Raw Almond Milk . . .

Raw almond milk

My dear high school friend, Paula, sent me a Facebook message asking for my raw almond milk recipe and some of my favorite smoothie recipes. Her request prompted this post.

Raw almond milk smoothies are served in our household nearly every day . . . sometimes twice a day if I don't feel like making dinner! Smoothies have been part of my morning ritual for over two decades.

Strawberry mango smoothie

raw almonds, soaking

Soaked raw, sprouted almonds ready for the blender

 I've been buying my almonds from Angie & John, owners of 'Nut~N~Other Farms' for several years.  Angie's almonds are high quality, raw organic nuts. I purchase 50 pounds from Angie and John every year and I store them in a chest freezer.

 

DARRIS’ RAW ALMOND MILK

Imperfect Vegan

2 cups raw, unpasturized, organic almonds. 1 cup of dry almonds yields about 1/1/2 cups of soaked almonds.

Rinse almonds and put into quart mason jar with mesh lid. Fill with cold water to rim and soak 8 hours. Drain water and refrigerate if not using them right away.

After soaking, rinse almonds and then blend in a high speed blender (Vita Mix) with filtered water until nut meat is pulverized. Use 3 to 4 cups of water to each cup of soaked almonds. The less water, the creamier your milk will be.

Separate milk from pulp using a nut bag. Place a large strainer on a 4 cup glass measuring cup. Place a nut milk bag onto the strainer and pour milk into bag ~ let drain. Squeeze milk through nut milk bag to finish. Store milk in an airtight, glass container for up to 3 days. Milk will separate, shake before pouring. 

blended soaked almonds and water

I have a very powerful Vita Mix blender. A standard blender may not have the power to blend well if all of the fruit is frozen. Begin with unfrozen strawberries/mangoes and freeze only the bananas. The fruits that carry more water tend to make it more difficult to blend. You may need to experiment with how much your blender can handle. If you find that you're doing daily smoothies it's well worth coughing up the $400.00 for a Vita Mix. I've had mine over 6 years and it's an amazing work horse.

 

raw almond milk in nut bag

Get creative with your smoothies. Right now raw California mangoes are in season but only for a few short weeks. They are SO worth it, truly amazing flavor and unlike mangoes from out of the country that are pasteurized, (dipped in boiling water bath) California mangoes are raw. 

How to pick and cut a California mango:
California mangoes are ripe when they have a slight 'give' to them and are green, not yellow, when ripe.  A mango has one long, flat seed in the center of the fruit. I use a potato peeler and peel the (washed) skin. Then stand the mango on your cutting board stem end down and hold. Place your knife about 1/4" from the widest center line and cut down through the mango. Flip the mango around and repeat this cut on the other side. The resulting ovals of mango flesh are known as the "cheeks". What's left in the middle is mostly the mango seed. Take care when cutting a mango as they are slippery. You can also cut the mango unpeeled then section and cut the fruit from the peel.

For smoothies I cut the mangoes into large chunks and freeze them on a cookie sheet lined with waxed paper then bag them up after they're frozen. They're also a nice sweet, cooling snack right out of the freezer!

Pour smoothies into juice pop molds and freeze for cooling treats! If you don't have dates use maple syrup or agave nectar. I buy 45 lbs. of dates from the grower every year. We pit them and freeze them on cookie sheets then bag them up and store in the freezer.
 

Pitted organic Khadrawy dates ready for the freezer

I buy 45 pounds of dates a year directly from the Bautista Family Organic Date Ranch in Mecca, CA.

 

PERFECT VEGAN STRAWBERRY SMOOTHIE

Imperfect Vegan

Makes one smoothie

1 cup raw almond milk
4 to 6 fresh, pitted deglat noir (or any pitted) dates
1 heaping Tbls. ground golden flax seed (optional)
1 Tbls. chia or salba seeds (optional)
1 Tbls. maple syrup (optional) I don’t add sweetener because I like the clean sweetness of the fruit ~ personal preference.
Blend until dates are indistinguishable
While blender is running, add 1 frozen banana (I peel, then section banana and freeze on a cookie sheet, then bag for use later).
1/2 C fresh, frozen blueberries
1/2 C. fresh, frozen strawberries
Blend until smooth and drink! 

Be creative, add frozen fruits in season or combine fruits you enjoy. Make a date and banana shake for something simple.

Fresh organic strawberries, rinsed and ready to be hulled and frozen for smoothies

Peel the bananas cut into thirds or quarters and freeze on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.

Organic bananas ready for the freezer

Strawberry blueberry smoothie

The fiber in the fruit gives you a 'full' feeling. Smoothies are an energizing way to begin your day!

Banana date shake



 
What fruits do you add to your smoothies?

Drink Your Veggies . . . and Other Adventures in (Non) Eating . . .

Green Star Juicer

8:00 a.m.  My (urine) pH is 7.0, my husband is at 6.0

I'm drinking water and I made myself some custom blend herb tea which is blah compared to my usual morning brew of Guyaki Yurba Mate, a teaspoon of maple syrup, and rice milk. But the tea is hot and it helps me feel as if I'm in my usual, comfortable routine.

9:00 a.m. 

I wash the veggies and my husband starts juicing. I'm feeling pretty excited about our first glass of green juice.

Our Morning Brew

Makes about a quart

1 lb. raw spinach leaves

6 stalks celery

1/2 cup Italian parsley

6 leaves romaine lettuce

1 cup salad greens

1 lemon

I chug about 20 ounces straight down without breathing. My husband savors the juice. I think he's acting a bit like a juice snob. The spinach has a mild taste and the celery and romaine add a touch of sweetness. Ya right. Don't follow this recipe because it sucks.

I hear people talking about their green juices as if they are a fine wine. They go on about the "sweetness", the "finish on their tongue", blah, blah, blah.  I think they're liars. I think they hate this stuff as much as I do. Whatever.

10:00 a.m.  My pH is 7.2, my husband is up to 6.6

OK, I have to admit, I'm jazzed because my pH is up, I feel like a pH snob.

11:00 a.m. My pH is up to my targeted 7.4 and I'm stoked!

We're heading out to run some errands and I'm full of energy. My husband is quiet.

12:00 On the road

We stop at the roadside stand on Hwy 12 because the strawberry guy is there. I buy three baskets of red, juicy, ripe strawberries and I show tremendous strength of character as I carefully place them in the cooler in my car without tasting any.

12:30 p.m.  Laguna Farm, CSA

We arrive at Laguna Farm and Farmer Scott is wrenching on the tractor but stops to come and greet us. He comments about the strawberries in the car so I offer him a couple. I am amazed that he saw them at all as I had pulled them out of the cooler and tucked them way at the back of my Volvo wagon. Farmers nose. Scottie takes a bite of a strawberry, murmurs, and rolls his eyes. I want to slap him and rip the ripe strawberries from his hand.

1:00 p.m.  Whole Foods Market, Sebastopol

We decide to try the green juice at Whole Foods. We both choose the Whole Foods Green Drink because one of the ingredients is spinach. We pay our $11.00 for our two, 16 once juices. The juice is not green it's orangish. Turns out there is very little spinach, and lots of carrots and celery in this concoction. It tastes good because it's sweet so I sip it knowing this is going to tank my pH.

2:30 p.m.  Driving home

I'm cranky. I always get cranky when I'm deprived of food. I consider robbing an unripe avocado from our Laguna Farm produce to eat. 

4:00 p.m. My pH is 7.4, husband is 6.6

After putting away all of the farm produce, I peel a bunch of bananas and rinse the strawberries. I put the fruit on trays and place them in the chest freezer for tomorrows smoothies (YIPEE!) I feel pretty smug that I didn't even lick my fingers.

5:00 p.m.  pH, schme-H

6:00 p.m.

After doing some online research about detoxing for heavy metals and radiation, I pull out my stash of French Green Clay from Frontier Herbs, and my husband joins me in taking a teaspoon of clay in a bottle of water. It's a bit chalky but we manage to get it down then drink another 10 ounces of water. I'm hoping the clay will 'stick to my ribs'.

7:54 p.m. 

I'm so bloody hungry I'm ready to chug the Macadamia nut oil I just got from Mountain Rose Herbs. Seriously. 

8:00 p.m. My pH is 7.2

I blame the lower pH on the carrots in the Whole Foods juice. 

I'm feeding the visiting blue jay stale almonds on the front porch thinking to myself, "I could just pop a few of these babies in my mouth and no one would ever know."

Instead I go back inside the house and make myself a cup of rose hip tea. Ya, I know it's not green, slap me.

8:45 p.m.  I don't give a #$%! what my pH is!

This tea is good, I wonder if it's going to tank my pH.


9:00 p.m. On the computer searching for recipes

There are an infinite number of vegan recipes online. I've chosen a Creamy Cucumber Dip recipe I found on the Whole Foods site.

Creamy Cucumber dip ~ photo credit Whole Foods Mkt.

Creamy Cucumber Dip

Makes about 2 cups

1 1/2 cups raw cashews, soaked


1 English cucumber (about 1 1/4 pound), peeled and shredded 


2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice 


1/4 cup freshly chopped dill 
 (I'm going to use parsley because I don't have fresh dill)

2 tablespoons freshly chopped chives 


2 tablespoons toasted pine nuts
Soak cashews with enough water to cover for at least 4 hours. Drain.

Place shredded cucumber in a strainer and set aside for at least 15 minutes to drain, then squeeze out as much excess liquid as possible. You should have about 1 1/2 cups packed shredded cucumber. Transfer cucumber to the bowl of a food processor. Add drained cashews, lemon juice, dill and chives and purée until dip is smooth and creamy. Garnish with pine nuts and serve.

Nutrition
Per serving (about 1/4 cup): 170 calories (110 from fat), 12g total fat, 2g saturated fat, 0mg cholesterol, 25mg sodium, 12g total carbohydrate (3g dietary fiber, 3g sugar), 6g protein

10:00 p.m.  My pH is 6.8

Bummed. The tea did tank my pH. I'm going to soak some cashews and go to bed and dream about the meals I'll make tomorrow . . . 

Day 10

This morning my husband left without eating breakfast. Just a green drink and that was it. I get concerned when he leaves without eating breakfast (truth be told, when he leaves the house at all). I worry that he'll go out into the mean, cruel, snack-filled world and eat  junk. This fear strikes me as a bit unhealthy, I believe the term to be "co-dependent". I make no apologies for my co-dependent fears. If you knew me you'd know I'm really not a worrier. I have a big stake in my husband not eating toxic food, I want him here for a very long time, like at least fifty more years . . . more if I could eek it out of him.

My husband tells me that he ate OK and I believe him because we have this brutally honest relationship. Sometimes he tells me things I really don’t want to know or I want to know but I just have a difficult time processing. So he did good out there.

Since I like to shoot photos and he didn’t really give me any subject matter I shot my food. Wait! I do have one photograph from his breakfast yesterday (Day 9). He’d already dug in before I made him stop so I could take this photo. He’s very patient with me.
 

Day 9 breakfast

Breakfast isn’t my thing, never has been. I know, everyone always says, “breakfast is the most important meal of the day . . .” and actually I agree, just not for me. I have breakfast my way. First thing in the morning I usually have a hot mug of  Yerba Mate and if we have fresh citrus I’ll have a glass of fresh-squeezed juice. About mid-morning I think about something more. Something more is typically a raw almond milk smoothie. I don’t have time to post the recipe on this post but I will add a page with recipes soon. You are gonna LOVE my smoothies! My husband is abstaining from my smoothies right now because he doesn’t want the fruit sugar. I’m a little sad about this because I feel like my almond milk smoothies are really antioxidant powerhouses but I respect his wish to eat a more alkaline diet. I’ll have to get blueberries and flax seeds in him some other way . . .

Oranges from my mom's tree

Raw almond milk smoothie