BLUEBERRY BLACKBERRY SORBET w/ CHIA PUDDING + TAHINI


Back at it again with more blueberries to make your heart sing. I think by the end of this summer I will actually transform INTO a blueberry because of how many I have thus far consumed. I am not mad about this: if the blueberry is my true form, I am 100% open to it.

In this recipe, I am combining blueberries with another food of the goddesses - the blackberry - into luscious sorbet and serving it alongside creamy chia pudding, drizzled in rich tahini. For obvious reasons, I added chunks of dark chocolate. This is a bit of an uncommon combination but it works wonderfully. So wonderfully, in fact, that I ended up eating the whole bowl myself even though I had initially planned to share with a friend. Woops. I love the variety of textures, temperatures and colours in this dish. I hope you do too. *smiley face*

Chia pudding is a mainstay recipe in my house, it makes for a terrific breakfast topped with fresh fruit and nuts. Chia seeds are rich in fibre and can help with digestion. And you can bet all summer long I have been making - and will continue to make - fruit sorbets, sweetened with just the fruit itself, a lil stevia and occasionally some lucuma powder. Lucuma is a popular flavouring for ice cream in Peru, where it's native to. It's a fruit that has mapley flavour. You truly do not need to add refined sugar to sorbet to make it absolutely drool-worthy. It's the perfect snack to cool down my body after a long bike ride in the summer sun, or as a meal on days it's just too dang hot to cook. I like to sometimes drizzle sorbet with almond butter or tahini to add protein, iron, fibre and decadence.

I have been picking so many berries around my house lately. It's the season for it and I am trying to take advantage while they're here. There are some red huckleberries on a lake trail down the street, though not enough to make a harvest of. Thimble berries are here and there, but they are quite fragile so I tend to just eat them as I pick them. There are blackberries in abundance EVERYWHERE. Most of them that are easy to access are an invasive species - the Himalayan blackberry - but of course there are several blackberry varieties that are native to the pacific northwest. And finally: the humble blueberry. The bushes in our front yard are always so good to us and this year is no exception. I have picked pounds and pounds and I know there are many harvests yet to come.

Speaking of big harvests: the Canadian south west is the largest producing region in the world of highbush blueberries. (Highbush blueberries are plump and larger than wild, lowbush blueberries.) If you live in BC, the blueberries available to you are most likely gonna be grown locally. If you are interested in more blueberry recipes, check out the BC Blueberry Council's recipe index.

I am grateful for blueberries: they literally give my life. I am grateful to the indigenous peoples of "British Columbia" (i.e. the west coast of Turtle Island) for teaching the first white settlers how and what to eat here. These territories are unceded and I aim to tread lightly in this magic, nourishing place in my time here. The First Nations of "BC" have so much knowledge around traditional native foods and food harvesting: their voices and wisdom must be raised and respected.

This post is sponsored by the BC Blueberry Council (thank you!) because I have bills to pay. All opinions are my own.

See other recipes I've done with the BC Blueberry Council below + scroll down a tad further for today's recipe:
- VEGAN BLUEBERRY SHAKE!
- MINI LEMON, CASHEW + BLUEBERRY CHEESECAKES
- BLUEBERRY HAZELNUT OAT BARS
- SPICED PECAN & BLUEBERRY CHEESECAKES
- VANILLA CHIA OAT PUDDING with LOCAL BC BLUEBERRIES


BLUEBERRY BLACKBERRY SORBET w/ CHIA PUDDING + TAHINI
[ serves 1 or 2 ]

Chia pudding:
1/3 cup rolled oats
2 tablespoons chia seeds
1 cup coconut milk
1 tablespoon maple syrup
1 tablespoon sunflower seeds
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 heaping tablespoon dried cranberries
1/4 cup blueberries

Berry sorbet:
1/2 cup frozen banana chunks
1/4 cup frozen blackberries
1/2 cup frozen blueberries
Pinch stevia powder
1 teaspoon lime juice
1 teaspoon lucuma powder (optional)
Splash of coconut milk, if needed or desired

Toppings:
2 tablespoons tahini
Dark chocolate 
Extra sunflower seeds and berries

To make the chia pudding: stir together all the ingredients in a bowl. Let it sit in the fridge for at least 20 minutes so the chia seeds can thicken the mixture into a consistency like rice pudding. Ideally, let it sit overnight in the fridge, covered.

To make the sorbet: blend all ingredients together until smooth and thick (like... sorbet).

Assembly: scoop your pudding into the bottom of a bowl and top with scoops of the sorbet, a drizzle of tahini and chocolate!