homemade almond milk (raw, vegan)

   I have to be honest. I don't like store bought almond milk. The only thing I use it for is to make smoothies for the kids. I skeptical about making this, but the almonds were on sale and I figured if I didn't like it the kids would be drinking smoothies for breakfast for a few days.
   I got the recipe here. But I'm going to tell you what I did, again, I'm not very good at following recipes exactly...

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups soaked almonds
3 1/2 cups filtered water
pinch of sea salt
2 tsp vanilla extract


Directions:
*Soak almonds over night.
   Put almonds in a bowl that has a lid. Add about 2 cups of warm water, put lid on, and
   enjoy the rest of your evening. Drain and rinse the almonds, then peel the skins off
   (optional)
*Place everything in blender and blend on high for about a minute.
*Place a cloth napkin over a pitcher and pour milk through to strain.
*Squeeze and ring napkin out to get as much liquid out as possible.
*Refrigerate you awesome, yummy milk and enjoy!

   The first time I made this I did follow the recipe exactly, but thought that the honey made it too sweet. So this time I left it out all together and it was Delicious! See? Easy peasy!

Soaking the almonds

Peeling the almonds

Everything in the blendtec

After it's all been blended

My napkin over my pitcher

Pouring in the milk to strain

You do have to hold the napkin to keep it from falling in the pitcher

 



After the blender's empty, pull your napking up

 Squueze and wring out the liquid

 

Now that's it all wrung out

You're left with this beautiful almond pulp

Place it in a bowl and store in the fridge until you decide what you wanna do with it

I keep my milk in a mason jar

You know you're thirsty now!

This morning I enjoyed it with my oatmeal.

 

 

   I posted a recipe for making cereal using the left over almond pulp. I also used some of the pulp to "bread" my eggplant parmesean today at lunch. I will be looking into more useful and creative ways to use this beautiful by product, and I'll definitely let ya know what I come up with! 



homemade cereal

   So, when I did the 3 day cleanse this last weekend I made my own almond milk. After I made the almond milk I had left over almond pulp. I thought about feeding it to our chicken, but then I decided to google recipes for leftover almond pulp to see if there was a way to use it in the house instead.
   I looked through a few recipes, but a lot of them were raw and required a dehydrator, which I don't have, or they required ingredients that I didn't have. Then I found this recipe. It looked delicious and seemed simple enough. I was out of coconut, but didn't mind going out to get some because I'm quite partial to it.
   I waited until Sunday night to make this, because I couldn't eat it while doing the cleanse and I just knew it was going to be super yummy. So, here's what I did...


Ingredients:
1 cup packed almond pulp
3/4 cup dried coconut flakes (that I pulsed in my blendtec 'til they were more like shredded)
2/3 cup oat flour (oatmeal pulsed in blendtec until it's flour)
1/3 cup honey
2 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp vanilla powder
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp salt

Directions:
Mix everything together in a big bowl.
Spread mixture out into a lined pan, I used wax paper.
Put in oven on lowest setting over night.
  

   My oven's lowest setting is 170. I put it in about 8:15pm and had hubby turn the oven off when he got up in the morning, about 5am. The cereal came out nice and crunchy and yummyliscious!!! I ate it for breakfast yesterday and today using the almond milk, instead of cow's milk. My oldest daughter is the only kid that's tasted it and she really likes it. She wasn't a huge fan of the almond milk though. That's alright by me, just means I get to be the one to drink it all!

The almond pulp.

Everything all mixed together.

I just plopped it all in the pan and smoothed it out with my hands.

Then I used my pizza cutter to cut it into little squares.

When it was done i popped the little squares into a tupperware.

yummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

 



3 day detox!

   *Warning this post gives some details some of you may not want to read. If you don't mind getting a bit personal with me read on, friend*


   So... I have been having uti's once a month pretty much since July :( Totally sucks!!! I went to the doc in October, after one round of antibiotics in July, one in August, 2 rounds in September and then a 7 day round, followed by a 3 day round and then a few days later another 3 day round in October!!! I asked the doc what was causing them. Her answer "Well, it could be this...or that...or this other thing...we're not sure there's no way to tell. Why don't I just give a huge bottle of antibiotics that you can just take daily to prevent any more infections." She was serious. She wanted me to be on a daily antibiotic!!!! How nuts is that?!!!
   Well, after 2 weeks of antibiotics in October the infection was gone but I just felt miserable. I felt sick, tired and just not healthy. We went through November just fine and December was nice too. Then, right as the new year started I had that feeling in my stomach again. You know the one? It feels like you drank a whole gallon of water and if you don't get to a bathroom soon, you're going to literally burst open. When you finally get to the bathroom, the 2 drops that finally do come out feel like liquid acid! ughhhh!
   So, I started drinking water like I was dying of thirst, taking cranberry pills to help with the pain and resting. I was just so tired. Tired of feeling tired, tired of being sick. So I decided to do a cleanse. I thought maybe if I can just purge my body of whatever the heck is causing these infections then I'll feel better. I figured at the worst I would do it, feel the same and end up back at the doctor's office and on antibiotics.
   I had found a 3 day detox on the "Hungry for Change" website. It looked doable. I went and got everything I need and started on Friday. The first day was hard, I'm not gonna lie. The food that looked so nice on the website tasted like gross. I really thought about giving up. The only reason I stuck with it was because I really wanted to try take care of myself, my body, naturally. I was cranky the first day. I didn't feel cranky, but hubby told me I was and I believe him.
   The second day, was a bit better. The celery I had used the day before was super salty, so I threw it out and used a new bunch. Doing this made the green juice taste much better, good in fact! The hard part was having to stick a food plan, while cooking yummy delicious food for the rest of the family. But I persevered. It was really hard to concentrate and I was unbelievably tired, but I made it through. I told hubby "No wonder they have you do this over the weekend! I can't think!" Plus the fact that you're going to pee more than you ever have in your entire life is good reason to do it on the weekend.
   The third day, I woke up and felt just AMAZING! I was tired. My tummy didn't hurt. I could think. I was in a great mood. I didn't stick to the detox plan, because it was Sunday. And this particular Sunday we had to be at church an hour earlier than normal. I didn't have time to make my green juice, but I did drink the lemon ginger drink. I had lots of water at church. A friend of mine brought me a raw, organic kombucha tea that did the trick in holding me off until we got home. By the time we did get home, it was 3:30pm and I just went straight to the soup that was supposed to be for dinner. It was cold and rainy and I wanted something warm. I ate the almonds a little later and ended up having the green juice around dinner time. I ate the dessert, and had tea at about 8ish.
   Today, I woke up still feeling great. I wasn't tired, and that is the best part of this whole thing. I'm usually stupidly tired. Like have a hard time even pulling myself out of bed in the morning. But this morning I was up, making breakfast for the kids and cheerful while doing it! I had a cup of tea, chamomile lavender that hubby picked up for me yesterday, 2 glasses of water and a glass of fresh orange/apple juice. I made homemade almond milk to make the dessert in the cleanse, and used the leftover almond pulp to make homemade cereal last night and I'm going to have that for breakfast. I'm going to finally get to enjoy the spaghetti sauce I made on Saturday tonight at dinner.
   I truly feel better. But I am truly thankful that it's over and that I get to enjoy food that tastes better. I'm going to cut back on dairy, and make more of an effort to eat more raw foods. I'd like to feel this good all the time!!!

Momma Sumer's Mexican Rice Recipe

   My hubby is mexican and grew up eating pretty much just mexican food. I use to tell people "If he can't wrap it in a tortilla, he won't eat it!" I remember for the first few years of our marriage, whenever I would make chicken soup he would heat up refried beans and take the chicken and potatoes from the soup and make burritos.
   The man loves beans and rice and I could not make rice for the life of me. It was so frustrating. I had his mom show me, his aunt, my step mom and even our good friend showed me, and my rice still sucked. I don't know what happened but all of a sudden one day it was like an "ahh haa!" moment. So, for those of you who may have the same problem with rice as I did, try this recipe and let me know if it helps.

Ingredients:
3-4 TBSP oil
2 cups white rice
2 TBSP taco seasoning
1 TBSP chili powder
1/2 cup salsa fresca  (***alternate noted below)
4 cups water
1 cup frozen mixed veggies

Directions:
-Heat oil in pan on medium heat, it's a 4 on my stove
-Add rice and stir until rice is no longer translucent, but don't let rice turn brown!
-Add spices and stir
-Add salsa, water and veggies, stir
-Bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover and let cook on low, I usually turn the stove down to a 2.

This is my youngest daughter, she asked me to take a pic her eating my rice! Isn't she the cutest?

 

   I'm not sure exactly how long to let the rice cook, probably about 30-40 minutes. I start the rice first then make everything else and just keep an eye on it, checking it every once in a while. If it seems done I turn the stove off and let it sit there until we're ready to eat. Sometimes, it's done at the same time as everything else and other times we're waiting for the rice. Just open it up and take a little bite, when it's done to you, it's done.

 

 

***If you don't have salsa made and don't want to take the time to make it , just throw the water, a tomato, some cilantro, a clove of garlic, some onion, and little lime juice in your blender, liquify and use this.***

Salsa Fresca Recipe

   I was eating breakfast this morning. Eggs on toast topped with some of the salsa I made the other day and half an avocado on the side. I eat this often. It's one of my favorites. As I was eating, I remembered that I wanted to share my very easy salsa fresca recipe with you guys. Making fresh salsa is super fast, much tastier and healthier than the store bought crap. So, the next time you're at the store grab these few things and make a batch!

Ingredients:
4 tomatoes (I used organic cluster tomatoes)
1/2 purple onion
cilantro (I used about half of a bunch that I got at the farmer's market)
2 fresh jalapeno peppers
2 cloves garlic
lime (I used the juice from 1/4 of it)
salt to taste

Directions:
-Dice 3 tomatoes and place in a big bowl. Quarter the other tomato and place it in the blender.
-Dice the onion and place half in the bowl, half in the blender.
-Dice cilantro, again half in the bowl, half in the blender.
-Roughly chop jalapenos and place all of it in the blender, seeds and all.
-Peel the garlic and place them both in the blender.
-Quarter your lime and squeeze juice from one piece into blender.
-Process in blender until it's all liquidy (not sure if that's a word, but hey)
-Add the contents from blender to your bowl.
-Mix it all up and salt to taste. (You can add more lime juice if you prefer also)

 

   See...fresh, easy, yummy salsa! You don't have to blend this salsa at all if you want your salsa to be chunkier, I just find that it's not as juicy that way. You can also just throw everything in the blender for a quicker, smoother version.

   I use this salsa to make Mexican rice. Recipe for that is posted here.



Homemade peanut butter

   Why would you make peanut butter when you can just buy it? Well, because it's cheaper, tastes better, I know exactly what's in it and it's so easy I dare ask you "Why wouldn't you make your own peanut butter?"

Ingredients:
-peanuts (I used raw, they were on sale. The roasted salted are better for this I think)
-coconut oil (I'll melt it next time, had to add grape seed oil to get the right consistency)
-honey

Directions:
-Place peanuts in blender, or food processor (I have a blendtec which works great, not sure how well a regular blender would work)
-Pulse them
-Add oil to get a more peanut buttery consistency
-Add honey, but only after you get the right consistency

Peanuts

Coconut oil, since it wasn't melted I did end up having to add some grape seed oil.

Almost there!

Add the honey. We're lucky hubby's friend is a bee keeper and gave us this awesome, raw, unfiltered, organic honey!

See how creamy the peanut butter is when I added the honey?

Picked up this jar from Sprouts for $2. I filled this jar to the tippy top, and what was left over was exactly what I needed to make my granola bars. Happy coincidence!

 

 





   The first time I made this I added the honey at the beginning and everything was just all sticky and didn't ever get creamy :(  Don't get me wrong, we ate it any way, but if you want it nice and creamy do the honey last.
  That's it!!! Easy peasy lemon squeezy! Now, I just need to learn how to make my own jam. If you have a recipe that you like pass it on please.


*I used this peanut butter to make the best granola bars ever!

The BEST granola bars ever!!!

   My hubby and I help with the youth at our church. We are part of a six person team, 3 men and 3 of us ladies. It works well because we each have our own strengths. Mine? Cooking and feeding people! So, we had a youth event and when we were done we had 3 bunches of over ripe, left over bananas. I hate to see food go to waste. I have challenged myself to use these bananas.
   On Sunday, I made banana pudding and banana angel food cake. Both super yummy. Yesterday, I made peanut butter and banana granola bars, using this recipe, well...sort of ;) Here's what I did...

Ingredients:
1-2/3 cups old fashioned oats
1/3 cup white or wheat flour (I used wheat)
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. salt (I always use just a little less)
1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla powder (I added this, I told you I can't follow a recipe)
2-3 cups mix ins (I used 1/3 wheat germ, filled my 1/3 cup measuring cup about 3/4 full of flax seeds then topped it off with chia seeds, 2/3 cup roughly chopped walnuts, 1/2 cup chocolate chips)
1/4 cup honey (spray measuring cup first with cooking spray and it won't stick)
2 TBSP. oil (I used grape seed, it was what I had)
2 ripe bananas, mashed
1/3 cup creamy peanut butter (I used homemade, the recipe for that is here)
2 tsp. vanilla extract

Directions:
-Mix dry ingredients
-Mix wet ingredients (I made my peanut butter first, so I just threw the bananas in my blendtec so as to not waste any peanut butter still left in there, plus the bananas came out super creamy)
-Mix these together
-Press firmly and evenly into parchment lined pan
-Bake at 350 for 30-40 minutes (I baked for 30 minutes, turned the oven off, let them sit in there for a few minutes, then moved them to the kitchen table to cool)
***Cool completely before cutting into bars***
Store in air tight container in fridge (I left them on a plate, covered with a paper towel last night because they were still a little soft and I wanted them to crisp up a bit more, but I will refridgerate them tonight...if there are any left)

All the dry ingredients.

Mixing the wet and dry ingredients together.

In the lined pan, made removal very, very easy.

I pulled the liner up and out came the whole thing. Then I just cut them up.

Aren't they pretty? They tasted even better than they look!

 

 

   Three of my kids loooooooooooooooooooooooooved them. My youngest son did not. I should mention that he doesn't like anything I cook though. I had to stop myself after eating 1 myself and then, of course, finishing the one my son didn't want. Hubby came home ate 2. My brother stopped by, ate 2 and asked for the recipe, so he can make them for his son.I'm telling you these things are deliciousness! I'd like to try it replacing the bananas with applesauce and the chocolate chips with raisins. When I do I'll let you know how they turn out.

    

 

 



Black bean salsa recipe

   You know how your kids bring home fundraising catalogs? The ones that over charge, but you buy something anyway to support the school. Well last year the catalog had a few recipes in it and one of them was for this yummy, delicious, wonderful salsa. I make it all the freaking time! It's a staple in this hippie house now. Below is the recipe how it's written, at the bottom I will let you know how I do it. Enjoy!!!

Ingredients:
2 cans black beans (15oz.), drained and rinsed
4 ears fresh corn, shucked
1-3/4 cup chopped red onion
1-1/2 cup chopped green onion
1 very large red bell pepper, chopped
2 jalapeno peppers, finely minced
2 cups chopped tomato
2/3 cup chopped cilantro

3/4 cup fresh lime juice
zest of 1 large lime
1-1/2 TBSP minced garlic
1 TBSP ground cumin
1 tsp kosher salt
2 TBSP extra virgin olive oil

Directions:
1. Boil corn approx. 5 minutes, remove kernels, let cool.
2. Combine the first set of ingredients in a large bowl and set aside.
3. Combine the second set of ingredients in a separate bowl and mix well.
4. Add this to the first bowl and toss lightly to coat evenly.
5. Chill several hours before serving. Refrigerate leftovers in covered container. Makes 12 cups.

*** I use Ortega brand black beans with diced jalapenos already in them that way I don't have to touch the peppers. Spicy is no good for my hands. I use frozen organic corn, like 2-3  handfuls until it looks like I want it to. I cut back on the onion a little. I pretty much cut up the veggies and add it all together until it looks like the right proportions to my liking. I usually use a few different bell peppers not just red. I also use garlic salt instead of kosher. I don't use separate bowls, it just makes more dishes. I squeeze half a lime in there and leave out the zest, mostly cause I'm lazy. Everything else I pretty much follow. I'm horrible, HORRIBLE at two things in the kitchen...1. following a recipe exactly, I can't do it I've tried, it's not gonna happen and 2. Measuring things when I cook. I do everything by taste and how it looks.

I get these from our 99cents store. I am going to just cook black beans with jalapenos in them next time and see how that goes, I'll let you know.

 

I was out of red bell pepper, that's why you don't see it ;)

 

 





   So, there ya go! Have fun with it add to it, leave something out if you don't like it. I put this on everything~ just with chips, on my eggs, in quesadillas, tacos, burritos, on my salads over rice, etc. You get the point. Just get in your kitchen and make something yummy! Food is fun!!!

No more bottled water

   I love bottled water. It tastes better than tap and it's portable. The kids don't spill from them, usually. Not only have we always had individual water bottles that we bought form Costco, but we also have a water cooler that holds a 5 gallon water bottle. The water comes out either cold, or hot. So, if the kids want hot chocolate they can do it on their own. If I want tea I don't have to wait. Ahhh the joy of instant gratification! Bottles are just easier, plain and simple.
   I have a good friend who NEVER has bottled water. I actually keep a stash of them in her pantry. Seriously! That's how much I love bottled water. They drink from the tap. She always tells me that CA tap water is way better than the AZ water she had been used to drinking. Her hubby doesn't see why you would pay for water when you can get it from your tap. "It's like paying for it twice!" What a cheap man! Or does this make him a smart man? Both I think.
   While I am quite sure that I will always prefer the taste of bottled water over tap, I am also quite sure that I can no longer drink it. At my friend's suggestion I watched "Tapped". I'd seen it on netflix for a long time but I didn't want to watch it. I knew it was going to tell me things I didn't want to hear. I knew it was going to change my mind.
   So, yesterday we finally finished all the bottled water that was in the house. I felt good about it and the kids didn't seem to care if they had tap water or bottled water as long as they had something. Hubby didn't seem happy at all. I made myself a big glass of iced tap water, and asked him if he wanted a glass too. "No, not tap water." He looked sad, sitting there eating his dinner with nothing to drink. I finally passed him mine and he finished it.
   When we were done clearing the table and in the kitchen alone I asked him if he was mad. "No, just annoyed." He loves bottled water just as much as I do. But he also loves me. He loves me enough to let me empty our house of the products that he's used to, like his shaving cream. I left his deodorant, for now- he works construction. He's annoyed at not having bottled water in the house, but said it'd be ok. He doesn't feel as strongly as I do about these things, but sees how important they are to me.
   I am blessed to have him. He knows I'm nuts by most people's account, and not only puts up with me but supports me also. So, tonight with dinner I think I'll reward him with a nice cold beer!

truly smart water!