Cha-cha-cha chia!

I'm not one for fads, but I have to say I have gotten totally sucked into the chia seed craze.  I'm so addicted to the chia seed energy cubes from City Market (dates, chia seeds, coconut...YUM).  Last week, Mindy - my raw food bestie - brought over some chia seed pudding to share with me.  It was a delicious blend of chia seeds soaked in almond milk, maple syrup, banana, and cashews.  The soaked chia seeds have a tapioca-like texture, which I loved.  Teo and Sapphie gobbled it down too! I was hooked.  I immediately purchased some organic white chia seeds and today, had two helpings of the most amazing treat for breakfast (Kevin did too!).  Here's my recipe, which I modified from one I found online.  It is raw, vegan, healthy, very filling, and SO easy!! Here I combined orange with cranberry - one of my favorite combos - but you can do whatever you want. Next time I might try cinnamon raisin.  Also I bet lemon zest with dried blueberries would be perfect in the summer...the possibilities are endless!



Ingredients:
2 1/4 cups soy milk (actually you can use whatever milk you like.  I prefer soy because of the creamy texture)
1/4 teaspoon almond extract (or vanilla, or any extract, depending on the flavor you're going for)
a sprinkle of powdered ginger
1/4 to 1/2 cup of maple syrup
2/3 cup chia seeds
a teaspoon of orange zest
1/4 cup dried cranberries
1/4 cup chopped raw unsalted pistachios
1/4 cup wide-flake unsweetened coconut

In a medium bowl, combine the soy milk, maple syrup, almond extract, and ginger powder.  Whisk to combine. Add the chia seeds and orange zest and whisk until to fully combined. Cover the bowl and refrigerate at least 5 hours (overnight is better). When ready to serve, add dried cranberries, pistachios, and coconut, and stir well. Serve and enjoy!!

Softing

In my family, many of us like to do something we call "softing." Softing describes a soothing activity that involves rubbing something between your fingers, and it often is accompanied by thumb sucking.  Sometimes it's a scarf, or a hankercheif, and often for us girls (actually my dad too), it was our hair. 
It has been really fascinating for me to see both of my children inherit the need for softing.  With Sapphie it wasn't totally obvious; when she was a newborn and crying, she always calmed down if I shoved a silk scarf into her hands (when we went running, we always brought the silk scarf in case she had a screaming fit).  As she got older, she liked to rub the skin of her neck between her fingers and I still catch her doing it sometimes.  But I've never seen her show much interest in hair, or blankets.   
With Teo, it was clear from the start that he was a passionate softer.  He has always rubbed my hair between his fingers while he's nursing.  If I turn to look at him, he angrily pushes my face away so that he can reach my hair.  It's really funny and so cute.   

 

He has also become extremely attached to two blankets made for he and Sapphie - both of which he has now claimed -by Lauren's mother.  If we try to put him to bed with anything else, he cries until we bring his blankets out of the laundry! As soon as he sees them, he calms down and starts quickly rubbing them between his fingers.  The other day, I was desperate to wash them and so I gave him cashmere.  Would you believe he looked at it, touched it, then growled and hit the blanket?! I could not believe a child of mine would turn down cashmere! Here he is sleeping on one of his blankets:   

 He also loves to ride on my shoulders or in the ergo on my back, because there he can easily reach my hair and rub it between his fingers.  He also likes to lean in and give a hug every now and then.  

What a little lover.