In my quest to figure out to do with more berries than we needed, I realized I could easily make homemade jam using chia seeds as the thickener. This not only made things really easy, but it also added a lot of great healthy benefits (chia seeds are a new super food Drew and I have happened upon through some of the food documentaries that we've watched. If you're not familiar, do a google search of "chia seeds" and you will find a ton of info on them). I figured I would try one batch. It only took 15 minutes of my time, so I figured even if it was something I didn't want to try again, I wasn't wasting an entire afternoon. The result ended up being something that even my kids will eat, which makes me really happy, since we eat PB&J sandwiches pretty much every day.
3 cups fresh or frozen blueberries
1/4 cup honey
1.5 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup chia seeds
Combine the honey and berries in a small saucepan and bring to a boil, stirring frequently. Once the blueberries become softer, I like to press them against the pan so that there's not a ton of huge berry chunks in our jam. About 7-8 minutes after heating, the berries and honey should be pretty liquid. At that point combine the vanilla and chia seeds, and allow to simmer for 10 more minutes, or until the mixture becomes thickened. Remove from heat and allow to cool before storing in an air tight container in the refrigerator.
We use this on the kids PB&J sandwiches, and Drew likes to mix it into some greek yogurt as a yummy snack. SOOOO much healthier than the store bought jams and spreads you can buy, and delicious too!
(This post is linking up with House of Rose for the Inspire Me Please link-up)
