Chia Eggs: How to Replace Poultry Eggs with a Plant-based Alternative

[nelsonic]

This is a micro piece of content that we can create in around T1h.

Todo

Research

• [ ] Take a look at the existing web pages/sites listed on the first page of Google results (max 8)
  • [ ] Use an incognito Chrome (or Brave) window to avoid any cookies/trackers
  • [ ] Screenshot the first thing you see when you open the page e.g. the annoying cookie modal/prompt below.

    See: https://www.take-a-screenshot.org/mac.html

  • [ ] Once you've dismissed the cookie noise, take another screenshot of actual content to show the layout, any Ads, and show how much cruft there is on the page. i.e. do they get straight to the point or is there a lot of noise?

Create!

Once you have looked at the available top recipes for a Chia Egg and uploaded all the screenshots for the research.

• [ ] Plan the photograph we are going to take for our recipe:
  • [ ] What background do you want to use, do you want anything else in the frame?
• [ ] Take the photos of raw ingredients, process and final result
• [ ] Do any necessary post-processing of images e.g. PhotoShop/LightRoom
• [ ] Upload photos to GitHub (this issue/thread)
• [ ] Write up the recipe!
  • [ ] Ingredients list
  • [ ] Process/steps
  • [ ] Any insightful tips/tricks

Once we have the content, we can figure out how to host it in the most SEO friendly way. 💭 Currently considering WordPress: https://github.com/nelsonic/learn-wordpress/issues/5

Context

At present, if we search for "how to make chia egg" on Google: https://www.google.com/search?q=how+to+make+chia+egg

The top result is: https://minimalistbaker.com/make-chia-egg/

But if you want actually view the content, you first need to either "Accept All:

The Green Accept All Call to Action (CTA) button in the Pop-up/Modal is a Dark Pattern designed to erode your privacy. If you click the button they want you click you will be agreeing to share your browser data with 133 3^rd Parties (see below).

You can see the list by clicking on "Manage Your Privacy" > "VENDORS":

1. 33Across
2. A.Mob
3. Active Agent (ADITION technologies GmbH)
4. AcuityAds Inc.
5. Ad360
6. ADARA MEDIA UNLIMITED
7. AdElement
8. Adform
9. Adobe Advertising Cloud
10. Adobe Advertising Cloud
11. Adobe Audience Manager, Adobe Experience Platform
12. Adobe Business Catalyst
13. Adobe Spark
14. AdTheorent, Inc
15. Akamai
16. Amazon
17. Amazon A9
18. Amazon Advertising
19. Amobee Inc.
20. AnyClip
21. Axel Springer Teaser Ad GmbH
22. BeeswaxIO Corporation
23. BIDSWITCH GmbH
24. Bidtellect, Inc
25. BidTheatre AB
26. Bing
27. Blis Media Limited
28. BritePool Inc
29. Carbon (AI) Limited
30. Centro
31. Centro
32. Chocolate Platform
33. Cloud Technologies S.A.
34. CMI Marketing, Inc. d/b/a CafeMedia
35. Comscore B.V.
36. Crimtan Holdings Limited
37. Criteo SA
38. DeepIntent, Inc.
39. Delta Air Lines
40. Delta Projects AB
41. DeltaX
42. Dentsu London Limited
43. Digital East GmbH
44. DoubleVerify Inc.​
45. dunnhumby Germany GmbH
46. DynAdmic
47. Emerse Sverige AB
48. EMX Digital LLC
49. Epsilon
50. Exponential Interactive, Inc d/b/a VDX.tv
51. Facebook
52. GetIntent
53. Google (non TCF)
54. Google Advertising Products
55. Google Analytics
56. Google Analytics (Privacy Friendly)
57. Google Maps
58. Google Optimize
59. Google ReCaptcha
60. Google Tag Manager
61. GumGum, Inc.
62. HUMAN
63. ID5 Technology Ltd
64. Index Exchange, Inc.
65. Integral Ad Science, Inc.
66. IPONWEB GmbH
67. Kargo Global Inc.
68. Kayzen
69. Knorex
70. Liftoff Mobile, Inc.
71. LinkedIn
72. LinkedIn Ireland Unlimited Company
73. LiquidM Technology GmbH
74. LiquidM Technology GmbH
75. LiveIntent
76. LiveRamp, Inc.
77. LoopMe Limited
78. Magnite CTV, Inc.
79. Magnite, Inc.
80. Magnite, Inc. (Outstream)
81. Market Resource Partners LLC
82. Media.net Advertising FZ-LLC
83. Mediakeys Platform
84. MediaMath, Inc.
85. mediarithmics SAS
86. Mobile Professionals BV
87. Nativo, Inc.
88. NeuStar, Inc.
89. NextRoll, Inc.
90. Nielsen DAR
91. Nielsen Marketing Cloud
92. OpenX
93. Oracle Data Cloud
94. Outbrain UK Ltd
95. PadSquad
96. Parrable
97. Platform161
98. Platform161 B.V.
99. Platform360
100. PubMatic, Inc.
101. PulsePoint
102. Quantcast International Limited
103. Rakuten Marketing LLC
104. remerge GmbH
105. Roxot
106. RTB House S.A.
107. Sharethrough, Inc
108. Sift Media, Inc
109. Simplifi Holdings Inc
110. Sizmek by Amazon
111. Smart Adserver
112. Sociomantic
113. Sonobi, Inc
114. Sovrn Holdings Inc
115. SpotX, Inc
116. StackAdapt
117. TabMo SAS
118. Taboola Europe Limited
119. TAPTAP Digital SL
120. Teads
121. The MediaGrid Inc.
122. The Procter & Gamble Company
123. The Trade Desk
124. travel audience GmbH
125. TripleLift, Inc.
126. Undertone
127. Unruly Group LLC
128. Xandr, Inc.
129. Yahoo
130. Yahoo EMEA Limited
131. Yieldmo, Inc.
132. Zemanta, Inc.
133. Zeta Global

I wish I was making this up. But I'm not. The default choice they want you to click "Accept All" will add so many trackers and share your data with so many Data Brokers that will then monitor your activities across the web. You might not care that other people know you have viewed a random recipe ... But ... you absolutely should care about your own privacy and that of other people!

SEO

Google likes these websites because they all use Google Analytics and display Ads. It will be interesting to see if we can "compete" with them given that we won't ever have Ads.

Anyway, let's create this recipe and piece of content so we can link to it! 🙏

[Stephanymtr]

There are loads of other egg replacement recipes too: ground flax seed, applesauce, mashed banana .... the list is endless 😆 This is a great guide for me to get started. I just downloaded Chrome. Let's do it!

[Stephanymtr]

The Pretty Bee

The next result is https://theprettybee.com/chia-egg/

There are multiple ads on this webpage

It is not a long recipe page, the four photos are what makes it long. However, it is a chia egg recipe literally just water and chia.... It should be short anyways.

The page contains a video on egg replacers... not just on chia egg. It is 35 seconds long, with annoying happy song in the background, no one is talking. You have no other option but to look at the screen and watch it. I personally prefer to play videos with someone talking in the background. It allows me to multitask in the kitchen.

Some of the intro questions: WHAT IS A CHIA EGG REPLACER? WHAT DOES A CHIA SEED EGG TASTE LIKE? DO CHIA SEEDS NEED TO BE GROUND UP BEFORE USING? HOW DO YOU MAKE A CHIA SEED EGG REPLACER?

recipe<<

They also share the nutritional value of a chia egg along with WHERE CAN YOU FIND SAFE CHIA SEEDS?

[nelsonic]

Wow ... all those Ads! 🤮 Just show us the content already ... 🙄 (thanks for capturing this. we can do so much better!)

[Stephanymtr]

Alphafoodie

The second result is https://www.alphafoodie.com/how-to-make-a-chia-egg/

Loads of ads!

They also have a video. It's an ASMR recipe style video. ASMR videos can be relaxing to watch for some people, but this one wasn't for me.. that sound of the metal spoon against the ceramic bowl 😱

They have about eight photos. This was surprisingly long considering how short this recipe is. some of the intro questions: WHAT IS A CHIA EGG? CHIA SEEDS VS. FLAX SEEDS HOW TO MAKE A CHIA EGG RECIPES & USES

[Stephanymtr]

I'm really curios to know how many people exit out of these pages with all these ads, videos and SO MANY pictures because of those 2-5 seconds ish that takes for everything to load. Not everyone has access to new devices/high speed internet 🤔 💭

[Stephanymtr]

Eating Bird Food

The third result is: https://www.eatingbirdfood.com/chia-egg/

If there was a contest for which of these websites had the most ads, I honestly wouldn't be able to tell. SO many ads! On top of all the ads, this page had a pop up email invite window.... what do we think about this?

This page has a beautiful theme, colour, font, AMAZING 4-5 photos... it's really pleasing to look at. I noticed all these pages have different size photos... some of them take up the entire page space.... and some don't...

Their intro questions:

What is a Chia Egg? Health Benefits of Chia Seeds Here’s What You Need Do the Chia Seeds Need to be Ground Up? How to Use Chia Eggs

[Stephanymtr]

Bob's Red Mill

The fourth result: https://www.bobsredmill.com/recipes/how-to-make/chia-seed-egg-replacer/

This one is a bit different than the others. Bob's Red Mill is an American brand of whole-grain foods. There are no ads, videos, tips/tricks, intro questions/bullet points. It's clean and straight to the point. There is only one picture.

[nelsonic]

Wow. up-sell central. 🙄 Very curious what all these pages look like on Mobile ... 📱 that's probably how most people will be viewing the content. 💭

[Stephanymtr]

Detoxinista

5th result: https://detoxinista.com/how-to-make-flax-eggs-or-chia-eggs/

ads per usual.

Even though we Googled "how to make chia eggs" the title on this blog is : How to make flax eggs (vegan egg sub)

Some of the intro questions: What is a Flax Egg? Do Flax Eggs Really Work? Flax eggs work well in: Flax eggs don’t work well in: How to Make a Flax Egg or Chia Egg To Make One Flax Egg combine: Recipes That Use Flax Eggs

recipe <<

they have 58 sec video with music in the background

Post recipe questions/bullet points: How do you use Flax Eggs in baking? Which recipes call for flax and chia eggs?

[Stephanymtr]

Namely Marly!

The 6th result is: https://namelymarly.com/chia-egg/

Loads of ads throughout the recipe:

It is a very long page considering the size of this recipe. They only have 4 photos (good quality), no video, but I believe the ads are what is making this long.

![Uploading Screenshot 2022-05-05 at 17.54.16.png…]()

Some their questions/ bullet points How to Make a Chia Egg Replacing Eggs in Baked Goods When to not use Chia Eggs] What is a chia egg? Do chia seeds need to be ground up before using? Can you replace flax egg with chia egg? Chia Benefits Ways to use a Chia Egg

[Stephanymtr]

Vegan Richa

The 7th result is: https://www.veganricha.com/recipe-pages/how-to-make-a-flax-egg-or-chia-egg/

It's pretty short page compared to the others I have shared above. The ads are what is making it a little long. They decided to post two recipes in one post: flax and chia eggs. I find the white background very plain and BORING!! 😆 It honestly makes me not want to read the content.

[nelsonic]

Wow. Ads are really obnoxious. 😕

[Stephanymtr]

Done!

Just going to add a few notes on the first one that Nelson posted: Minimalist Baker ( my fave<3) https://minimalistbaker.com/make-chia-egg/

load of ads, sadly... per usual

4 high quality photos.... I just think there is no need for a picture to take up SO MUCH space.... but that might be just me.

As you can see, there is not much writing... they have just a few sentences that answer simple questions like: what's a chia egg? how to make it? which recipes can you use chia egg ? That's it.

[nelsonic]

Yeah, having massive images is totally lame for the people viewing the content. Slow and wasteful. ⏳ Totally intrigued by the "Gelato University" ad you were served above ... 😜

[Stephanymtr]

Quick recap on what most of these websites/pages have in common:

• Introduction with questions/answer about the recipe
• Decent quality photos
• Ads throughout the entire page
• Recipe: Prep time Total time Servings Ingredients list Instructions some of them have short videos Nutrition facts A print and pin (Pinterest) button
• Link to other recipes/ social media accts
• Invitation to their email newsletter
• Comment section (I was very surprised to see so many comments)

Eating Bird Food impressed me with their cute and good looking website.

[Stephanymtr]

Here is my first draft with notes between parentheses.

Chia Eggs: How to Replace Poultry Eggs with a Plant-based Alternative

button: jump to recipe

Learn how to replace an egg using chia seeds. It’s quick and easy!

photo of ingredients

One of the biggest challenges most people face with plant-based baking is how to replace a traditional egg. Most baked goods such as cakes, brownies and cookies (Ideally, link these examples to the recipes we will already have “on file”) require eggs.

photo of ingredients

There are two forms of seeds that can help bind ingredients: flaxseed and chia seed.

photo of chia egg (showing consistency)

Recipe:

Prep time: 1 min Cook time: 5 min Total time: 6 min Review ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

Share on social media button

Ingredients: 1 Tbsp. chia seeds 2.5 Tbsp. warm water

Instructions: Add one tbsp of chia seeds to a small dish and top with 2.5 tbsp of warm water. Stir and let it rest for 4-5 minutes to thicken. The final consistency should be gel-like and thick.

(99% of the blogs I researched provide nutritional information for each recipe :fat, sodium, potassium, carbs, protein etc. I still have to find out what’s the best/most accurate way of creating Nutrition Fact labels)

button: print recipe Share on social media button

quick video showing how to make the recipe

Notes:

• A chia egg doesn’t act in the same way as an egg, but its gooey consistency will help to serve as a binding agent in many recipes (such as bla bla bla link recipes that use chia eggs)

Comments:

[Stephanymtr]

I don't have a solid plan on taking pictures of the chia eggs (and other recipes) YET. I would like for the ingredients/meals to be the main focus of each photo. I envision a white/minimalistic background being a fine idea. Although I have seen some really cool shots of recipes like chocolate chip cookies with a milk jug, a coffee mug and a couple of other props in the background. Adding props can be fun and useful to add depth on a complete white background. However, since we are starting now, something more simple and straight forward might be ideal (question mark ?)

My basic plan is to:

• [ ] take photos under natural light
• [ ] minimize clutter by focusing on what's important
• [ ] colors true to life
• [ ] still brainstorming

I took a few photos with my Samsung Galaxy Note 10 Plus this morning while A was napping:

We might not sure these specifically, but I have to say I like the simpleness of where this might be going !? Open to comments and suggestions :)

[nelsonic]

I know this is retro …

A book … 📖 🤷🏼‍♂️ Can’t I just learn all of this from YouTube? 😜 Yes, but YouTube is distraction central… 📺🙄 Books are self-contained guides that show you exactly where to start your quest. 💡

[Stephanymtr]

I have been looking for a creditable Nutrition Label maker that we can use for our upcoming recipes. I bumped into a couple websites like https://www.recipal.com/ which is a FDA and CFIA - compliant nutrition fact labels, recipe costing, and inventory management. It's not free 🙄 20 bucks per recipe!!

https://www.recipal.com/pricing

Maybe we could (should?) use a food label that is complied with EU food label regulations, BUT then again, regardless of which country/continent we choose to create this "official" label from, they are only required to be used for pre-packed food.... why spend money on this when we aren't going to be selling pre-packed food ?! https://europa.eu/youreurope/business/product-requirements/food-labelling/nutrition-declaration/index_en.htm#shortcut-2

NONE of the recipe blogs I shared above had a credible source under their Nutrition Label (no source shared for that matter actually). So the question is 'how accurate are these nutrition labels they have?' These bloggers might just be trying to "include" readers who are trying to be health conscious about the food they prepare and eat regardless of how accurate/precise their information really is.

We could use a free label maker calculator online and have a 'nutrition information is a rough estimate' warning (like some bloggers do) or just omit including a Nutrition Fact table in our recipe blogs for now. 💭

[nelsonic]

@Stephanymtr thank you for bringing up the topic of nutrition info. We very much want to include nutrition info in our recipes. 🙏 https://www.recipal.com/ looks like it's for people wanting to create labels for their packaged foods ... This definitely deserves a separate/dedicated issue which we can link to from here.

The FDA provides a comprehensive database of nutritional info for free: https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/download-datasets.html Then we can write our own calculator, see: https://github.com/dwyl/learn-tdd But we should definitely open the issue so that we can study the nutrition info labels and understand what is required from a calculator.

[Stephanymtr]

Some more ideas:

• [ ] So as you can see on my first draft I posted above, https://github.com/iteles/blw-baby/issues/25#issuecomment-1131808418 I included a comment section. Let's try to make it easy to comment on our blog. No CAPTCHAs or required logins, if possible.
• [ ] We could then respond to their comment publicly / even comment on their blogs - if they have one.
• [ ] Providing social media sharing buttons will make it easy for people to share our content online. Saying thank you when others promote our work would be a good follow up to that.
• [ ] It would be fantastic if we could add a spot in each of our future recipe posts for visitors to leave their reviews. ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ It looks neat on Google results:

[Stephanymtr]

Content Creation Update

In order to complete this first draft, we will need a nutritional label as well as some photos. I took a couple of photos to start getting the hang of it, but haven't done a round two yet. The kitchen counters over at BMH have been installed and soon everything in the kitchen will have its own place, so it should be much easier/faster for me to find ingredients/tools to get this (and future) photoshoots done. I have been doing some reading and researching ideas that I can implement, so going to share here a list of things I will need next time I work on this. The initial plan is to "GET IT DONE ASAP" so if you guys feel that my photos/content need work, just let me know, and we will revisit it & redo it.

Photos needed

• [ ] Photos of just chia seeds
• [ ] Photos of all ingredients - before
• [ ] Photos of all ingredients - on measuring cups/spoons
• [ ] Photos of chia egg - showing consistency

Will need

• [ ] cute container to place chia seeds (clear glass/white ceramic?/wood bowl)
• [ ] small cute glass for water
• [ ] small spoon (preferably wooden)
• [ ] 1 tbsp measuring spoon
• [ ] 2.5 tbsp = 37 ml = (little over) 1/8 measuring cup = small cup for water

How/when

• [ ] take same photo from different angles: flat lays and overhead shots
• [ ] constantly unlock exposure to create a well-lit image.
• [ ] take advantage of natural light staying away from the bright sun as it creates hard shadows
• [ ] background ideas: wooden tray, concrete floor, neutral-colored tile with an interesting pattern.
• [ ] Close-up and macro shots will avoid the need for so many props and useful for simple recipes like this one. Can also try the bokeh effect when you focus on the object and the surrounds (even if super busy) aren't taking over/blurred
• [ ] Overhead lights like 'strobe lights' can be great especially when taking picture from up top. Try the LED strips and those mobile flashlights w magnets A likes to play with... might need some sort of tripod.
• [ ] 'Rule of Thirds' use grid when taking these photos and place the focal point where the lines intersect
• [ ] tip: If the area is well lit, use ISO 100. At the height of the day, an f/2.8 at ISO 100 will give around 1/1000 of a second, if not more. try the pro settings on my phone.
• [ ] finally, add a bit of pizzazz with different props until we feel we found a/our style ex:herbs, garnishes, chunks of bread, some extra sauce, coarse salt or pepper to sprinkle onto surface etcccc