I absolutely love any kind of pick-your-own fruit. This summer I got to pick peaches with my mom when she visited me here in the Jerz and it was lovely. You definitely get a good bang for your buck and you can use the fruit for cooking and baking and so much more.

I wish I had been able to go raspberry picking because it’s one of my favorites. However, for this scenario we can just pretend I went raspberry picking.

I had seen chia seed jam recipes floating around the interwebs and was quite intrigued. They were too simple to believe. I’d seen the process of making homemade jams and it was always so complicated so how could just 2 ingredients make something so similar.

The magic of the mighty little chia seed. They have the ability to soak up multiple times their size in water and create a gel, similar to that of a jelly or jam. They’re packed with antioxidants, Omega-3’s and calcium! Boom.

I used frozen berries from Trader Joe’s and let them defrost. After throwing all the ingredients into my magic bullet and blending for about 30 seconds, I added a touch (1 tbsp) of agave for sweetness. I decided to make a small batch because it won’t last as long as traditional jam without the extra sugar and gelatin. This jam is great on toast and crackers but I’ve been eating it with my yogurt and granola.

What I really want to make with this jam are these delicious looking Almond Thumbprint Cookies. Like I’ve mentioned, although I’m not a vegan or gluten-free I do like experimenting with vegan and gf recipes. Do you have any favorites? The best part about vegan, gf recipes are they are mostly nuts, which I can totally dig.

Your Turn:

• What’s your favorite kind of jam?
• Do you ever experiment with vegan or gf recipes for fun?