Strawberry coconut chia vanilla compote

Hi guys! How was your weekend? Ours was pretty nice, enjoyed the weather after a Saturday of staying in, felt a little under the weather and took some precautions to prevent myself from getting ill. Ever since I’m a nanny I’ve never been ill that often, ha :( I guess it’s a mixture of sick babies and too little sleep, being a night owl with ADD and NO early bird by far.

Now, on topic; what are you looking at?? My ever first homemade JAM :D Never thought of making jam or compote before, but goodness; WHY NOT???? It’s so so tasty, and healthy too! And without all the e-numbers and loads of sugar, who doesn’t want that? It’s actually a strawberry jam with coconut milk, chia seeds and a vanilla bean. So lush!

What you need for 1 large jar (I actually had 3 tablespoons left but that went down my belly instantly :P);

• 1 pound / 500 grams strawberries in quarters
• about 100 ml coconut milk or cream, or to taste
• 5 to 6 tablespoons of chiaseeds
• 1/2 vanilla bean or 1 used
• sweetener of choice to taste, I didn’t use any

Directions:

1. Heat up the strawberries on medium fire, when they get soft you can cook for about 5 minutes. You can either cook it longer for them to break down or do it like me and mash it until your desired mash. I like some little chunks in it, so I didn’t mash it all soft.
2. Add the coconut milk or cream with the bean and let it cook for another minute. If you wish to add sweetener, add that as well to taste.
3. Take the pan from the stove, spoon in the chia seeds and let it cool down for about 10 minutes. As most of you know the chia seeds will make it a nice jelly structure which creates a nice pudding or jam. Add more chia seeds when it’s still too fluid and let it sit for another 10 minutes.
4. If you wish to store it in a jar just like I did, make sure to cook out the jar first with boiled water to kill all bacteria. Then fill the jar almost to the lid up with the bean for even more vanilla flavor, close the jar, put it upside down for 5 minutes so the heat can push out the air, then turn it straight up again and let it cool down on a shelf. As I didn’t add sugar I will only keep it for about a week, just to be sure (I will add it as an oatmeal topping or on my spelt cakes with cottage cheese) and store it in the fridge after opening it. If you want to do it properly and make sure to save it much longer, their are instructions on the internet how to do it. So cool! I just have to figure out what sweetener I can use instead of the old school white sugar…

Enjoy babes! Happy Monday, a new week means new chances and most certainly new energy =))

ღ,
Nadja