Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Sunday, May 1, 2011
I baked these using CHIA instead of butter, margarines, oils, etc.
I googled CHIA today to see how you incorporate it into regular baking. What I found was that CHIA can very easily replace 100% of any kind of 'fat' that your recipe calls for.
Take 1 tablespoon of CHIA seeds, and add 9 tablespoons of cold water. Stir with a fork, and leave it alone for at least 30 minutes. What happens is that the CHIA expands and forms a gel - I found that this measurement of CHIA to water makes 1/2 cup of chia gel. Then, just measure the gel as if it were butter, margarine, oil, whatever fat your recipe calls for, and use the gel instead of the fat. Also, CHIA gel can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for up to one week.
I bought a small baggie of CHIA seeds at the Bulk Barn (slightly more than a cup) cost me about $8.00! Expensive!
Here's what the CHIA seeds look like in water...the beginnings of the gel, and then after 15 minutes. They've expanded.
Here I'm measuring out my dry ingredients...keep in mind that the CHIA is added with the wet ingredients, where ever the recipe calls for butter, margarine, oil, etc. I do like to experiment with different flours and for these recipes today I used an organic whole wheat flour, quinoa flour, and some rice flour.
Baking my loaves..here are the banana breads - I doubled the recipe so that I can freeze one loaf, and take one to my in-laws. (I always add nuts to my banana bread recipe. Here, I added 1 cup of walnuts AND 1 cup of pecans.) In this recipe, I used organic flour only and CHIA in place of the oil called for in my recipe. Lookin' good!
Here is the banana loaf, cooled and ready to be tasted. (In order to keep with my fat-free theme, I used Pam cooking spray to grease the glass loaf pans. Once cooled the banana bread just slid out of the pan!)
When I cut this loaf in half I held my breath to see if the CHIA experiment worked.....it DID! See the nuts - they keep the banana bread moist, and add some 'good fat'.
I took the first bite....yummy! CHIA has absolutely NO taste so there's no danger of altering the taste of your recipe.
...and here I am having some banana bread:
And here's my lemon-poppy seed loaf, which is my number one favourite of all time!
...not bad pictures for a blackberry. I also made Rick his favourite pineapple upside-down cake out of a fresh pineapple that I had from Easter weekend. The difference between canned and fresh pineapple was like night and day...no more canned pineapple for us! Now, let's hope the scale is recognizes my fat-free-ness! Here's Rick getting ready to have a piece of pineapple upside down cake....with Charlie watching closely, hoping to get a bite....which he did
!
Take 1 tablespoon of CHIA seeds, and add 9 tablespoons of cold water. Stir with a fork, and leave it alone for at least 30 minutes. What happens is that the CHIA expands and forms a gel - I found that this measurement of CHIA to water makes 1/2 cup of chia gel. Then, just measure the gel as if it were butter, margarine, oil, whatever fat your recipe calls for, and use the gel instead of the fat. Also, CHIA gel can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for up to one week.
I bought a small baggie of CHIA seeds at the Bulk Barn (slightly more than a cup) cost me about $8.00! Expensive!
Here's what the CHIA seeds look like in water...the beginnings of the gel, and then after 15 minutes. They've expanded.
Here I'm measuring out my dry ingredients...keep in mind that the CHIA is added with the wet ingredients, where ever the recipe calls for butter, margarine, oil, etc. I do like to experiment with different flours and for these recipes today I used an organic whole wheat flour, quinoa flour, and some rice flour.
Baking my loaves..here are the banana breads - I doubled the recipe so that I can freeze one loaf, and take one to my in-laws. (I always add nuts to my banana bread recipe. Here, I added 1 cup of walnuts AND 1 cup of pecans.) In this recipe, I used organic flour only and CHIA in place of the oil called for in my recipe. Lookin' good!
Here is the banana loaf, cooled and ready to be tasted. (In order to keep with my fat-free theme, I used Pam cooking spray to grease the glass loaf pans. Once cooled the banana bread just slid out of the pan!)
When I cut this loaf in half I held my breath to see if the CHIA experiment worked.....it DID! See the nuts - they keep the banana bread moist, and add some 'good fat'.
I took the first bite....yummy! CHIA has absolutely NO taste so there's no danger of altering the taste of your recipe.
...and here I am having some banana bread:
And here's my lemon-poppy seed loaf, which is my number one favourite of all time!
...not bad pictures for a blackberry. I also made Rick his favourite pineapple upside-down cake out of a fresh pineapple that I had from Easter weekend. The difference between canned and fresh pineapple was like night and day...no more canned pineapple for us! Now, let's hope the scale is recognizes my fat-free-ness! Here's Rick getting ready to have a piece of pineapple upside down cake....with Charlie watching closely, hoping to get a bite....which he did
!
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