for me!!
Those look so yummy! I was definitely a recipe follower until I became Raw. Now I tweak and twist every recipe; )
wow your dessert looked amazing! Yum! I am a recipe tweaking, well actually I just see what I have on hand and create something. Sometimes it is a hit and sometimes it needs more tweaking, but I love just having fun in the kitchen!
Oh my goodness! Those look amazing!! I agree that rolling things in balls is a huge PITA! I made truffles once for Christmas and hated every second of the rolling process.
When I bake/cook I'm a recipe follower! Like, to a T! However if I eat out, I tweak things all the time. If I'm paying for it I want to eat what I want to eat ;)
Have a great Sunday!
oh that dessert = decadence at it's finest…
Recipe tweaking is my middle name. I am also one of those oh so annoying people who completely makes adjustments to her meals at restaurants. "Hi, i'm Jenny and I'll have the bbq chicken panini.. without the bbq sauce, and can I hve veggies instead of chicken, and can i have it on whole wheat instead of foccacia, and…" you get the picture. Waiters hate me :)
have a good one love!