Cooking with Chia For Dummies
Overview
Power up your day with a daily dose of chia!
Omega-3 fatty acids and fiber are the superstars of cardiovascular health, and chia seeds contain them both in spades. They're also great sources of iron, calcium, magnesium, and zinc, and have been linked to better cholesterol, triglycerides, and blood pressure levels. It's no wonder they've been a staple in Central American diets since the Aztecs, and are once again growing in popularity. Chia is truly a superfood, both nutritious and versatile. Both the seeds and sprouts are edible, but there's so much more to chia than that!
Cooking With Chia For Dummies explores the benefits and many uses of the chia seed, and guides you through a multitude of ways to add chia to your diet. Featuring over 125 recipes, you'll learn how to choose among the different types of chia options,
how to use and how to use it, and exactly how much you need to reap the health benefits.
- Camouflage your chia or make it the star of the dish
- Incorporate chia into your favorite meal
- Adapt the recipes to be vegan, vegetarian, or gluten-free
- Discover chia recipes that even kids will eat
Learn why you shouldn't harvest the sprouts from your Chia pet, and where to buy high-quality seeds to eat. Chia is already fueling endurance athletes and is beloved by dietitians. You deserve to feel great, and there's no reason your taste buds should suffer for it. Chia is a delicious addition to any meal, and there's no reason for you to miss out. Cooking With Chia For Dummies is your comprehensive guide to adding chia to your diet, and your companion on the journey to ultimate health.
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About The Author
Barrie Rogers is cofounder of Chia bia and chiabia.com, an Irish chia company and website that provides a wealth of information about chia seeds and health and offers a number of chia products for sale, including seeds, bars, and beverages. Debbie Dooly is Marketing Manager of Chia bia.
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cooking with chia for dummies
CHEAT SHEET
Chia is high in essential nutrients, gluten-free, 100 percent natural, and easy to use. No wonder it’s gaining in popularity worldwide! These tiny black and white seeds are becoming a staple on more and more people’s shopping lists thanks to their many health benefits.
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Chia seeds are certainly unique. They're highly nutritious and good for your health, but there is so much more to these tiny seeds that not everyone knows. Here are some of the lesser known facts about chia that you may be surprised to discover:
Chia was used as an endurance food by ancient tribes. The Aztecs, Mayans, and other ancient tribes all used chia to sustain themselves in battles and on long running and hunting expeditions.
Greens & Grains
Tossing some chia seeds into whatever you’re eating is a wonderful way to boost the nutritional value of your meals. The seeds are tiny and have virtually no flavor, but they’re brimming with nutrients! So, you can simply add chia seeds to your meals to gain numerous health benefits, without altering the flavor of your favorite foods.
Chia is one of the most nutrient-dense foods found anywhere in the world. Not only is it exceptionally high in essential nutrients such as protein and fiber, but chia benefits your health by giving you the vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants necessary for good health. Chia seeds have a lot to boast about, including their ease of use, long shelf life, and many more properties that make it a true superfood.
Kids can be tough customers to please, and when you’re trying to get them to eat healthy, any tricks that boost the healthy foods in their diets are welcome! That’s where chia seeds can lend a helping hand.
Because cha is high in omega-3 fatty acids, fiber, protein, and many vitamins and minerals, if you can get your children to include chia in their daily diets, you’re on the right road to healthy eating.
Following are a few examples of how different cultures use meats in the mornings, but the recipes are a little healthier and more heart healthy because the cooking methods have been changed and healthier ingredients were chosen, including chia seeds.
Irish Breakfast Fry-up
Preparation time: 15 minutes
Cook time: 15 minutes
Yield: 2 servings
2 ripe tomatoes
2 large mushrooms
2 strips bacon
2 small breakfast sausages
Salt and pepper, to taste
One 8-ounce can baked beans
2 tablespoons whole chia seeds
4 slices whole-grain bread
2 eggs
Preheat the broiler to high and put a wire rack over a baking tray.
Many people start their day with a basic green juice to boost their immunity and help fight off infections because of the rich splurge of antioxidants. So, if you feel your immune system could use a pick-me-up, juice some fresh produce, add some chia seeds, and your body will thank you!
Basic Green Power Juice
Credit: ©iStockphoto.
Sauces can be what makes good dinners great. What people remember about a meal may be the sauce you served with that steak. The extras make a meal memorable. Plus, they can help bulk up a meal and provide more nutrients. Because chilies are used in so many sauces for heat, here's a recipe for chia seed chili sauce that you can use at any meal.
Chia gives any smoothie a great nutritional kick and is simple to prepare. You can add chia to a smoothie in a couple of ways:
Create a chia gel and add it to the smoothie. This approach softens the seed prior to adding it to the smoothie. To make a chia gel, mix one part chia seeds to six parts water, stir, let sit for a few minutes, and stir again.
A quick breakfast shouldn’t mean missing out on important nutrition to start your day. Even if you’re rushing out the door with kids, smoothies and juices with chia seeds are a fantastic way to get the nutrients you need.
Chocolate Chia Smoothie
Credit: ©iStockphoto.com/gabrielasauciuc
Preparation time: 10 minutes
Yield: 1 serving
2 tablespoons whole chia seeds
3/4 cup water
1 cup 2 percent milk
1 tablespoon cacao powder
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon maple syrup
1 cup ice cubes
Create a chia gel by mixing the chia and water; set aside.
Greens & Grains
By using chia seeds to boost the nutritional value of your breakfast, you’re strengthening your body’s defense system so it can handle whatever the day throws at you. Eggs are a nutritious source of quality protein with plenty of vitamins and minerals that are essential for good health. They’re inexpensive, easy to cook, and so versatile that you can make many meals based around eggs.
The fatty acids contained in chia seeds are mostly these essential fatty acids that are required for good health. Fat has been the victim of some bad press the last few decades. But what the news articles often fail to mention is that there are different kinds of fat, some of which are good for you!
The general public didn’t know the differences between these types of fat, so all fats got a bad name and people thought they needed to drop fat from their diets completely.
When it comes to packing in the nutrients at breakfast time, you can’t get much better than mixing chia seeds with oats. The combined nutrients in chia and oats will get you well on your way to filling up on the daily nutrients needed to give you sustained energy, keep your heart healthy, and keep your digestive system running smoothly.
Evidence that the Aztecs used chia appears in codices written 500 years ago. Codices were documents written in Nahuatl, the native language of the Aztecs, as well as in Spanish. A lot of them described life at that time and in them; you can see evidence of why chia was used.
Chia was one of four main crops grown by the Aztec cultures.
Flaxseeds are great seeds to add to your diet — they’re very high in the all-important omega-3s that everyone needs more of and chia is often compared to flax because it has similar amounts of omega 3 and some other nutrients. But chia has the edge. Here’s why:
Chia is full of antioxidants where flax has only trace levels of antioxidants.
Pancakes and waffles are always such a treat and a lovely weekend breakfast to enjoy with the whole family. Kids love them, and adding the extra toppings and experimenting with what goes well with which ingredients is all part of the fun of lazy mornings where family time is precious. Chia can play a part in these not-so-healthy recipes by adding to the nutrient value of your treats.
Greens & Grains
Simple is a great word for chia. The seeds are tiny but powerful, and adding them to your foods is simple. Within these small, black and white seeds are great levels of omega-3 fatty acids, fiber, protein, vitamins, and minerals, and getting these valuable nutrients into your body has never been simpler.
The subtle taste of chia means you can add it to anything you already enjoy and it won’t affect the flavor whatsoever.
The term superfood is overused by marketing agencies to promote different foods that really don't deserve the title. However, chia has so many different properties and is high in so many essential nutrients that it more than deserves to call itself a superfood. Here's why:
It's high in omega-3 fatty acids. Chia is one of the highest plant sources of omega-3 fatty acids in the world, and omega-3s have many benefits to health such as improved memory and concentration, better mental health, and lower cholesterol levels.
Chia is a great source of protein — not only is chia made up of 21 percent protein, but it’s a high-quality complete protein that our bodies crave. Protein is an important nutrient that is essential for building, maintaining, and replacing the cells in your body, as well as making enzymes, hormones, and other body chemicals.
The resurrection of chia as a hugely beneficial functional food is occurring today as more people continue to discover its benefits and rely on it to provide energy, strength, and endurance again. This is thanks to Dr. Wayne Coates’s efforts in bringing the seed back to commercialization so that more people can benefit from it.
Lactose-intolerant people aren’t the only ones who need to use these substitutes. Many nutritionists and dietitians advise people to stay away from dairy altogether. Chia seeds are naturally dairy-free so whatever reasons you have for choosing to avoid dairy, this section gives you a few ideas on how to do so.
Athletes were some of the first people to use chia as an aid to their sporting efforts. Triathletes and ultra-marathoners in particular followed in the footsteps of extreme runner Christopher McDougall, who wrote the book Born to Run, in which he touts chia as being the fuel that kept him and the Tarahumara Indians running for more than 100 miles at a time.
Chia is naturally gluten-free and can be added to many recipes to help gluten-intolerant people get the nutrients they need. Plus, the milled form of chia can sometimes be used instead of flour, so it’s a great alternative.
Gluten-Free Chia, Cranberry, and Coconut Granola
Credit: ©iStockphoto.com/mphillips007
Preparation time: 20 minutes
Cook time: 30 minutes
Yield: 6 servings
6 cups old-fashioned gluten-free oats
1-1/4 cups whole chia seeds
1-1/2 cups shredded coconut
1-1/2 cups almonds, chopped
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground ginger
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup coconut oil
1 cup agave syrup
1 teaspoon almond extract
2 egg whites
1-1/2 cups dried cranberries
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.
Greens & Grains
Whoever said that you couldn’t have pudding for breakfast hadn’t heard of chia pudding! When you make pudding with chia, it makes a delicious and nutritious breakfast. Chia puddings are a great way to start your day. You can prepare them in advance and grab them in the morning to bring to work, eat them en route, or have them as a midmorning snack.
Not only are the nutrients in chia important for supporting the body, but chia also has another great benefit to support weight management. Being overweight has a serious effect on the function of the body. Weight issues have been linked to increased risk of heart-related diseases, type-2 diabetes, cancer, and many other chronic diseases.
Chia contains all four of the major nutrients needed for brain function. Eating plenty of chia can go a long way toward supporting the nutritional requirements of your brain in conjunction with a good balanced diet.
Eating well is just as important for your mental health as it is for your physical health. The brain needs nutrients to function just like the rest of your body does.
Omega-3 fatty acids are key to keeping your heart healthy. Chia is the among the best plant sources of omega-3s, and it gives the heart and blood network a boost of the nutrients it needs to stay healthy.
The heart pumps blood to all the tissues in the body through blood vessels and arteries. You need to keep the heart muscle, blood vessels, and arteries in good shape because the buildup of fat in these components can lead to heart disease, which can diminish quality of life or even be fatal.
Greens & Grains
Today, many people are on specialized diets. Maybe they’ve gone gluten-free, or they’re vegan, or they avoid certain foods because of allergies. Whatever foods you like, don’t like, have to avoid, or want to avoid, chia has you covered. Its versatility means that it can be used by almost everybody as a way to boost nutrition and improve health!
Greens & Grains
Instead of avoiding your favorite recipes, look at ways to bulk them up by adding chia, fruits, or vegetables. Bulking up your meals is the best way to stretch your calorie budget and a great way to improve the nutrition of your favorite dishes.
You know when you’re trying to be healthy, so you cook your favorite recipe, but eat a smaller portion, and then you end up dissatisfied and wanting more and more.
Greens & Grains
The golden rule when putting together a salad is to use fresh ingredients. The fresher the ingredients, the better the salad! Not only do fresh ingredients taste better, but the nutrient value is higher.
The basis of a salad should always be something green, so pick from different lettuces such as romaine, iceberg, rocket, radicchio, chard, spinach, butterhead lettuce, or whatever fresh greens are available to you.
If you’re entertaining or you need a sweet treat, add chia seeds to your drinks. That way, you can be sure you’re adding to your nutritional requirements for the day.
Classic Chia Fresca
Credit: ©iStockphoto.com/shakzu
Preparation time: 5 minutes
Yield: 1 serving
1 lime
1 tablespoon sugar
1 cup water
1 tablespoon whole chia seeds
Ice, to serve
Roll the lime along the countertop before cutting; then cut the lime in half and squeeze out the juice.
To understand what nutrients are in chia and products containing chia, your first stop should be the Nutrition Facts label. This label tells you everything from the suggested serving size to the ingredients to how much of the various nutrients the food contains. When you understand exactly how to read a Nutrition Facts label and what to look for, you’ll be on your way to easily tracking your daily intake.
Big brands are figuring out that if they add chia to foodstuffs, they can increase the nutrient profile of foods without affecting the flavor. Demand for nutritious food is growing as more people become educated about food and its effect on the body. The big brands are listening and supplying consumers with what they want.
One of the oldest chia recipes — it’s been around for centuries — is chia fresca. This drink is common in Mexico and Central America. You simply add chia to water, lemon juice, and sugar. The Mexican cultures knew that chia seeds were great for energy and used chia fresca as a refreshing drink to refuel their bodies.
Greens & Grains
Fussy eaters often go back to the same foods again and again, so to encourage healthy eating, a good place to start is with their favorite dinners. Chia will go unnoticed in most dishes so start with their favorites before moving on to more nutritious foods. These recipes are classic kid dinners that are not only economical but also healthy.
Chia seeds can help you ensure that your children get good nutrition throughout the day. Try the following ways to include chia at kids’ snack time:
Trail mix: Add a couple spoons of chia throughout the mix.
Yogurt: Mix chia through their favorite yogurts.
Fruit: Dip cut-up pieces of fresh fruit into a bowl of chia.
A varied diet is key to health so eating different meats can be part of a healthy diet, especially if you load up on vegetables along with your meat and add chia into the mix. That way, you’ll be providing your body with a lot of the key nutrients it needs for good health.
Spicy Thai Beef
Credit: ©iStockphoto.
Puddings are a popular way to use chia — you can find recipes for chia puddings all over the Internet. Why are chia puddings so popular? Because chia seeds can absorb up to ten times their weight in water, so when they’re mixed with liquid, they form a gel that has a consistency like tapioca — perfect for puddings!
These recipes are easy to make and packed full of healthy ingredients with a good mix of spice and flavor. By adding chia seeds to your main meals, you pack in extra nutrients that are essential to keep your family healthy and full of energy.
Sometimes all you really need is one pot to make a delicious meal. One-pot recipes are fantastic for making more of what you need and getting two or three days out of one recipe.
Appetizers should be light (so they don’t fill you up) but tasty. There’s no reason you can’t add some highly nutritious chia seeds to these tasty morsels to get your meals off to the right start.
Spicy Ginger Prawns
Credit: ©iStockphoto.com/Amandaliza
Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 10 minutes
Yield: 4 servings
One 4-inch piece fresh ginger
6 cloves garlic
2 red chilies
2 tablespoons olive oil
24 raw jumbo shrimp, cleaned, peeled, and deveined
1 tablespoon whole chia seeds
Pepper, to taste
Crusty bread, to serve
Peel the ginger and chop into long, thin strips.
Greens & Grains
By simply adding chia to your favorite lunches, you can load up on omega-3 fatty acids to help with concentration. Plus, the slow-releasing energy will help prevent the slump in the middle of the day that often strikes when you haven’t had a good lunch.
You can add chia to anything you already enjoy, so if you’re getting tired of packing the same lunch but you’re stumped for ideas, get some inspiration from the following list.
The basics to a good salad are fresh produce and a good mix of flavor and textures, but chia seeds are always a welcome addition. Use whole chia seeds in salads because the seeds add a little crunch and pack in the nutrients without affecting the flavor.
However, if you prefer milled chia seeds, simply mix the milled seeds with the salad dressing before dressing the salad, and you can still benefit from all the extra nutrients.
By simply mixing fresh produce with various herbs and spices and adding chia seeds, you can make fabulous-tasting soups filled with the nutrients your body needs to function well and keep you feeling revitalized and energetic.
Butter Bean and Leek Soup
Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 30 minutes
Yield: 6 servings
4 medium leeks
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon butter
2 teaspoons chopped fresh thyme
1 bay leaf
3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1/2 red chili, seeds removed and finely chopped
5 cups vegetable stock
Two 15-ounce cans butter beans, drained
2 teaspoons oregano
3 tablespoons parsley
Salt and pepper, to taste
3 tablespoons whole chia seeds
Trim the leeks so that only the white and pale green part is left.
Greens & Grains
Tradition is what defines each region. The ingredients and methods used to produce bread in a particular area are handed down from generation to generation. Regardless of which type of bread you're cultural tradition embraces, you can enhance the nutritional value with chia seeds.
Chia Flatbread
Credit: ©iStockphoto.
Fresh fish makes a great meal. All you have to do with most types of good-quality fresh fish is fry it in a little olive oil, and it makes a great supper. To add chia, simply sprinkle some whole seeds over your cooked fish.
Fish is a great source of omega-3 fatty acids, so when you add chia to your fish dinners you get a double-whammy hit of omega-3s that your heart, mind, and body will thank you for.
All chia is not created equal. Chia seeds require very specific growing conditions for the seeds to become high in omega-3 fatty acids, protein, and other nutrients. Weather conditions, the amount of sunlight, and temperature are just a few of the factors at play to ensure that the seeds harvested are highly nutritious.
By adding chia to your side dishes, you can add the extra nutrients without affecting the flavor. Following are recipes for ratatouille and samosas to serve on the side.
Chia Ratatouille
Credit: ©iStockphoto.com/Elzbieta Sekowska
Preparation time: 30 minutes
Cook time: 1 hour
Yield: 8 servings
1 eggplant
Salt, to taste
2 onions
3 garlic cloves
1 red bell pepper
1 yellow bell pepper
2 zucchinis
4 tomatoes
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 bunch thyme
1/2 cup vegetable stock
Salt and pepper, to taste
2 tablespoons whole chia seeds
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Chia is chock-full of naturally occurring antioxidants that really give it the edge when it comes to packing nutrients into small spaces. Antioxidants protect delicate essential fatty acids from oxidation. Unlike other plant sources of omega-3s, such as flaxseeds, chia doesn’t require added artificial antioxidants in order to remain fresh.
Fiber is mainly found in fruits, vegetable, legumes, and whole grains, but chia is also a fantastic source of fiber, providing 5 g of fiber per 15 g serving of chia. This equates to 20 percent of the fiber you need in a day. That’s a lot of fiber for such a small portion of food with little calories!
Fiber (or what your grandma may have referred to as “roughage”) is the part of food that your body can’t digest.
Chia seeds are chock-full of essential nutrients that are known to help improve health and well-being. By adding chia seeds to your diet, you’re doing yourself a favor. Here are some of the health benefits that people often notice from using chia:
Lower cholesterol: Chia is known for helping to lower cholesterol thanks to its high levels of omega-3 fatty acids and fiber.
Chia always comes from the plant, Salvia hispanica L, but by the time it makes it to your grocery store shelves, it can be presented in different forms: ground or milled chia, white chia, and chia that has been hydrated prior to sale.
Ground or milled chia
Whole chia seeds are what come naturally form the Salvia hispanica L plant.
You can take out ingredients in your favorite recipes and replace them with chia. This can greatly improve the recipe’s nutrient value — because typically you’re taking out not-so-healthy foods and replacing them with the super-nutritious chia.
For example, common recipes that are traditionally baked using butter and eggs can be made healthier by reducing the amount of butter and eggs and using chia gel instead.
The ancient tribes of South America used chia as one of their staple crops. Chia originated in Mexico and Guatemala, where it grew well. The Aztecs and Mayan cultures farmed the crops because of the many benefits to their health, but one of the main reasons they used chia was for its ability to help with endurance.
Vegans don’t eat fish, but chia can provide much-needed omega-3 fatty acids that are essential for heart health, memory, and many other body functions. Chia is among the best sources of plant-based omega-3s in the world, so it’s perfect for people who don’t eat fish. Chia is also a complete protein, meaning that it has all nine essential amino acids that are required for building and repairing body cells.
A vegetarian diet can be beneficial to health if you make sure to meet your body’s nutritional requirements. Chia seeds are a complete protein, so they can help meet those needs. On average, vegetarians consume a lower proportion of calories from fat and generally have a lower body mass index (BMI), which has drawn more people to a plant-based diet.
Because chia seeds are very mild tasting and odorless, you can easily add them to all your favorite foods without affecting the flavor. So, if you’re having a nutrient-poor meal, such as pasta, you can add chia to boost the nutrient profile. Instead of giving your body empty carbohydrates from the white pasta, with chia, you’re adding omega-3s, fiber, protein, and antioxidants — all while enjoying the pasta you love!
Food labels are great, but they can’t possibly tell you everything. There is so much more to chia than can fit on a typical food label! The vitamins and minerals found in chia that are not listed on the label provide great health benefits to your body and are well worth noting.
Here are the most common and important vitamins and minerals that chia offers but that may not be listed on the Nutrition Facts label:
Vitamin B1 (thiamin): Thiamin is one of eight B vitamins, all of which help the body convert food into energy.
Greens & Grains
Chia works well with all varieties of bread. Chia’s physical properties means that it can be used as an egg replacement in some recipes. The milled form of chia can also act as flour in some breads. The nutrient profile of chia gives bread a great nutritional boost and is an easy way for people to get chia seeds into their diets.
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