Milk & Meal: Homemade from Almonds

I didn't always like almond milk. The kind that you get in a carton at the store just never tasted right to me. I bought several different brands and I just never liked the after-mouth taste. Then I looked at the ingredients list (Note to Self: look at ingredients BEFORE purchasing). Calcuim carbonate, Carrageenan, Gellan gum, additional vitamins...  I mean what is that stuff anyways?? Shouldn't Almond Milk just be about the Almonds? There are already vitamins in the nuts why are they adding them? I am not here to definitively say that these ingredients, both natural and chemically made, are "good" or "bad". I just want REAL FOOD. 

So I decided to make some homemade prior to adding to my Not A Fan of Food List. After the initial ingredient discovery, I looked at recipes all over the webs and tried out a couple of different ratios. This is what I came up with... YOU might like yours creamier or you might like it more watery- this is what I like. I would also like to mention that my taste tester I.E. Mr. FFF really despised my very first batch... as in he told me "there are somethings you just can't make and you shouldn't try". Doesn't that sounds like a challenge to you? It does to me!

This almond milk is a 2 days process but it is sugar free, chemical free and ridiculously tasty. 

Homemade Almond Milk

Ingredients: Filtered Water, 1 cup Almonds, 1 Date (this is optional, just adds a hint of sweetness)

Day 1: Put one cup of raw almonds in a mason jar, fill with water until right above the almonds. Lid on, walk way.

Day 2: This is still a waiting day. I added more water because the almonds had risen above the waterline.

Day 3: Milk day! Dump the soaking water, rinse the almonds. Your almonds will be really plump and juicy! Add the nuts to the blender, with one date (take out the seed) for sweetness and add 1.5- 2c of filtered water (recipes normally say 1 to 2 cups per cup of almond). I used to find 2 cups of water to be too much because it made the the almond milk have a skim milk fluidity but as long as you let the almonds soak for TWO days and you have a decent blender 2 cups should be fine. Blend for a few minutes until nuts are pulverized. Take your milk nut bag (yes I have one it was $7 on Amazon but you can use a strainer and a cheese cloth instead) place in a medium bowl or Pyrex, pour in almond mixture in nut bag, pick up bag and squeeze liquid from pulp. The amount of almond milk you get will depend on how much water you used. Make sure to keep your almond milk in an air tight container and refrigerate. Remember, this stuff isn't pasteurized and since it is completely made of REAL ingredients it only lasts 3-4 days... but that isn't really a problem in my house. 

What to use almond milk for? As a creamer in your coffee or tea, replacing fruit juice in your morning smoothie, with cookies (hehe), if you are a cereal eater use it in place of milk. The list goes on... I personally love to use it in my morning cold brew. In fact, I have to make sure to eat breakfast within 30 minutes because if I let more time go by I am pretty content with the protein in my morning cup of joe and wont eat until lunchtime. 

Don't forget to save the pulp! Almond flour is expensive but if you have a dehydrator and a food processor you can use your leftover almond pulp and get two different uses from the same almonds. How awesome is that?! (Some might say frugal, I say penny-wise.) I have done it before in the oven but here in Florida I don't like to leave my oven on for that long, even in the "winter".  Put your dehydrator on at 165 degrees (my oven only goes as low as 170)  and then add the pulp to a tray and leave it over night to 12 hours. Once its no longer moist you can add it to your food processor and pulse away until there are no more lumps. Now you are ready to coat your chicken, make crackers, paleo pancakes... or whatever else you can come up with. Here are a few more ideas. 

 Making almond milk is not hard but it does take planning. Do you like almond milk? Would you ever made your own?

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* Thanks for the awesome Christmas present Sis!

Man I need a Cold Brew.

Not Beer, Coffee! I have been reading all about cold brew coffee lately and hearing about it from the ladies at the Balanced Bites podcast. Now we can't get their recommended cold brew in these parts (Florida your weather is great, but you are no hipster) so I decided to research and make it myself. What I found was a surprisingly easy way to make your cold coffee. No more waiting to brew coffee and then let it cool for me! It is perfect for those mornings you are rushing out the door and for coffee all year round in the South. I use the best flavored coffee I can get my hands on; usually it's the seasonal coffee at The Fresh Market. You can use regular but I looove flavored (in spite of its dark side).

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Cold Brew Coffee Concentrate

Step 1: Get out your coffee grinder and grind 12 oz. of coffee. If your grinder has a choice, courser beans are better than finer in this instance. Pour in Mason jar. I use a large half gallon Mason jar to house the grounds during the brewing process but you can use anything large enough for 7-8 cups.  Add filtered water until half way full. Thoroughly stir your ground coffee with the water until all grounds are saturated. Then fill to just below the brim this will be about 7-8 cups of water altogether. Put a lid on it and set aside for 15-24 hrs. 

Step 2: When the wait is over, use a fine mesh strainer or cheesecloth and pour into clean container to remove grounds. Rinse out your original container and filter it again. (Use the spent grounds for the garden!) Now here is the fun part. You can use your *coffee maker to do this. Place a clean filter in the coffee maker; pour your pre-strained coffee directly into the basket of the coffee maker. Let it drip into the coffee pot and walk away- do the dishes or something. In a few minutes you will need to add more to the basket and you might have to do this a couple of times depending on the size of your coffee maker. After the last drop has dripped, you will end up with a great cold brew coffee concentrate.

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How is this a "fast morning coffee"? 

Once you have your concentrate, your mornings will be easy breezy and caffeinated. All you will need to do is fill your glass with ice (does not matter if it is a to-go mug or a stay-at-home glass) and pour in 4 ounces (1/2 c) of the coffee concentrate. This is the ideal amount but for those **heavy coffee drinkers out there just fill your glass half way. The other half can be water, milk, almond milk, whatever ever your little heart desires. Except soy milk. It's terrible for you. I know some people just need a big jolt to get them going in the morning, so for you- drink it ***straight. 

Have you ever had a cold brew before? What is your favorite? You have one more day to help vote in the best coffee beans for home brewing. 

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* If you do not have a coffee maker, alternatively you can use a mason jar with the ring (not the lid) and a coffee filter. It does take a rather long time. 

**Also you should really fix your dependency on caffeine. Mark from Mark's Daily Apple asks "Is it really just a pick-me-up, or is it a band-aid for a larger problem..."

***Stop this! It is a drug after all. 

New year, New Goals

I know I am few days late.  I don't necessarily have a new year’s resolution this year- I just have a few objectives I would like to accomplish and incorporate in my life in the upcoming year.

1. BE MORE ACTIVE

I know a popular goal this time of year is to lose weight or get more exercise and mine is similar. But really I want to get out there and move. We already do Orange Theory Fitness twice a week, and I am running (just not as much as I would like). Between OTF, running once or twice a week, biking (I got a bike for Christmas!) and walking one mile on rest days- hopefully I can just move every day. So I am telling the WORLD in order to hold myself more accountable. Bahaha. 

2. EAT HEALTHY

I already eat pretty healthy. At least 90% (maybe 80%) better choices than most of Standard American Diets but I'd like to clean it up more. Maybe 2014 will bring me less beer and more broccoli. That sounds terrible but definitely healthier. I'd like to stick to my guns and only partake in things that are less healthy when it's really really needed not just because it's Friday.

3. BE THANKFUL ALL YEAR

I really have a great life including a wonderful husband, great family and an awesome group of friends. There is so much to be thankful for- I am choosing to look at what I have and not at what I do not have. And to just be appreciative.

4. SHED THE EXTRAS

As of yesterday, we have already started to do this with cutting the cord (for Cable, that is). I want to learn how to say no and not take on too much. I have a tendency to say yes to everything, to watch too many TV shows and to keep watching just because I have for the last X number of years, to think I can get everywhere in in 15 minutes and to basically over book myself. Not being employed for the past couple of months has shown me that taking the time to do that basics can really make you value the whole experience even more. Does this make sense? Maybe less really is more? I would like to take this year to figure that out for sure.

5. FIND A NEW OCCUPATION

Whether it is in the field that I have been in the last 8 years or even another avenue. I would like to find an occupation that I am passionate about.

6. SUPER SECRET 

As open as I am, sometimes you need to keep some ambitions to yourself. If it comes to fruition, you'll be the first to know. :)

7. SPEND MORE TIME WITH FAMILY

I am very lucky, we have only had one death in my extended family and that was many years in the making. Last year brought sickness. One of our strongest, healthiest, most stubborn members suddenly came down with one of the worst cancers. Never in a million years would we have expected for him to become so sick so fast. I love our joint families but life gets in the way and sometimes you don't spend enough time with them as you intended. I'd like for 2014 to be the year to change that. This personal experience has shown me that you never know what the next day will bring. Spend it with your loved ones. No regrets.

8. GET MORE SLEEP

For some people this is an easy one. Not me. I am terrible at sleeping enough. I start off good and have intentions of getting my 8+ hours of sleep but this never happens. Usually it’s more like 6 hr., maybe 6 1/2 hrs. and almost never anything over 7 hr. This needs to change. It's not good for me and although I am naturally a night person, I need to start getting up and resting with the sun.

9. TRAVEL

We already have a trip planned for early this year to see family up in Virginia. Whether it be saving up for one large trip or taking a bunch of mini trips. I would just like for us to spend time seeing more of the world.

10. KEEP IN TOUCH

Along with spending more time with family, I would like to keep in better touch with my friends. I'd like to reconnect with the women I was once incredibly close too. I'd like to get more regular updates from those friends who have moved away. And I would love to have more tete-a-tete's with the friends I see regularly because sometimes a personal connection can really be just the thing we all need.

I am sure if you looked up common New Year's objectives or goals or resolutions (whatever you would like to call them) many of the above would be listed. However I think they are still worth putting out there. There is always room for improvement especially if it also improves the fullness and overall richness of one’s life. Maybe I will not succeed in all of these in the upcoming year but I am going to try. Plus there is always the next year. 

This reminds me of a fitting quote I once heard.

"You can’t win at everything, but you can laugh at everything." -Robert Killinger

Too bad you can’t make money on quotes. We'd be rolling in it over here. :) 

Soups on.

Inquiring minds want to know: How do you get more veggies in your diet?

It's hard. I mean do you like to eat a green bean or broccoli floret on your way to work in the morning? Neither do I and this is why whether you are at home or on the road SOUP is great for breakfast!

Although the weather here in Florida is not that chilly, this time of year it is so nice to have a warm cup of something in your hand every morning. For some that may be coffee, or tea. And for others Soup. Varieties I have had for breakfast in the last 6 months include: Silky Gingered Zucchini Soup, Tomato Soup,  Mushroom Soup, Golden Cauliflower Soup.

Before writing me off due to this crazy-out-there idea I am endorsing, you have got to try it first. At least once. Breakfast usually includes a few eggs and maybe some sausage but unless you eat things sporadically like myself then you might not be eating a salad or leftover collard greens with your first meal of the day. Isn't the first the most important? So why wouldn't you include at least one serving of vegetables?

Back to today's Soup. Like a lot of the recipes I make, I didn't invent this. I saw something I liked and I put a twist and revamped it into what I wanted.

Velvety Garlic Vegetable Soup

Olive Oil

Salt
2 heads Garlic
6 c Bone Broth*
1 c Onion, diced
2 Carrots, peeled and sliced
1 Jalapeno or Serrano, sliced
1 inch fresh Ginger, peeled and minced
2 c Zucchini, diced

Roast your garlic. Heat up your favorite soup pot over medium and add a few tablespoons of olive oil. Saute the onions, carrots and jalapenos until onions are translucent. Add in the ginger and zucchini, season with salt and saute until fragrant. Add in your broth and roasted garlic and simmer for 20 minutes or until the carrots are tender. At this point it is time to get velvety. To do this you can either use an immersion blender or a blender. Blend until smooth. Serve and eat.

Another great thing about soup. It makes multiple servings so you basically have cooked something for the whole week**. I ate today's soup for lunch and added a bit of leftover Crockpot BBQ beef. It was delicious. Sometimes breakfast, lunch or dinner really can be very easy. 

What is your favorite soup?

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*This can be any type of bone broth you have on hand or vegetable broth for a vegetarian soup.
** Of course if you don't want to eat all the same flavored soup all week don't forget that you can freeze it for later.

More Quiche, please.

A few months ago we went to this little french bistro in Hyde Park called Piquant for my girlfriend *Jessica's birthday brunch. It's a place I'd been wanting to try out for a while but was avoiding because I didn't want to be tempted by all of the gluten filled pastries. So this was a perfect excuse to go. Who doesn't love food excuses?

In a french bistro you can really get in trouble with all of the tempting danishes and croissants so I scoured the menu for a healthier choice. I was pleasantly surprised in finding a gluten free Quiche with a petite salad for only $9! What a bargain and it was delicious. Imagine a hashbrown-like potato crust and a cheesy creamy filling all topped off with a drizzle of gravy reduction. Perfection.

Mr. FFF and I have been back a few times and I can't bring myself to **order anything else. Even though I end up making a Quiche about once a month, this was unlike anything I'd ever had. Of course this got my mind racing as to how I could recreate it at home...This is when the spaghetti squash crust was born. The key to this crust is moisture, as in you really don't want the natural moisture from the squash. 

REWIND: Have you already cooked your squash? Don't know how to cook one? Please start here or here.

3 Step Spaghetti Squash Crust: So now that you have a cooked and spaghettied (that can't be a word) squash, go into your linen closet and get an old kitchen towel, maybe two.

Step 1: Once its cool enough to handle, spread a  few handfuls of squash on the cloth towel. Starting from the long side roll up the towel and press with your palm to remove the water. Unroll and place in a bowl. Repeat the process with all of the squash- you might have to get a new towel if the original one gets too wet.

Step 2: Once your squash is dry add a teaspoon or two of melted ghee or coconut oil. Get in there with your hands and make sure it is thoroughly mixed in the squash.

Step 3: Build your crust. Evenly spread the squash in your glass pie pan and using your fingers press the squash on the bottom and sides.
 
Cook for 10-15 minutes on 425 until slightly browned. Don't try to go for crunchy, unlike potatoes squash is NOT good crunchy. Trust me on this.

Don't have a favorite recipe? I make it different every single time depending on what I have in the fridge. I usually use left overs. Sometimes I used less half & half and more eggs, sometimes I only have four eggs or no meat or no spinach and only left over broccoli. It happens, here is where you get to be creative. But I do have a basic recipe that I like and try to aim for if I have the ingredients on hand. And when I don't its still good.

Quiche:
1/2 c.  chopped onion
6-8 oz. of bacon or sausage
5 eggs
3/4 c. half & half or milk
1/8 tsp. pepper
1/4 tsp. salt
dash of nutmeg
5 oz. chopped, drained Spinach (this is half of a frozen package- save the rest for another dish)
one sliced tomato
1 c. cheese (Swiss or Cheddar)

Lower the oven temperature to 325.

Cook onion and sausage in skillet until meat is cooked and set aside to cool. In large pyrex, whisk eggs, mix in salt, pepper, nutmeg, and half & half. Make sure your spinach is not watery (you can do this by squeezing excess water out over a sink with your hands) and stir into egg mixture. Once the spinach is mixed in add the cheese and cooled onion mixture.

Pour into the crust, top with sliced tomatoes and cook for 40-50 minutes. Toothpick inserted in the center that comes out clean is your cue to take it out of the oven. Let it rest for 15 minutes and then slice up and Enjoy.

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*She has a great blog too! Some uplifting whimsical reading over there.
**That is how I get, once I find an amazing dish a restaurant I don't even get to try other items because I always order the same thing.

Thanksgiving and After Turkey Day Sammie

Although I didn't buy a turkey, of course we did have a wonderful Thanksgiving turkey dinner with family on *Casey Key-Nokomis Beach. The spread was great and the company even better. Below is a picture of my two appetizer offerings: Artichoke & Caramelized Onion Tart and Stuffed Mushrooms. The tart is a mix match of recipes that I put together and I think it turned out really great. 

The tart is a mix match of recipes that I put together and I
 think it turned out really great.
 

Ingredients: 

Tart Crust 

1 onion, thinly sliced

1-2 tbsp  olive oil

14 oz. can of quarters artichokes
1 tbsp Dijon Mustard

2 eggs
8 oz. Mascarpone cheese

1/2 c Half & Half ( or whipping cream)
1/4 tsp white pepper

1/8 tsp nutmeg

1 c Jagerberg cheese
1/2 c Parmesan cheese

Make tart crust, follow all directions except only cook for only ten minutes.  Preheat oven to 350. Over medium-low heat olive oil, add sliced onions and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Cook until caramelized, golden brown but not burnt- low heat is key here. **Cook for about 45 minutes, stirring occasionally. 

• Brush the crust with the Dijon. Drain the artichokes and evenly spread both artichokes and  caramelized onions on crust. Whisk eggs,  Mascarpone, cream, white pepper, nutmeg and cheese then pour filling in tart pan; sprinkle with Parmesan. Bake until tart is set in the center ( about 40 minutes). Cool for about 15 minutes before serving. 

Ok so now for the important stuff. The leftovers. 

This is my "turkey" club "sandwich" that I whipped up this weekend. It has no turkey and no real bread but it was delicious. I have been wanting to make some paleo bread for a while now but haven't gotten the chance and I am so glad I waited for Thanksgiving leftovers! It was a match made in heavan. 

This recipe is super simple. Left over poultry, leftover ***cranberry sauce, avocado, lettuce, and paleo bread. Simple. Delicious. The smoothness of the avocado and the tartness from the cranberry sauce plus the tiny bit of sweetness from the bread makes a perfect balanced bite of yumminess. 

The sandwich does look pretty small but that bread really feels you up since it is made of mostly almond flour. 

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*Doesn't everyone visit the beach on thanksgiving? Or is that just a Florida thing?

** I did this the day before so the tart could be fresh but I wouldn't be trying to get it cooked in the morning before we left. 

*** Please do not use that much honey! Are you crazy AB? (I used 1/3 pomegranate juice, 2/3 fresh squeezed OJ, and 1/3 cup honey.)

I didn't buy a turkey.

I have to admit I didn't buy a turkey this year. 

• I  have been making a turkey every year since we have been married because I wanted to get in some good practice before we ever had to host. Plus when you go to someones house sometimes you get left overs and sometime you don't. Not getting leftovers is tragic; then you wouldn't be able to create delicious leftover recipes. Plus Turkey is usually on super sale after Turkey day. Since I am at home now I didn't want to wait until next week to cook up my bird so I just decided to go ahead and make the *big meal before hand. Then my common sense that took over when I was at the market and I bought a chicken instead of a turkey.   Roaster chickens were only $1.89 lb and turkeys were $4.99 lb. Really? Three dollars and ten cents difference. Does this make me Un-American? I got the chicken because I am cheap; I couldn't fathom buying a $30 turkey for just the two of us.
• Chicken, Turkey- pretty much the same. 

I tried a few new things this year for the bird. I did a dry brine and I **flat roasted the chicken. I have done a wet brine before but I didn't like it. Its takes up tons of space in the fridge, if it sloshes you get turkey water everywhere and I didn't think it was worth the time and effort. Dry brine I loved. Super simple, and doesn't take up tons of room in the fridge. 

Dry Brine: 1/3c Kosher Salt, 1 tsp sugar, 1 tsp pepper. Rub mixture over ever inch of the bird. Cover and set in refrigerate overnight. Before your are ready to cook, thoroughly rinse bird. Make sure there is no remaining visible salt and then pat dry. 

Butter rub: Salt & Pepper (not too much salt since we dry brined it), Zest of one lemon, 3 cloves garlic, 10 sprig of thyme, 1 sprig of rosemary, 2 tbsp ghee.  Chop up fresh herbs & garlic, mix all ingredients in semi soft ghee.

I based my butter compound off of Ina's Roast Chicken recipe. Then I took the butter compound and rubbed it in between the skin and meat of the bird.  Flattening the bird turned out really great. I didn't have to worry about the white meat getting dry or the dark meat not cooking and it only took 30 minutes! How come no body cooks their birds like this for Thanksgiving? It would be a big time saver especially for larger birds. 

It turned out fabulous. Juicy, flavorful. 

What is your favorite poultry cooking technique?

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* Our day before Thanksgiving meal. 

** This is also called spatchcock chicken or butterflied.