Nut Milk

My mom introduced me to this recipe last week at my sisters house and I really like it!!  For the most part we don't use cow's milk around our house, and we usually have soy milk on hand, but this is super easy and probably not that expensive!  Next time I go to the store I am going to price it out!!

Nut Milk (1 gallon)

1/2 C Raw Almonds
1/2 C Raw Cashews
1/2 C Unsweetened Shredded Coconut
1/4 t. Salt
1/2 t. Xanthan Gum
Maple syrup or other sweetener if desired

Rinse cashews and soak with almonds overnight.  In the morning, blend nuts and coconut with 4 cups of water.  Once well blended, strain 12 more cups of water through the pulp using a spoon to mix the pulp and help push the water through.  Once this is finished scoop out the pulp and remove the towel from the pitcher.  Now add the salt, xanthan gum and sweetener to the milk.  Mix well and chill before serving.  The xanthan gum adds a little thickness to the milk so that it feels less watery.  This is a lot of milk which we use pretty quickly so just half it if you don't want so much!!

If you make this nut milk, I would LOVE to know what you think of it!!

This is the pulp that I am straining the water through into the pitcher

Here is the finished gallon of nut milk.  I will use the pulp of the nuts in the bread I make today

Granola

So my Sister-in-Law wanted our granola recipe and I failed to get it to her in a timely manner so she found one elsewhere.  While talking about it, she said that her husband doesn't like coconut so she altered the recipe to have less, or none at all.  I am afraid she will have to alter this recipe too because my family likes coconut, and not only is there coconut in this recipe, I add coconut flavoring to give it a little more flavor!  Anyway, here it is...

1 2lb 10oz box old fashioned rolled oats
2 C unsweetened shredded coconut
2 C wheat germ
1 C whole wheat flour
1 t. salt
1 C raw nuts of choice, chopped
2 C dried fruit of choice

Mix all of the above except the dried fruit in a LARGE bowl and blend the following in a blender till smooth.

1 C chopped dates
3/4 C oil
1/2 C honey
3/4 C water
1 t. vanilla extract
1/2 t. almond extract
1/2 t. coconut flavoring

Mix wet and dry ingredients together till well blended, and bake at 250 stirring every 20-30 minutes till lightly browned and dry.  Remove from oven and add 2C dried fruit.  Let cool, and store in airtight container.  If you add the fruit before it is done cooking, it has a tendency to dry out and become tough.  So adding it right after coming out of the oven still allows it to get warm and kinda stick to some of the other ingredients without it becoming too tough to chew!

Pita Pockets and Supper!!

We had Pita Pockets for supper with black bean patties, carrots, cucumber, lettuce and Greek olive oil lemon dressing.  They were SO good, I could have just kept eating them!!!

Pita Bread

1/2 C gluten flour

1 C all purpose flour

4 C whole wheat flour

1 1/2 t. yeast

1 t. sugar

1 1/2 t. salt

2 1/2 C warm water

Combine the flour and salt in a mixing bowl.  In a separate bowl combine water yeast and sugar and let sit for 10 min.  Once yeast mixture has bloomed, add to dry ingredients and mix till a nice dough is formed. Add all purpose flour if needed to create a tacky but not sticky dough and knead for 5-7 minutes.  Transfer dough to a greased bowl and let rise for 1 hour or till doubled in size.  Preheat oven to highest temp (mine was at 550 degrees) and roll out circles of desired size and put onto a sheet pan ready for the oven.  When the oven is up to temp, place sheet pan on the bottom rack and bake till puffed and just browning. (5-7 minutes)  Repeat this process till your dough is gone.  The recipe above made about 15 pockets!  See below for the filling and dressing recipe.

For the filling we used my black bean burgers, carrots, cucumber and a spring mix salad.  The dressing is simple, but makes these sandwiches go from good to GREAT!!!

1/2 C olive oil

1/4 C lemon juice

1 t. garlic granules

1 t. oregano

1/2 t. salt

Adjust lemon juice and salt to your taste preference.



Combine and drizzle over prepared sandwiches.

Aw-Some Coleslaw

I just used up another head of cabbage from our garden.  I made coleslaw for potluck at church tomorrow!!  I get a lot of my recipes off of allrecipes.com because I find that if they have good reviews and a lot of them, the recipe is pretty good and worthy of a try.  Again I was not disappointed.  This coleslaw recipe came off of that website and I think it will go into my recipe book!!  The recipe is posted below for quick reference and my substitutions are in ( )...

Aw-some Coleslaw

1/2 cup mayonnaise (I used Vegenaise)
1/3 cup white sugar (I used raw sugar)

1/4 cup milk (I used soy milk)

2 1/2 tablespoons lemon juice

1 1/2 tablespoons vinegar (I used lemon juice for this also)

salt and pepper to taste (I didn't add any)

9 1/2 cups shredded cabbage (I just used 1 large head)

1/2 cup grated carrots (I used 4 carrots)

1/4 cup minced sweet onion (I used 1t. onion powder in sauce instead)

Whisk together mayonnaise, sugar, milk, lemon juice, vinegar, and salt and pepper in a large bowl.

Toss the cabbage, carrots, and onion into the dressing; mix well. Refrigerate for at least 3 hours or up to overnight before serving.

Chicken Noodle Soup

Looking in the garden the other day, I realized that we have 6 heads of cabbage ready to be harvested NOW.  What are we going to do with 6 heads of cabbage? 

Well, that is where this recipe came from, and I said to my friend Sara today, "I don't know why I call it Chicken Noodle soup because I don't use chicken or noodles in it.  I use FriChik and Cabbage..."  So I really should rename this recipe Fake Chicken and Cabbage Soup...that just doesn't sound as appealing.  Anyway, here we go...

1 large Onion chopped

3 cloves Garlic minced

4 Carrots chopped

Saute above in oil then add:

1 head Cabbage chopped and water to just cover cabbage

10 pieces FriChik plus liquid

1 t. Onion Powder

2 T. Chicken like seasoning

Salt to taste

Let simmer till cabbage is cooked and enjoy!!

Very good and very easy!  The cabbage has a very good texture in this soup, and to me doesn't overwhelm of cabbage.  Don't be scared of this healthy version, just give it a try then you can judge.

Quick and Saucy

What do you do when you look at the clock and realize that you should have started supper already, and that your family is going to be hungry in T-15 minutes?  You look in the fridge, pull out whatever veggies you have and make up a quick spaghetti sauce. 

Here I sauteed 1 Onion, 3 Carrots and 1 Zucchini with half a package of Griller Crumbles.

Then I added 2 cans of tomato sauce with 1/4 can of water, 1/2 teaspoon each of oregano and basil, and let that simmer till slightly thickened.  

And finally put that over a bowl of whole grain penne pasta!

We also had some leftover bread from the previous post, and watermelon which I forgot to take a picture of.

It usually doesn't take too much planning for a quick meal as long as you have some staples like tomato sauce and pasta on hand.  I usually have some veggies that need to be used, and can often find some kind of veggie meat in the freezer.  The ingredients above, with a few variations, can be used to make several different dishes like pizza, and stir fry too! 

I challenge you to take a look at what you already have in your fridge and pantry, and see if you can come up with a quick and delicious meal for your family this week, and let me know what you come up with!!

18 Hour Artisan Bread

Last night I started the dough for bread that we are having for supper tonight and taking for lunch on Sabbath tomorrow.  It is SO yummy that I wanted to share it with you!!

Here is the link to the recipe that I used but I also made an herbed version that goes something like this...

Basic recipe

4 cups all purpose flour
1/4 tsp yeast
2 cups water
1 1/2 tsp salt

Optional ingredients for the herbed version

Dried onions
Dried garlic
Parsley
Basil

Mix all together and let sit for 18 hours.  Turn dough out onto floured parchment paper or silicone baking mat.  Let rest/rise for 1.5 hours.  At 1 hour, preheat oven to 425 degrees and bake for 35-40 min.  Let cool completely before slicing and enjoy!!