Ideas for More Non-Dairy Milks

I have not liked real milk for a long time.  First I bought Soy Milk.  I remember it all started with Starbuck's Soy Latte's.  Then I had to buy my own espresso machine so I could make them at home, so I always had soy milk.  I used it in my protein shakes I made every morning for breakfast.  I had a whole pantry full of different flavors of protein powders so my family and I had lots of choices.  Do you remember Cher in "Mask".  That was us (me).

Then my Mom passed with breast cancer that went to her liver (I really miss her).  Around that time I switched to almond milk I bought in the refrigerator section of the store, as I did my soy milk.  My daughter and I fell in love with almond milk.  Then I began reading all of Suzanne Sommers books, began studying, moved to Arizona and learned about GMO foods and wanted to add more whole foods into my diet, less carbs and sugar, and found the raw community.

I learned lots of raw recipes, in order to add more whole foods in a fun way, into my diet.  One of the first things I learned and did was non-dairy milks.  Since I love shakes in the morning (they are fast) and still love one latte on many days, I make my own non-dairy milks.  I love almond milk but need to change it up, so I learned how to make many milks.

You can make milk from all nuts, vanilla, plain or chocolate.  You can make milk from hemp seeds, milk thistle, and goji berries.  Here are some ideas.  Make it the same way you do almond milk.

Hazelnuts or Brazil Nuts instead of Almonds.  These 2 nuts don't have to be soaked over night because they do not contain enzyme inhibitors.  They are great to make if you forgot to plan ahead to soak anything.  I still make mine with 1/2 nuts, 3 cups water and 1 date.  If you need more follow the almond milk measures.  You can use steva instead of a date if you don't want any sugar or some Yacon Surup, which the body doesn't digest as sugar.  Or anything else you like as a sweetener.  I like vanilla or cacao powder with any of these also.  Depending how deep of a chocolate flavor you want start with 1or 2 tablespoons and add more until you get the flavor you love.  A dash of cinnamon is good too.  Hazelnuts with dates and cacao taste like Nutella.....

Try Hempseed Milk with 1/4 cup Hempseeds, 2 cups filtered water and 1 date, or sweetener of your choice.  Again more Hempseeds made it thicker, like cream.

Try 1 cup Pecans soaked overnight with 4 cups filtered water, 2 Tablespoons Maple Surup, 1/2 teaspoon vanilla and 1/4 tsp cinnamon.  Again you can substitute the sweetener. Instead of Maple Surup, 2 or 3 dates, Yacon Surup, Coconut Nectar (heard of that?), or stevia with some maple flavoring.

Try Walnuts (soaked) with dates and cacao.  Or Macadamias (soaked) with vanilla and sweetener of your choice.   My go to sweetener is always dates but I always keep Lakanto on hand (it's a calorie free sweetener used in Japan-but hard to find). It tastes good with Macs.

Then there is raw cashews.  They don't need to be soaked for as long, just until soft.  Cashews are probably not really raw but they make real creamy milk or cream.  I don't even need a sweetener for them.  Maybe a little vanilla.  But if you like things sweet, use your favorite sweetener.  These have a bit more fat in them so I don't make it very often, but cashew milk with a frozen banana makes a killer shake.  If I make it with a scoop of my protein powder it holds me a long time.  Fats keep you full longer and good fats don't make you fat.  But everything in moderation.

You can make milk out of sunflower seeds or pumpkin seeds.  Pre-soak and blend with water and vanilla and stevia and you have a very low calorie but nutritious milk.

Then you can make Goji milk with 1/2 cup Goji berries, 1/4 cup hemp seeds, and spice it up with a little cinnamon, ginger, and cardamom.  One or two or all three.  My cinnamon is actually sweet so I skip the sweetener because the goji berries are sweet.  I like just a little cinnamon.

Lastly you can get a young coconut (or more than one).  Crack open the coconut (YouTube has videos), and blend both the coconut water and coconut pulp.  You have homemade coconut milk.
I often add probiotics at the end and let it sit out a day and turn it into Coconut yogurt or kefir.  It's pretty thick when it's ready.  Then refrigerate.  It will keep a week at least.

I hope this gives you enough ideas to get you started making your own wonderful non-dairy milks!

Why I am posting these recipes

The reason I started with a couple of my favorite recipes, is I wanted to catch everyone's interest in adding more whole foods into their diet because it makes your skin younger and radiant, it makes you feel young and radiant and it gives you super energy.

You don't have to give up anything, just start adding more and more whole foods.  If it grows, it's whole.  Some foods are super foods with extra nutrition.  Like raw cacao.  It has all it's nutrients and antioxidants.  If it's raw it still has all it's God given healthiness and lots of enzymes, which we need.  We lose enzymes as we get older.  I for one don't want to age.   Also you can eat all the whole foods you want and you will either lose weight naturally or never gain weight.

I'm going to be talking all about this in my blog; what's  really good and healthy and what will make you radiant!

My husband and I would like to be 35 forever.  :)

Almond Milk

Almond Milk

I love this so much, it's what I look forward to every morning!

When I am making this for just me this is my recipe:

1/2 cup really raw almonds*
3 cups filtered water
1 date

Put the almonds in a bowl or jar and cover with water.  Soak them overnight.  In the morning, rinse them real good and put in a high speed blender (prefered) along with the filtered water and date.
Blend well and strain into a bowl through a nut bag**(prefered).  Then I usually put in a glass jar in the refrigerator.  Keeps 3 days.

Raw almonds in the US are all pasteurized, even though they say raw.  I buy mine on the internet.
There are lots of places they are available.  I look at Amazon first.  Jaffe Bros, Raw Food World, and many others have them and they will say they are really raw.  I like organic.  Look for "really raw almonds".

You can buy a nut bag on amazon for a few dollars and it's very fine mesh.  It strains out all the almond solids and makes a real smooth milk.  You can also use the left over almond pulp for different things.
If you bake it on the lowest setting in your oven overnight and blend it up in a flour blender with a flat blade and sift real good, you have almond flour.

To make more milk and leave the pulp in you can use 1/2 cup almonds and 5 cups filtered water.  Some people like the added fiber.

I see a lot of recipes that have 1 cup almonds and 4 cups water.  This makes a thicker milk.  You might have to experiment to see what you like and how much your family needs in 3 days for drinking and recipes.  You might like more dates if you like it sweeter.  You can also use any sweetener of your choice instead of the dates.  I like the flavor of the dates.  You can also add vanilla.  If you want to make almond cream, use a one cup almonds to one or two cups water.  Depending on the recipe, you can sweeten it or not, for something more savery.

Remember it only keeps 3 days in the refrigerator.

Making Raw Chocolates

There is nothing better or more fun than having guilt free chocolates.  To have these, make your own with all raw ingredients.  Have all the goodness of chocolate, all the feel good elements, and you can eat all you want!

Ingredients:
1 cup raw coconut butter (this is not coconut oil)
3/4 cup raw cacao
1/4 cup raw cacao nibs
1/4 cup Yacon Syrup
1 Tablespoon vanilla or 1/4 tsp vanilla powder
1 Tablespoon mesquite powder (optional if you don't have it but tastes great)
1 Tablespoon hemp seeds
Pinch stevia

Put everything in a food processor and blend until creamy.  Not too much to break up the nibs.
Pour into moulds or small paper cups.  Put in freezer and keep cold.

Note:  If you don't have any coconut butter you can make your own from shredded coconut.  Make sure it's a brand that still has all the oil.  Try "Bob Mills".  Finely shredded will work the best.
Just put what you need in a food processor and process until creamy.  It will take a while and you will have to stop a few times and scrape down the sides.  Keep going and it will get nice and creamy.
You can buy coconut butter at Amazon.  I like Artisana.