WIAW #61

I have a very exciting giveaway for you guys tomorrow! And it's very yummy, too :) In the meantime, don't forget to enter my giveaway to win a Ronco Food Dehydrator!

But first, let's look at what's on our plate today. It's WIAW!

A while ago, I promised you guys a new recipe. I didn't want to share it until it was just right, though, so it's taken a while.

It was sparked by these:



Navitas Naturals Chia Seeds and Chia Powder. While I really want to love Chia seeds (and sometimes I do kind of like them, but I have to be in the mood for them) I find the pearl-y texture a bit off-putting at times. But they're so good for you, especially if you're vegetarian!

Chia seeds aren't an Aztec superfood for nothing - they're loaded with brain-boosting healthy fats and they come with a nice antioxidant and fiber punch, too.



But a food can be as healthy as it likes and if it's not yummy, I'm still not eating it. So when I discovered Chia Powder, which is even more concentrated awesome antioxidant, Omega fatty acid nutrition, I was pretty excited.

Chia Powder is a powder, meaning that you don't have that pearly consistency. You can whip some up chia pudding style, but I have a better idea.



You can make a single-serving Chia Green Tea Breakfast Cake in just five minutes in your microwave!

Microwave Chia Green Tea Breakfast Cake (Serves 1)

Ingredients:

* 2 Tbsp. Chia Powder
* 2 Tbsp. Flour (of choice, I used whole wheat pastry)
* 1 tsp. baking powder
* 1 tsp. matcha (optional, but it won't be chia green tea breakfast cake without it)
* 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
* 1 Tbsp. Canola Oil
* 1 Tbsp. Agave Syrup (or honey, molasses, sugar, coconut sugar, etc.)
* 1/3 c. almond milk (or other milk of choice, but this is vegan if you choose a non-dairy one)
* Dash of salt

1) Combine everything in a microwave safe dish. Don't overmix.

2) Microwave for 5 minutes, or until set in the center.

3) Top with almond milk, frozen fruit, fresh fruit, nut butters, peanut sauce, pancake syrup, whipped cream, ice cream, chocolate, coconut cream, coconut cream/almond milk blend....the options are endless!



And you can play around with mix-ins. Above is a variation where I added 1/2 a chopped zucchini to the mix - and it turned out excellently! Just be sure to decrease the liquid!

Or, if you want it more bread-y (as in, so you can actually pick it up and spread your Nutella on it!), decrease the milk to 1/4 cup and swap out 1Tbsp. Chia Seed powder for 1Tbsp. whole Chia Seeds.

Or, as in the loveliness above, you could swap the milk and oil for TWO tablespoons of cashew butter and a handful of spinach (pureed - don't use more than a cup of spinach pre-pureeing).

For a chocolaty treat, sub 1 Tbsp. of Chatfield's Carob Powder for the matcha and sub coconut oil for the canola oil.

It's like a sweet, healthy brownie that you can eat for breakfast. Carob is naturally sweet, so it's great when you're making a chocolaty vegan dish where there's no cream to cancel cocoa powder's bitterness. It also has a little extra flavor that cacao doesn't have. Almost like a little caramel?

YUM. YUM. YUM. It's filling, the texture is satisfying like a regular microwave breakfast cake, and it packs a mean chia punch.

But really? The main reason to eat this is that it's so delicious. As in, I wake up craving this. I ate it for five days in a row and was almost sad when Sunday came and I had plans to meet up with friends for brunch - because I missed my yummy breakfast cake .

But don't feel too bad for me, the blueberry pancakes I ordered weren't too shabby, either ;)

Anyway, Navitas Naturals also stocks a lot of other delicious superfoods, in addition to Chia Seeds and Chia Powder.

Like Cacao Nibs and Cacao Sweet Nibs.

Ever since I discovered Cacao Nibs this summer, it's been love.

Actually, that's a lie - the first time I ate them, I thought they were weird. But after that?



Soooo good. I eat them on ice cream, yogurt, granola, sandwiches, in cereal, and pretty much on any-/everything. It adds intense chocolate flavor and a nice crunch to anything.



Like this interesting mini-snack bowl of random stuff there. See the freeze dried strawberries and corn? That might be a bowl of randomness, but it's a bowl of delicious nutritious randomness!

Cacao nibs, trail mix, and cereal (I mixed Quaker uncooked quick oats, Kellog's Raisin Bran, and Sunbelt Bakery Granola) make a tasty late-night study snack. The cacao add that extra something :)

Don't think that eating Cacao Nibs will be like eating a chocolate bar - it's not (though the Cacao Sweet Nibs are like healthy, more flavorful and natural chocolate sprinkles). But then again, they also don't have the nutritional stats of a chocolate bar. My interpretation? I get to have these + the daily chocolate = more chocolate for me!

Now that's a winning equation.

Also, notice those handy little windows in the bottom? The Chia Seed and Chia Powder baggies have them, too. It's a great way to keep an eye on when you're running low on your favorite stuff, so that you can stock up again before you run out!

The Cacao Nibs and the Chia Powder and now pantry staples for me :)

Cereal with cacao nibs, freeze dried raspberries, and a Quest Cravings Peanut Butter Cup Protein Bar

For a ready-snack, they make some pretty awesome high fiber, vitamin-rich, gluten-free vegan superfood power snack bites!

Whew, that's a mouthful!

And in case you don't have super-sight and need a closer photo of the ingredients list to look at all the healthy, natural ingredients in the power snacks:

They're dense, sweet, not too sticky, and very delicious!

I love them by themselves as a portable study snack to sneak into the library or lecture (shh), or crumbled on greek yogurt.

The Cacao Goji Superfood Power Snacks are my favorite! Surprise, surprise :P

With cacao nibs for that chocolate fix.

But the blueberry hemp ones didn't stick around too long, either -yum!

Have you ever tried cacao nibs?

What's your favorite breakfast at the moment?

Where do you stand on carob?