Chia seeds are a nutritious way to round out your diet.  I’ve written about their health benefits before, and they’re remarkably well rounded.

They’re also unique for their cooking qualities.  They gelatinize in liquid, which makes them fun to use in drinks and certain types of desserts.

Chia seeds are grown in southern Mexico and the principal culinary use of chia seeds is in a drink is called Chia  Fresca.  It’s a simple drink that consists of only lemons, water, and chia seeds in its simplest form.

This drink is a variation on the original that’s a bit more energetic and fruitier.

What are its health benefits?

• A good energy lift! I take this in the morning and always notice a nice boost in energy levels throughout the day
• Good blend of healthy fats, protein, and fiber.  One glass is probably about 50-60 calories, most of which come from omega-3 fatty acids and chia protein, which is fairly complete.

Here’s how to make it.

Ingredients

Start off with the following ingredients (pictured above):

• 6-8 glasses of water
• juice of 2-3 lemons
• 1 tbsp stevia (use other sugar substitue if you’d like)
• handful of cranberries
• 1 tbsp green tea powder (also use Incredible Greens for those of you have it).
• 1/2 C chia seeds

Mix all of the ingredients into the jar and let sit for about two hours.  It takes about this long for the chia seeds to gelatinize into the liquid.  I like to add some lemons into the drink for garnish as well.

When I’m finished making it my pitcher looks like this:

I have made this recipe about 5-6 times, and I like it quite a bit.  It’s slightly sweet, slightly tart, energetic, and very easy to make.  No reason you shouldn’t be able to do it in about 5-10 minutes, tops.

Enjoy!