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!