Using Flax Seed Meal

The taste of freshly ground flax meal is nutty and delicious, plus it's loaded with essential omega-3 fatty acids.  Buy whole organic flax seeds in bulk from a health food store (they're inexpensive) and grind in small batches in a coffee grinder.  Some blenders work, but I have an inexpensive Cuisinart coffee grinder that grinds the seeds to a perfect meal.  Grind 1/2 to 1 cup at a time and keep the ground meal in the refrigerator or freezer, because it chemically reacts with oxygen  at warm temperatures and gets rancid easily.

Sprinkle flax meal on salads, cooked vegetables, soups, or stews.  It adds a nice flavor to most main dishes, so experiment.  You can also bake flax meal in muffins, but they should be eaten quickly because the oils are made even more fragile by cooking.  My husband and I eat flax meal with yogurt.  It's a treat!  I eat it with low fat yogurt (see recipe below) and my husband who has a dairy allergy eats it with tofu yogurt (recipe below).  Commercial tofu yogurts are often high in fat and are not nearly as delicious as this recipe.

Yogurt and Flax Meal

Mix together:

2/3 cup low fat yogurt
1 teaspoon real maple syrup
a few drops of vanilla or lemon extract (I like McCormack's)

When this is well mixed, add 2 tablespoons of flax meal and mix.

Tofu Yogurt and Flax Meal

If you'd like to use more soy in your diet or can't digest dairy products, try this:

1 package or 15-16 ounces tofu (I use Nasoya enriched firm)
2-3 Tablespoons real maple syrup
1/4-1/2 lemon extract or vanilla extract

Whip this in a Cuisinart food processor until it's smooth and creamy, similar to yogurt.  Mix 1/2 -2/3 cup of the tofu yogurt with 2 tablespoons ground flax meal.  Tofu yogurt will keep 2 or 3 days in the refrigerator.