Sometimes cooking can be complex and require so many different ingredients that you just quietly back away from it like a rabid dog.  But then sometimes you come across a dish that is so stupidly simple you smack yourself over the head and groan, “Duhhhhhhh!!!” out loud to an empty kitchen.

This is one of those recipes.

I overcooked my toast this morning so it was pretty dry.  I hate wasting food, so instead I wanted to try to put something on it to salvage the situation.  All I had was some nut butter or salsa but I just wasn’t in the mood.  What I really needed was some jam.

(Side note: What’s the difference between jam and jelly?  I’ve always used the two interchangeably and thought it was a regional dialect thing.  Kind of like bubbler.  Did you know that in Wisconsin a “drinking fountain” is called a “bubbler?”  Now that was an interesting conversation on my first day of college.  Anyways, I learned that jam is made from fruit and jelly is from juice.)

I digress. Back to my breakfast dilemma.

I looked in my freezer and saw a bag of frozen berries.  Then I looked in my cabinet and saw my bulk bag of chia seeds.

….I looked at the freezer……  Looked at the bag….. Freezer…  BOOM.  LIGHTBULB!

I can make some jam!

In a small dish I heated about 1/4 a cup of frozen berries for 2 minutes in the microwave.

When it beeped, I tossed in a teaspoon of chia seeds, plus a squirt of lemon, mixed, and then let it sit for ~2 minutes.  As the berries cooled, the chia seeds expanded and soon I was left with…..

INSTANT sugar-free vegan jam!  Toast saved!

The jam was perfect.  Chunks of fruit, a slight twangy bite from the lemon, all held together nicely by the chia seeds.  If you prefer something more sweet, feel free to add a touch of honey (remember, I don’t consider honey a non-vegan food).  But seriously.  That’s it.  Just three ingredients for healthy vegan jam.  sugar-free, simple, savory, scrumptious, head-smackingly-simple vegan jam.

Buen provecho!

Becca