I was wandering Whole Foods recently, trying to figure out what to buy with the Living Social voucher I'd purchased. I have the hardest time spending money in that store! Everything is expensive, and I can't think of very many things I can buy there (that I actually want) that I can't find cheaper elsewhere in Sacramento. I settled on a little bag of chia seeds, among a few other totally unnecessary purchases. I've been eyeing them on Amazon for a while (where, naturally, they are much cheaper), but I thought I'd try them out before committing to a bigger online order.
The first experiment was chia pudding, which has been making its way around the internet for a long time. It seemed like the sort of thing I'd really like for breakfast, since I've been known to eat tofu pudding (silken tofu + frozen banana + cocoa if you're feeling decadent) for breakfast pretty regularly. And I like seedy things. And tapioca. I knew I'd like this stuff. So, I put 1/4 cup of chia seeds in a jar, filled the jar with soymilk (probably too much, because it was a little runny), added a couple dashes of vanilla and a pinch of salt, and let it do its thing in the fridge overnight. I was anxious to try my pudding the next morning, but it was honestly a pretty disappointing experience. It tasted good. I mean, it tasted like vanilla soymilk, and that doesn't suck. I even sort of liked the gelatinous/crunchy texture.
That problem was that I was still hungry, 400 calories later. I felt like I'd just had a glass of milk, and wanted to move on to my real breakfast! I toughed it out and went to work, hoping I'd suddenly not be hungry once I started thinking about other things. That didn't happen, and I had to eat again before lunch.
Bottom line: this stuff is enjoyable enough, but it doesn't work for me as a power breakfast or whatever. I've read all sorts of accounts of people feeling energized and amazing all day after eating this stuff, but it only made me cranky because I felt like I hadn't eaten anything. I think I'm just going to throw the rest of my seeds into my regularly scheduled smoothies and forget about making any more pudding.
I bought a jar of nut butter once that had chia seeds mixed in. They added a nice bit of texture. Maybe I'll do that. If anyone has any other ideas, I'd love to hear them. Chia seeds are super healthy, so I want to be able to get excited about them!
