Cherry chia jam

I found some lovely cherries at the market and ended up buying a few too many. Though we are loving eating them, I felt like making something using cherries. I already baked a cake last weekend so skipped that thought. Today morning we were having toast for breakfast and thought of jam and toast and that was it, cherry jam! :).

I have seen quite a few chia jam recipes doing the rounds so thought I'll give it a go too. Unlike a store bought jam, this one has very less sugar. Although the cherries I got were quite sweet, I wanted to make the jam a little sweeter so I have added some date syrup but you could use other sweetners or skip it completely. The jam takes hardly anytime to make. The only time consuming bit was the pitting of the cherries but you could just use pitted ones. 

Ingredients

250 gms cherries (pitted and roughly chopped)

3 tbsp chia seeds

1 tbsp organic date syrup

1 star anise (optional)

Method

In a heavy bottomed pan, add the pitted cherries and star anise and cook for about 5-7 minutes till the cherries start to soften.

Remove the star anise and mash the cherries lightly with the back of a spoon. 

Add the date syrup and give it a mix. Take it off the heat and add the chia seeds. Spoon the jam into clean airtight jars and leave to set in the refrigerator, for at least an hour.

Smother a toast with the jam and eat! :)

Walnut and date protein balls

I like to keep healthy snack options around so I don't binge on something unhealthy. My go to snack is a few mixed nuts. My little one has started liking them too now. She is not a fan of walnuts but I want her to eat those too since they are a good source of omega 3. So I made these walnut and date balls today and she absolutely loved them and kept asking for more! These are quite filling so you won't end up overeating anyway but if you do, they are healthy and nutritious too. These are also refined sugar-free! I have added a little bit of date syrup to make it easy to blend and shape the balls but you could just use 3/4 cup dates instead and add a tsp of coconut oil if it isn't coming together.

Ingredients

1 cup walnuts

1/2 cup cashews

1 tbsp Chia seeds

1/2 cup pitted dates

1 tbsp 100% date syrup 

2 tsp raw cocoa powder

Method

Add the walnuts, cashews, chia seeds, cocoa powder, dates and the date syrup to a food processor and blend until combined. Shape into balls and chill. You can also make them into bars - pat the mixture flat onto a baking tray, cool and cut into bars or bite size pieces.