ON THE TABLE
Breakfast with the Season’s Fruit Fresh cashew milk and chia pudding By Simona Carini
onthetable@northcoastjournal.com
D
uring the recent 15 months of isolation, outdoor physical exercise helped me manage my anxiety. I am deeply grateful that I could spend time in the forest, on the beach, on the water. My family in Italy, locked inside their apartment, provided me with a comparison that magnified my gratitude. Usually, I exercise early in the morning. Then, before I start my workday, I enjoy a nourishing breakfast, which includes chia pudding. Chia seeds contain healthy omega-3 fatty acids, protein, fiber and calcium. When mixed with liquid, they soften and develop a mucilaginous coating that gives the resulting combination a gel texture. Add their mild flavor to the mix and the result is a nutritious food that is an ideal canvas for creative composition. It has become a kind of ritual for me to end the day making chia pudding so I only need to remember to take it out of the refrigerator the following morning (usually before I go out, since I prefer to eat it at room temperature), then top it with the fruit of my choice and enjoy it. You can make a simple version of chia pudding or enrich it until it becomes an fine dessert. Mine is on the simple end of the spectrum. Besides chia seeds, the pudding includes sweetener, liquid and topping. The combinations are vast and it is hard to get bored. For sweetener, I like monk fruit, which is plant-derived and has no aftertaste. For liquid, I favor cashew milk. Originally, I purchased unsweetened, cashew-only milk, then I started experimenting with making it at home. After trying a couple of different methods, I have settled on a method from the cookbook Go Dairy Free by Alisa Fleming: I grind the raw cashews and blend them with water. Since I don’t drink the cashew milk, I don’t need to filter it. One advantage of making cashew milk at home
is that I can make a smaller amount more often and always have it fresh. Seasonal fruit is my topCrispy, creamy chia pudding for breakfast. ping of choice. Photo by Simona Carini Currently, it is ’erry chia pudFruit of choice (e.g., berries, cherries, ding time — peaches) that’s not a typo, but my way of referring ½ tablespoon sliced almonds, toasted in a to berries and cherries together. I am an dry skillet (optional) equal opportunity ’erry eater; I like them all, add them to a lot of dishes and often eat them straight from the container. I get For the cashew milk: my fill at the market, then each day I make 2 ounces raw cashews a different chia pudding, with a single fruit 1 ½ cups water or a few. While small, tender berries (like blueTo make the cashew milk, finely grind berries, loganberries, raspberries) can be the cashews in a spice grinder or small added directly to the pudding and mixed food processor. Place the ground cashews in, other ’erries benefit from a little prepaand the water in a blender and blend well. ration: Slice strawberries, pit and halve or Pour into a glass jar, seal and refrigerate quarter cherries. Use the same idea with until ready to use. other fruit (peaches, kiwis, persimmons, Several hours before you plan to eat etc.), peeling and/or cutting them into the pudding (or the night before), place small pieces as needed. the chia seeds and sweetener in a 4-ounce Between exercise and work, I carve ramekin or serving glass. Add the vanilla out a small sliver of time to enjoy the extract. Shake the jar containing the calight sweetness, creamy texture and fruity shew milk well, then pour 1⁄3 cup onto the flavor, savoring it before turning my attenchia seeds. Stir well. Let stand for 5 mintion to the daily to-do list. utes and stir again, making sure the seeds are not clumped. Cover and refrigerate. Take the pudding out of the refrigerator ahead of time so it’s at your preferred Serves 1; multiply as needed. temperature when served. Prepare the fruit. Peel, pit and cut the Ingredients: fruit, as needed — small berries are fine 1 tablespoon chia seeds as they are. Top the pudding with the fruit 2 teaspoons monk fruit sweetener or and optional sliced almonds, and serve. ● other sweetener of choice 1⁄8 teaspoon vanilla extract Simona Carini (she/her) also writes 1⁄3 cup unsweetened cashew milk (recipe about her adventures in the kitchen on below) her blog www.pulcetta.com.
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Chia Pudding
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northcoastjournal.com • Thursday, July 1, 2021 • NORTH COAST JOURNAL
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