Almond Pulp, Flax and Rosemary Crackers

I finally found a lovely way to use my Almond Pulp! Yummy Crackers! Yahoooooo!

These can be made Raw in your dehydrator or baked in your oven. I found this recipe on Elana's Pantry website. I changed from Thyme to Rosemary, but you can obviously substitute whatever you like!

Almond pulp, Flax Seed and Rosemary Crackers

• 1 cup firmly packed almond pulp
• 2 tablespoons ground flax seeds (I use a coffee grinder)
• 1 tablespoon grapeseed oil
• 1 tablespoon Rosemary, finely chopped
• ½ teaspoon celtic sea salt

1. Combine all ingredients in a large bowl
2. Roll dough into a ball, press between 2 sheets of parchment paper and roll to ¼ inch thickness
3. Remove top piece of parchment paper
4. Transfer the bottom piece with rolled out dough onto baking sheet
5. Cut dough into 2-inch squares with a knife or pizza cutter
6. Bake at 135° for at least 20 hours, or until crunchy
7. Let crackers come to room temperature on baking sheet, then serve

I baked these at 200° for roughly 4 hours. I kept busy around the house and just checked in every 45 mins or so.

I have been eating these with my homemade nut cheese! Oooooh, that will be my next recipe!

Homemade Almond Milk

If I would have known how easy it was to make my own nut milk, I would have done it a looooong time ago! This is seriously the easiest recipe ever.

Homemade Almond Milk

 

1 Cup Almonds - soaked overnight
2-3 Pitted Dates (optional - if you want a hint of sweetness)
3 Cups of Water

After soaking the almonds over night.. (approximately 8 - 10 hours) Put them in the blender with 2 dates and the water and blended until smooth and milky. Add more water if you don't want it as creamy. I find 3 cups is the perfect amount for me.

You'll need a strainer of some sort. I have used cheese cloth, but a nut bag is SO much easier. You can also use a small strainer. Also use a tightly sealed container, like a mason jar. The one I use is 1L.

Strain a bit at a time, and squeeze out the milk into your jar. I tried to take a picture of me squeezing, but it proved to difficult to do that AND take a picture - HA!

You'll be left with the nut pulp. You can either store it in your freezer or compost it. I am currently trying to find recipes to use it in. Last night I added some to a banana mango smoothy....nice!

And that's it! Store Milk in the fridge for up to 7 days...although, if you're like me, it'll be gone before that! I find this is about 2 dollars cheaper for me than buying it at the store.

Raw adventure!

A few posts ago, I mentioned that I was going to try a raw diet. I spoke to a few friends who are fully raw and I have decided to test the waters very slowly. Since it's still technically winter (we've been having some pretty nice weather here in Vancouver!) I want to be able to still enjoy my hot/warm comfort foods.

Some people like to dive head first into new things, but I'm a slow cautious person. I slowly eased into being vegan and I can't imagine not doing the same for going raw.

One of my online inspirations has been Mimi Kirk. She has been raw for quite some time and looks great! I recently bought her book "Live Raw" and read every word in one evening. She's quite amazing :)

She has had quite a few adventures; I encourage you to read up on her. She was also born in 1938.. doesn't she look amazing?

Another book that I have been referencing is "Raw - the uncook book" by Juliano.

I've actually have had this book for over 5 years and have barely cracked the spine, but the last few weeks I've been referencing it non stop!

So my baby toe is in the water.. I've started with upping my juicing. I usually only juice once a day, but I've upped it to two. My usual green juice (apple, cucumber, ginger, leafy green and parsley) in the morning, now juiced and then blended with 2 bananas and then a V8 type juice (leafy green, parsley, celery, carrot, green onion, red pepper, tomato, cucumber) for the afternoon.

I have always tried to eat raw snacks, but my dinners tend to be the easy convenient vegan route for dinner, which in one word means - processed! - ack! So I'm going to try to tame that lion...by adding more veggies! yay!

Wish me raw luck!

Homemade Mayo!

I have been buying Vegenaise  since I've been vegan and often thought of making it myself. Now that I have my Vitamix it seems possible, although I'm sure a standard blender would do just fine!

Homemade Vegan Mayonnaise

1/2 cup Non dairy Milk (I used unsweetened Almond Milk)
1/2 Tsp Salt
1 Tsp Ground Mustard
2 Tsp Garlic Powder
2 Tsp Apple Cider Vinegar
2 Tsp Agave
1 Cup Oil of your choice - I used Grapeseed

Place milk, salt mustard, garlic, vinegar and agave in blender. Turn slow to combine, slowly add the oil and blend until creamy.

Place in glass jar and store in the fridge. I've had mine over 10 days and it seems fine, but keep an eye on it :)

I'm pretty impressed with my first go!

I just put it into an old Vegenaise jar

Antibiotics and recovery

I recently had a dental surgery and had to take antibiotics 3 days before and 4 days after. I'm not too fond of any kind of drug in my system accept a wee bit of alcohol from time to time, so this has been quite difficult for me. Besides the antibiotics, I was frozen at the dentist, had nitrous oxide and now am on Advil for pain relief.

I feel so run down this week; when I get home from work, I'm so exhausted that I usually end up in bed by 8:30! At least I'm getting a lot of sleep!

I have been doing a lot of research on how to recover from a bunch of antibiotic treatment and these are the common suggestions on the sites:

• Eliminate sugar/simple carbs from diet
• Add probiotic supplements, prebiotics (i.e. high-fiber foods), fermented foods and vitamins.

I have been following all the doctor's instructions as well as drinking a lot of my meals. I have been having soup all week with the addition of a second huge juice in the afternoon.  After the two last pills tonight, I can start on the probiotics and I guess I should buy some sauerkraut and pickles! YUM!

I'll keep you updated if any/all of these things work!

**EDIT - here is a picture of me trying to do a 'duck face' while my mouth was still frozen - so hilarious!

 I found a site that has a recipe on how to make your own probiotics

 *Excerpted from “The Colon Health Handbook” by Robert Gray

“CABBAGE REJUVELAC:”
 
Recovering from Antibiotic Use (or over-use?)...
 
 “Cabbage is a vegetable that is teeming with lactobacteria. No starter is needed for making rejuvelac. Just start one morning by blending together 1 3/4 cups (420ml) distilled or purified water plus 3 cups (720ml) coarsely chopped, loosely packed fresh cabbage. Start the blender at low speed and then advance the blender to high speed and blend for 30 more seconds. Pour into a jar, cover, and let stand at room temperature for 3 days. At this time, strain off the liquid rejuvelac. The initial batch of cabbage rejuvelac takes 3 days to mature, but succeeding batches take 24 hours each.

Each morning after straining off the fresh rejuvelac, blend together for 30 seconds at high speed 1 1/2 cups (360ml) distilled or purified water plus 3 cups (720ml) coarsely chopped, loosely packed fresh cabbage. Pour into a jar, add 1/4 cup (60ml) of the fresh rejuvelac just strained off, cover, shake and let stand at room temp. until the next morning.

You can also make cabbage rejuvelac without a blender by chopping the cabbage very fine and using 2 1/2 cups (600ml) finely chopped, loosely packed cabbage listed above. The amount of distilled or purified water used should remain unchanged.

Good quality rejuvelac tastes similar to a cross between carbonated water and the whey obtained when making yogurt. Bad quality rejuvelac has a much more putrid odor and taste and should not be consumed. Always avoid using tap water when making rejuvelac because chlorine has been added to it for the purpose of killing bacteria of any kind.

Drink each day’s rejuvelac during the course of the day by taking 1/2 cup (120ml) 3x a day, preferably with meals.”

Breaking The Food Seduction - by Dr. Neal Barnard

Have 57 minutes? Watch this! Such a great video!

"Whether you're drawn to chocolate, cookies, potato chips, cheese, or burgers and fries, we all have foods we can't seem to resist—foods that sabotage our best efforts to lose weight and improve our health. These foods are winning the battle—but that's because we're fighting it in the wrong place. As physician and leading health researcher Dr. Neal Barnard explains in his groundbreaking book, Breaking the Food Seduction: The Hidden Reasons Behind Food Cravings— and Seven Steps to End Them Naturally, banishing these cravings is not a question of willpower or psychology— it's a matter of biochemistry. Based on the author's research and that of other leading investigators at major universities, his book reveals the diet and lifestyle changes that can break these stubborn craving cycles."

10 Day Juice Fast

My friend Sara recently completed her 10 day Juice Fast. I'm so proud of her! Read about her experience here:

Intro: 10 Day Juice Fast

I have thought of doing my own juice fast before, but have decided to go into the RAW movement instead. This will, of course, include a lot of juicing. I am hoping to document my trials like Sara has, but I'm hoping it will be longer than 10 days. If possible, I am hoping to at least go a couple months. I guess only time will tell!