This week has been a bit different for me with my baby recovering from her surgery. I have enjoyed spending time cuddling my baby as she healed. We have watched a lot of Aladdin, Doc McStuffins, and Frozen. One of the things I have had less time to do is cook. We have had a little cooler weather so I made soup and decided to make a quick loaf of artisan bread to heat the house up a bit. But dinner’s have been a little crazier than normal.
I am usually not good at meal planning. I buy a lot of fruits and vegetables based on what is on sale, what looks prettiest at the farmer’s market, and what is not growing in my garden. See really planned out! Then about 4pm each night I get cranky, grab a cup of coffee and hit the Pinterest boards for inspiration. I usually manage to throw something together based on what veggies are closest to going bad on me. Now don’t get me wrong, we eat pretty good. And I love cooking (usually). But I seem to work best under pressure so as long as the fridge is full I can get a great meal on the table.
This week a few things escaped by perfect plan and I found some hidden blueberries in the back of my fridge that were getting really soft. They needed to find a purpose and quick! But my baby was real cranky and didn’t want to let me do much. Again, inspiration hit me. I’ve always wanted to try out chia seed jam but hated to use perfectly good berries to do so.
And the only thing I love better than blueberries is lemon and blueberries. Lemon and blueberries were a match made in heaven in my world! I love the sweet tanginess they create. Lemon blueberry muffins… amazing! Lemon blueberry pancakes… perfection! So why not lemon blueberry jam?
This jam is so easy to make it almost seems silly to take pictures of the process, but I tried to get a couple for you. Start by zesting 1 lemon and putting the zest in a jar. I love my microplane zester so much. I use it for zesting citrus all the time, but it is also awesome for finely grating garlic, ginger, etc. I use it every time I make salad dressings for this. It’s an awesome tool and pretty inexpensive (I think I paid $7 for mine) so if you want to make lots of delicious stuff from scratch go get one 🙂
Enough zester love, onto the jam…
Juice your lemon and pour it over 1 cup blueberries. Smash up the berries to the consistency you want. I used my immersion blender and pulsed it in the berries and lemon juice a few times. I was left with some chunkiness to the jam, and it only took me about 5 seconds. (P.S. My immersion blender is another kitchen love, but that story will have to be told later).
Put your smashed berries in your jar with the lemon zest, add 1 Tbsp chia seeds and a little sweetener if you want (I added 4 drops stevia extract which equals about 1 tsp sugar, you can use sugar or nothing). Stir it all together and put it in the fridge for 30ish minutes.
And that is it. Jam so easy anyone can make it.
This stuff is really amazing. So delicious. The flavors of the fresh fruit really show through. And the little tang of the lemon is perfection. For breakfast we enjoyed my healthy everyday pancakes with jam and a little whipped cream. That’s a summer breakfast I can get behind 🙂
And for lunch, why not go European with some jam and artisan bread? That’s what we did right after taking these pictures, then we ran off to pick fresh blackberries at my brother-in-law’s house. Many more summer berry recipes are coming 🙂
Blueberry Lemon Chia Seed Jam
Ingredients
- 1 cup blueberries
- 1 lemon
- 1 Tbsp chia seeds
- Stevia extract or other sweetener (to taste)
Instructions
- Zest the lemon and add zest to a jar.
- Juice the lemon. Pour juice over blueberries. Smash blueberries to desired texture.
- Put juice/blueberry mixture in jar with zest. Add chia seeds and sweetener. Stir.
- Refrigerate for 30-60 minutes until thick.
- Enjoy!
I’m linking up to some of my favorite Link Parties.
This looks like a recipe I would like to try with the chia seeds, I have read so many good things about them, what a great way to incorporate into a breakfast. Wonder what this would be like on plain yogurt?
Would love to have you stop by and share on my #OMHGWW this week.
I have pinned to refer back to.
Have a great day!
KArren
I bet the chia jam on yogurt would be delicious. It’s just like fruit, but thicker!
This jam looks so delicious. We love berries and lemon together so this jam is right up our alley!!
Thank you Alicia! Berries and lemon are a match made in heaven 🙂
This looks amazing! I’m with you, I love the blueberry/lemon combo. Funny coincidence: I actually tried making chia seed jam for the first time this week too. I did sea buckthorn berries and sweetener, and chia. I love it! I don’t feel so guilty eating jam with the chia. way healthier!
I’ve never had the sea buckthorn berries, something I’ll have to put on my list. I agree about no guilt, I usually don’t eat jam cause I know how much sugar is in it, but now I don’t have to. And PB & jelly is one of my favorite things (I guess I’ll always be a kid at heart)!
I’ve been wanting to make some jam using chia seeds. It sounds soooo good! Blueberries are my favorite fruit right now, so this needs to happen.
I find it takes me months to get to making recipes I find. You should definitely try this one, and it’ll only take a few minutes and is really worth it 🙂
Not only does your Jam look scrumptious but it’s so easy to make with only 4 ingredients! Homemade is always the best too! So glad you shared with us at Merry Monday!
Thanks Shirley! I agree homemade is always the best 🙂