Vanilla Almond Milk

I love making this milk for a number of reasons. It's raw, sweet, creamy and nutty. High in plant based protein and superior to animal sources, the leftovers fill your pantry with almond meal and flour which are my favorite substitutes in creating gluten free dishes. If you make unsweetened almond milk, the dehydrated meal can be used in place of bread crumbs and flour in savory things. Otherwise, I use it in cookies, brownies, pie crust, french toast, oatmeal and granola bars just to name a few! It fills your kitchen with this delicate aroma when it's in the oven. Compare the costs of buying almond milk, meal and flour to one bag of almonds. The math is a no-brainer to make it all yourself. I posted another how-to a while back that you can refer to here if you need another reference. I highly recommend ordering a Rawsome Creations nut milk bag online. These are fair trade, made by hand in Bali, Indonesia. A portion of the profits are donated to the Bumi Sehat Birthing Center and Yayasan Widya Orphanage there. Read Brenda's story and order yours here.

 

INGREDIENTS

2 cups raw, organic almonds

4 cups filtered water

1 tablespoon orange blossom honey 

1 tablespoon bee pollen

1 teaspoon vanilla extract or raw vanilla bean paste scraped from the pod

pinch of sea salt

DIRECTIONS

Soak the almonds for at least 6 hours but preferably overnight. I do this right before I go to bed so that I can make it in the morning for breakfast - so fresh! It's just as delicious at room temperature. The flavors are stronger and the essential oils are fragrant. Drain and rinse the almonds. Put them into a blender and add just enough water to get a thick slurry. Add the honey, bee pollen, sea salt and vanilla and blend well. Slowly add the rest of the water until everything is incorporated. Set out a sheet pan lined with parchment paper and preheat your oven to 250 degrees.

Take your nut milk bag or several layers of cheesecloth and put it into the opening of a large, widemouth jar. Pour half of the milk through the filter. Gather up the fabric and slowly squeeze the liquid out until the almond meal is dry and crumbly. Pour it out onto your sheet pan. Repeat with the other half of the milk. Crumble and spread the meal out on your pan and pop it into the oven to dehydrate for about 30 minutes. Give it a stir about half way through so that it dries evenly. Allow it to cool completely before storing it in a glass jar in your refrigerator. If you want this to be flour, put it in a food processor for a minute.

Want ideas on how to use the flour | meal? Check out these posts to see how I did!

• Dark Chocolate Super Brownies
• Blueberry Crumble Bars
• Almond Thumbprint Cookies
• Choco-Nut Granola Bars
• Superfood French Toast

ENJOY!

Dark Chocolate Super Brownies

Sometimes I don't want to put in the extra time to allow good brownies to cool because I am impatient when it comes to my treats and cookies can be consumed in half the amount of wait time. However, these were worth the extra half hour. I've tried many variations with home made brownies and I had yet to find the perfect one. Personally, I like them warm and soft on the inside and crispy on the top and edges. This is a gluten free recipe with a few super food additions (of course) and some substitutions for the usual suspects like coconut oil instead of butter and coconut sugar instead of brown sugar. I used almond meal and oat flour for the batter and studded the top with pecans. These will provide all the enjoyment of a homemade chocolate indulgence with very little guilt, if any. Making healthier substitutions in your cooking and baking can really enhance the nutritional profile of everything you create and allow you the freedom in the kitchen to experiment with new things while not giving up the ones that you love.

INGREDIENTS
5 ounces dark chocolate
1|2 cup coconut oil
1 cup coconut sugar
1|2 cup almond meal
1|4 cup oat flour
1|4 cup flax and or chia meal
1|2 teaspoon sea salt
1|4 teaspoon baking soda
2 eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla
1|2 cup chopped nuts
cacao nibs for the top

DIRECTIONS
Preheat your oven to 350. Line an 8x8 baking pan with parchment paper. Melt the dark chocolate and the coconut oil in a small saucepan on low, stirring constantly until it is melted through. In a medium bowl, mix the sugar, almond meal, oat flour, sea salt and soda together. Make a well in the middle and add the eggs, vanilla and the melted chocolate mixture. Mix until it's smooth and glossy. Stir in the nuts if you want them throughout the brownie, or reserve them for the top if you just want them in the crust. Pour the batter into your parchment lined pan and smooth it out with a spatula. Stud the top with the chopped nuts and the cacao nibs. Bake for 32-35 minutes. The top will begin to crack like a flourless cake when it's done and a toothpick will come out relatively clean. When you remove them from the oven, pull on the sides of the parchment to lift the loaf out in one piece and set it on a cooling rack. This will speed up the wait time. Allow at least 30 minutes before you cut them.

ENJOY!

Roasted Butternut Squash and Cauliflower Risotto

Squashes and root vegetables take on an entirely new kind of importance during cooler temperatures. Their hearty texture makes them perfect for roasting, slow-cooking and turning into delicious soups. Their sweet and savory qualities really shine and fill my comfort food needs. Though Butternut is grown in the summer, it matures at the inception of fall which is when we tend to eat them more. Most varieties of squash are available all year long in grocery stores but you will find the best tasting ones offered at local farm markets or by growing your own. I have found that cool weather makes these nutrient dense superfoods taste better. Crops grown late summer into fall are almost entirely free of squash bugs which are a big problem in the summer when they are actively reproducing. 

Did you know that squash blossoms are tender and edible? If you do not mind the raw, green flavor, they can be tossed into salads. However, they are usually battered and flash fried in a pan which is DELICIOUS. These flowers only open in the morning, so if you are going to eat them, it should be for breakfast or lunch.

I love this stage of ripening when they are changing from young to mature. The shape is filling out and the streaks of the green fruit will soon be less visible as the skin begins to turn. 

The spots are slightly visible but are quickly turning a pretty peachy color. When the flesh inside is mature, it's bright orange like a sweet potato or a carrot and contains a lot of natural dye which means that it is high in beta carotene and vitamin A.

Harvesting is one of the most fulfilling parts of growing your own food, other than lovingly preparing it for your friends and family. All of the effort is worth the return. For me, it's the ultimate measure of pride. Eating healthy and responsibly is one thing but to grow it from the ground up, including the soil is a totally different ball game.

Slightly sweet and ready to eat. You can keep them on your table at room temperature or in a cool, dry pantry for months. They do not need to be refrigerated. Root cellars or basements are great for this.

Tiny micro-greens such as radish and kale, are the perfect addition to any cooked dish. These are the seedlings that have started to emerge from my fall | winter beds. When the rows are fully germinated and ready to thin, you can pull up the ones that are growing too close together and give them about an inch or so on all sides to spread out as they mature. The greens can also be pinched from the middle of the plant as it grows. They will constantly make new ones which allows you to keep the plant neat and compact.

INGREDIENTS
1 head of cauliflower, broken into florets
2 small or 1 medium to large butternut squash, peeled and cubed
yellow onion, chopped
garlic, sliced
1 1|2 cups homemade vegetable stock or low sodium store bought
olive oil + butter or ghee
1 tablespoon nutritional yeast
1 tablespoon fresh or dried sage
salt + pepper
cayenne to taste
parmesan cheese (optional)

DIRECTIONS
Preheat your oven to 400. Put your stock into a small pan and begin to warm it on the stove. Toss the butternut squash in a bowl with a drizzle of olive oil and season with salt + pepper. Bake on a sheet pan for 15 minutes, then stir it around and bake for another 10. Set it aside and let it cool. While you're baking, put the cauliflower into the bowl of a food processor and pulse until it resembles small grains like rice. Warm some olive oil in a saute pan. Add the onion and garlic and cook until they begin to caramelize. Add a tablespoon of butter or ghee and the cauli-rice. Stir everything together and begin adding stock 1|4 cup at a time, using a ladle. Stir until the liquid is absorbed and then add another. Repeat this until most of the stock is gone and the cauli-rice is tender. Add the nutritional yeast, sage and season with salt + pepper. The squash should be cool now. Add it to the food processor but reserve a handful of the cubes for the top. Add 1|4 cup of the warm stock and puree. Pour this into the saute pan with the 'risotto'. Bring all of the flavors together.

Serve this with wilted kale, chard, spinach or your favorite salad green for a perfect pairing. Garnish with the reserved squash and parmesan cheese if you aren't vegan. Chopped nuts on top of the greens will boost the protein and this is nothing short of sensational. It could be your new Thanksgiving side dish. Your guests will never know that this isn't grits or some kind of grain. It's deceptively delicious!

ENJOY!

Lemon Rosemary Cashew Cheese

As far as raw nut cheeses go, this is the winner. I have been playing with different recipes for cashew cheese for some time and this was by far the easiest and tastiest of all. I could not stop eating it. It's kind of a cross between a ricotta and a hummus. This was inspired by the talented Belle Gibson of Only Belle. I recently downloaded the app she designed for apple devices called The Whole Pantry. It's filled with incredible plant based recipes, really beautiful photos and a wealth of information on super foods and nutrition. Her story is very moving and will no doubt leave you feeling inspired too. Her Instagram feed is amazing. You should start there. Anyway, this 'cheese' can be eaten and flavored so many ways. You will find yourself putting it on everything. Experiment!

INGREDIENTS
1 cup raw, organic cashews
2 cups filtered water
1|2 teaspoon sea salt

Soak the cashews in this brine for at least 7 hours but preferably overnight.
Drain and rinse them. Add them to a blender or food processor with the following ingredients and blend until smooth, about 2 or 3 minutes.

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon nutritional yeast
chopped Rosemary
freshly minced garlic or powder
onion powder
salt + pepper
minced chilies or cayenne if you like it spicy

Serve with toast points, crackers or chips. Stuff mushrooms with it or serve it with raw vegetables. Spread it on sandwiches or make little appetizers with artichokes and peppers.
There are many optional embellishments here such as dill, basil, thyme, sun-dried tomatoes, olives, capers and so on. I think it can easily be made Italian style and used in lasagna or pasta.
If you have a nut allergy, you can also make this with sunflower seeds. Store covered in the refrigerator.

ENJOY!

Take Stock

I have seasonal rituals. Making my own vegetable stock is one of those ultra - comforting, no waste things that I do in the fall and winter. We save a portion of our good vegetable scraps for this while the rest is composted. The things we keep are onion tips, garlic paper, asparagus ends, mushroom stems, carrot tops and celery fronds, the occasional squash or zucchini and always the stems from herbs like parsley, thyme and rosemary. We store it in large freezer bags. When there is enough for a giant pot of stock which usually amounts to two or three gallon bags, we put soup on the menu. This is really one of the most easy things you can do to ensure you have organic vegetable stock on hand at all times for soups, sauces, dressings and marinades.

A note on ingredients: It's best to avoid using cruciferous vegetables like broccoli and cabbage because of the sulfur compounds. They become bitter and overly gassy when cooked for too long and are best eaten blanched on their own. Peppers are okay but can have a similar effect and can overwhelm the flavor if you use too many of them, so be modest. Potatoes are good if you want to add a little starch or bulk to it. Typically, I leave all of these out and compost them. 

Simply dump everything into a giant pot, cover with filtered water, a tablespoon or so of sea salt and let it simmer about an hour. The result is a gorgeous broth with a deep, rich color that enhances the flavor and nutritional profile of everything.

The finished stock can be portioned into quart freezer bags and laid flat on top of each other in the freezer for later use. They thaw almost instantly when put under cool running water. You could also pour it into ice cube trays for smaller portions to deglaze with as a tasty alternative to water or wine.

The beginning to all good soups start with a mirepoix. This is a French term for the traditional, flavorful base used to enrich soups, sauces, roasting brines, gravies and marinades. Though mine more closely resembles a soffritto, which is the Portuguese version, you can make deviations to the basic recipe which is carrots, onions, celery and garlic. Saute these in some good olive oil until they become soft and you start to see some brown caramelization on the bottom of the pan. This is when you deglaze the pot with your choice of liquid to pull all of that delicious flavor up from the bottom to get it into your dish. You can use stock, wine or water. It will bubble and come right up. Then you can add the rest of your stock and ingredients.

BASIC VEGETABLE STOCK
Scraps of onion, garlic, carrot, celery, mushroom, asparagus, squash, potato and herbs and 1 tablespoon good sea salt to draw out flavor and minerals into the water. Cover with filtered water.

Bring everything to a boil, then reduce to a simmer and cover for about an hour. Strain into a large bowl. Compost the cooked scraps and return the stock to the pot if using immediately. Otherwise, allow it to cool. Fill quart or gallon freezer bags and lay flat in your freezer for later use.

ORGANIC CHICKEN SOUP FROM SCRATCH
Since the chicken is the star of this soup, it really is worth a few extra dollars to use an organic, whole chicken as opposed to breasts or fillets.

1 whole chicken
carrots, sliced
celery, sliced
garlic, chopped
fresh parsley
sliced jalapenos (optional of course!)
wide egg noodles or your favorite soup noodle or homemade dumplings
salt + pepper

DIRECTIONS
I left the amounts loose on the soup because some people like it chunky and others brothy. There's a whole secret life behind soups. It's one of those real art forms that are unique to everyone. Experiment and find your soup profile.

Start your mirepoix as described earlier. Deglaze with the broth you made. Add the whole chicken and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and cover for 40 minutes or until you start to see it falling off the bone. Remove the chicken carefully with tongs and put it into a large bowl. Have another bowl handy to put the cleaned chicken into. With two forks, start pulling it apart gently and separating the skin and the fat from the tender meat. When you're finished, return the good stuff to the pot and add the sliced carrots and celery. Simmer another 15 minutes then add your noodles and parsley and season with salt and pepper. Let the flavors marry about 20 minutes more and it's perfect. Ladle into soup bowls and top with sliced jalapenos for optimum nutrition, to aid in digestion and metabolism, to cleanse your blood, flush toxins and for a kick of vitamin C. Serve with a fresh green salad and toast, crackers or croutons.

ENJOY!

Salted Cashew Caramel Chocolate Cups

When I want a treat, I ALWAYS reach for dark chocolate. It's the only thing that gets me off, period. I am a total snob when it comes to the quality of it and I think you should always choose high - quality, dark, organic chocolate. There are some incredible companies out there that also share a passion for it and many of them are sustainable, fair trade and donate a portion of their profits to wildlife preservation and research campaigns. I cannot take the credit for the recipe for this incredible VEGAN dessert, only the success in the execution of it. These are not for the faint of heart. They are rich, decadent, and highly addictive.  The 'caramel' filling is actually made of dates and cashews. All you need is a blender and a couple of pans to make a double boiler to melt the chocolate. You can add a layer of berry chia jam if you like fruit with your dark. That's optional, of course. It would work with either raspberries or strawberries. You will no doubt have your friends, kids, company and spouses requesting more of these, I promise.

INGREDIENTS
Cashew - Date Caramel:
1 cup pitted medjool dates, soaked in water for 1 hour
1|4 cup raw cashews, soaked in water for at least 4 hours
1|2 teaspoon vanilla extract
scoop of almond butter (optional)
pinch of sea salt

Raw Berry Chia Jam:
You can refer back to my own recipe here or try a simple puree
1 cup fresh berries
1 tablespoon chia seed

Chocolate Cup:
8 ounces dark chocolate + 1 tablespoon coconut oil (for the outer cup)
6 ounces dark chocolate + 2 teaspoons coconut oil (for the top)
You will melt the chocolate mixture in two stages

DIRECTIONS
Drain the dates, saving the liquid they were soaking in. Drain the cashews. Add these to the blender with the vanilla, almond butter, salt and the date water. Blend until smooth, thick and creamy. You may need to add a little more water to get it just right. Put it in the refrigerator while you work.

Blend the berries into a puree and stir in the chia seed. Put this in the refrigerator as well.

Make a double boiler on the stove top by filling a medium sized saucepan with an inch or two of water. Put a smaller saucepan on top, leaving space between the bottom of it and the water level. Bring the water to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. Put 8 ounces of chocolate and 1 tablespoon of coconut oil in the top. Stir constantly until it is smooth and the chunks are melted. Silicone muffin cups work the best for this recipe because they're non - stick. You can use paper if you need to but you will have to oil them first. Pour 1 1|2 tablespoons of chocolate into each cup. Tilt them to spread it up the sides. You will need to do each one individually. Put them into the freezer for 30 minutes to set up. Make your second batch of chocolate while you wait.

Take the jam and the caramel from the refrigerator. Put a small layer of jam in the bottom of each cup and top with a dollop of the caramel. No need to spread anything out. Top with another 1 1|2 tablespoons of chocolate and then tap the cup on the counter to settle everything and remove air bubbles. The surface will smooth out naturally with this step.

Return the cups to the freezer for 15 minutes, then sprinkle a little sea salt on top of each one and put them back in to set again. This takes a couple of hours, or overnight if you can wait. The result is like ice cream! You can thaw them for 10 minutes on the counter before eating if you like it more gooey.

ENJOY!!