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Have you read The China Study by T. Colin Campbell? I just finished reading it last night and it has me all recommitted to cutting dairy + animal products from my diet. My family eats a mostly vegetarian diet, but we tend to use butter and cheese to fill in the gaps and because everything tastes better with a little butter and cheese. :)
I have been buying almond milk off and on for the past 5 years, but the artificial thickeners (gellan gum and sunflower lecithin) that popular brands use creates a weird faux-creamy consistency that I don't find palatable. But, lucky for me, almond milk is easy to make, incredibly delicious, and (naturally!) creamy when made with raw almonds.
Here is the recipe I use:
1 cup of raw almonds, soaked overnight and drained
4 cups of water
1/4 teaspoon of sea salt
1/2 teaspoon of vanilla
a spoonful of honey or agave
Blend almonds, water, salt, vanilla, and honey together for 2 minutes. Pour milk into a nut milk bag* over a large bowl to strain the almond pulp, making sure to squeeze out the last drops. Pour milk into an airtight container and store in your refrigerator.
*you can buy a nut milk bag from health food stores near the spouting supplies, or you can make one easily from hemp or organza.
7 comments:
so funny :) i just posted this on my food blog last night! it's so easy and so tasty. i'm recommitting to reducing animal products in our diet as well (we also eat mostly vegetarian but do butter and cheese in moderation).
kamisniche.blogspot.com
The China Study is what made me reevaluate my food habits. I just can't give up fish- I still eat seafood when I can. This is a great recipe I will have to try! Thanks for posting Rachel!
KAMI! I didn't know you had a food blog too! Now I'll have to devote another evening to reading your posts.:)
p.s. did you get my emails? I wanted to include your birth stories, but didn't hear back from you and I didn't want to post them unless I had the go ahead. Also, I was thinking a home birth week collaboration would be cool sometime in the future...
Jess: Isn't that book crazy? It was full of stuff I already kind of knew to be true, but it really has helped me to be better about the food decisions I make for my fam.
I'm curious what the shelf life of the milk is. Did the recipe mention or do you happen to know?
Hello, Keely! I don't know how long the almond milk stays fresh, my family usually uses it all within a week, so we've never had an experience with it going bad. I think you'd probably be safe for at least two week if you kept it in your fridge.
Rachel, hopefully you get emails about new comments :). So I am reconsidering the soy intake in my diet. I'm lactose intolerant so aside from a little cooking cream/yogurt, cheese, and butter I'm pretty much dairy free but I'm starting to reconsider my soy intake. I know that I'm sensitive to estrogen (thanks birth control!) and I'm just looking to see if you have thoughts on using almond in place of soy, your thoughts on soy, etc. I know that you used to work at the health food store + yogi-ness I wondered if maybe you want to post or email some thoughts. Thank ya maam!
I'm just going to say "thought" one more time. Looking to pick your brain a bit on this one, dear.
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