Today’s Observations
It’s 1:30 AM and I got up at 6AM yesterday morning. I guess that’s a testament to the energy available to me through raw foods. I’m at the end of Day 5. I’ve tried 3 new recipes. Lost 3 pounds. And am getting back in the raw groove. Here is what today’s raw line-up looked like:
Today’s Menu
Coconut. Mango, Raspberry smoothie for breakfast (one of my favorites)
Olive and sun dried tomato pesto over cucumber noodles for lunch
Snacks – apple, avocado, nuts, and fresh frozen fruit soft serve from The Stand :)
An experiment that was sort of a disaster for dinner… more on that next.
Today’s New Recipe – Almond Milk
So, I’ve never actually made nut milk from scratch. I’ve made it the quick and easy way – throw a couple tablespoons of almond butter in a blender with some water and whip it up (I highly recommend this method BTW). But I’ve never done the soaking, then blending, then straining thing. Mostly because, as many of you know, if i can’t make it in 10 minutes, i don’t make it, and this just seemed like too much work. But I thought I’d give it a try, and I’m glad I did, although I’m not sure I’ll do it again. Mostly because… I didn’t like the taste. Maybe the almonds were too old, or maybe I just need a different recipe, but it seemed like a lot of work for something I really didn’t like that much.
After making the nut milk, I proceeded to make a smoothie that I’ve made before and liked – the Bunny Spice smoothie from the Raw Food Real World book (my favorite). But the whole thing just did not work. I ended up adding cocoa to my smoothie, a few more frozen bananas and some cayenne to try to ‘fix’ it. It helped, but still was not something I would make again. (Although it did give me an idea for a smoothie in the future with coconut, frozen banana, cocoa powder and cayenne. Maybe we can call it “Chocolate Spice”.) In any case, below is the nut milk recipe I tried, with my notes on what i would do differently, should I ever try this again. If anyone has a nut milk recipe you really like, please pass it along.
NOTE: I plan to give each recipe a ‘Yum’ rating. There is a possible total of 5 Yums :)
Almond Milk (Yum 1-)
1 cup almonds, soaked for 4-6 hours
4 cups water
1/4 cup agave nectar
pinch of salt
1 teaspoon vanilla (this was too strong. I would leave it out next time.)
2 tablespoons coconut oil (this was also too strong. I would leave it out next time)
I also did not have a nut bag or cheesecloth to strain the milk, so I used my french press coffee press to filter the milk and it actually worked great.
Bonus Recipe
Since today’s recipe did not land on the favorite’s list, I thought I’d share the Potato Salad recipe from day 4. This is my modified version of the recipe in Everyday Raw. Enjoy!
Potato Salad ( 4 Yums)
2 cups jicama
1/4 cup yellow or red pepper
1/4 cup celery ( i used one stalk)
1 Tablespoon rosemary (i didn’t have so i left it out)
2 Tablespoons green olives (didn’t have so left it out)
1/4 avocado, diced or mashed (your preference)
1/4 – 1/2 cup red onion
Potato Salad Dressing
2 Tablespoons Tahini
1/4 Teaspoon cumin
11/2 Tablespoon lemon juice
1 Tablespoons water
2 teaspoons fresh parsley
1/4 teaspoon nama shoyu (soy sauce)
1/4 teaspoon agave
pinch salt
pinch chili powder
2-4 Tablespoons dijon mustard (i added this. What is potato salad without mustard??)
Blend in a blender until smooth. It will still be kind of thick.
Mix everything together and enjoy. Its supposed to make 2 servings, but I ate the whole thing!
Today’s Affirmation
I embrace life’s debacles as an opportunity to learn and get up and try again.
I appreciate your blog. It's very inspiring. Thank you. I want to start a 30-day raw trial, tomorrow, just like you.
And I hope to inspire *you*, to give nutmilk-making another go, because it's such a raw pleasure. I've been making my own for a few years now; here're some tips so it takes less than 10 minutes and tastes wonderful.
1. Soak nuts overnight so you don't feel yourself suffering a wait. Then blend it up in the morning. Going a few hours over 6 shouldn't do any damage.
2. Don't use almonds. I don't know if it's the skin or what, but homemade almond milk never tastes good to me. I use walnuts (its skin doesn't bug me), cashews, or, really, anything else besides almonds. (Cashews make a very white milk, and walnuts are supposed to be real good for your brain…couldn't prove it by me but I do like the taste.)
3. Don't use so much oil, and not such a heavy oil. A couple dashes olive/hemp oil, with a short dash of flax, will work if you're making a quart of milk.
4. Don't strain, unless it really, really matters to you. I mean — why? You always end up having to shake the milk before you serve it anyway. And the stuff that settles at the bottom may be leaking out good nutrients you'd want to be taking in.
5. 1/4 cup agave sounds like possibly too much sweetener, to me, unless you want a desserty concoction. I'd try about a tbsp for a quart of milk and increase from there to taste. And I totally agree about leaving the vanilla out next time (unless, again, you're making a dessert).
6. 1/2 tbsp kelp flakes seem to work, for me, in place of salt. I think the kelp contributes to the "body" of the milk, making it a little heavier and more milk-like somehow.
Please try it again sometime, really, I think you may come to love it.
Thank you for your jicama/potato salad idea. Sounds fabulous. Here's a link to a recipe for candied yams/sweet potatoes (toward the bottom of the page, the first "December" recipe): http://74.125.95.132/search?q=cache:eWzlKy384q8J:www.loloville.com/rawfoodrecipes.htm+raw+yam+recipes&hl=en&ie=UTF-8. I tried it a couple days ago and LOVED it. Who knew you could eat sweet potatoes raw?
Take care!