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Posts Tagged almond milk

Chocolate Salty Balls

Jun 4

Posted by Shari B. in Keeping Fit | 7 Comments

There is something about making my own almond milk that just tickles me.  I’m not sure why.  Maybe because I don’t have access to a cow for milking, so milking almonds is currently about the closest I get to feeling like a farmer (seeing how I am lacking in the green thumb department!) :D

For many of my health-conscious readers, this is old hat.  But because it might be new for some, I’d like to share how easy it is.

Soak a batch of almonds overnight in water in the fridge.  The next day, rinse with new water and drain   Scoop out enough to fill a one-cup measure.  Plop it in your high-speed blender (such as my beloved BlendTec) along with 32 oz water, a few shakes of cinnamon and a packet of stevia.

Blend until you have liquid.

Using cheesecloth (secured to a pitcher with a hefty rubberband), a fine mesh strainer or a nut milk bag (although if you have a nut milk bag, chances are you are already a nut milk pro), pour the blended liquid through to strain.

Be sure whatever you are pouring into holds MORE than 32 oz.  ;)   Should go without saying, but you never know!

Once all the liquid has drained, squeeze the remaining liquid out of the pulp left in the cheesecloth/strainer.

Refrigerate your nutmilk, reserving the remaining pulp (more on that in a second).

You can try different flavors for your “milks”:  Brigitte Mars adds raw honey or soaked dates to her mixture.  Or you can try Ani Pyho’s chocolate version.

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But now for the fun part!  This is where the Chocolate Salty Balls come in…

Do I have any South Park fans here?  :)

Take that squeezed nut pulp, toss it in your food processor with some pitted medjool dates (I used 4), a healthy sprinkle of unsweetened shredded coconut and about 1/2 tbsp almond butter (or peanut butter.)  Run the processor until it’s all mixed well. Form into small balls, then roll them around in carob powder (or cocoa powder).  I let mine sit overnight in the fridge and the powder absorbed some of the moisture which darkened the carob powder to a deep chocolate color.

Mmm look how tasty!

If you truly want them to be ‘salty’ balls, add a few pinches of sea salt before you food process.  :)    You could also toss them in the coconut flakes in lieu of the carob powder to make them “hairy dog” style.

These are similar to some of the “raw donut hole” recipes I’ve seen around the blogosphere, but the ones I’ve seen use the soaked nuts without making the milk step first.  I wanted to make something out of that pulp that was leftover because almonds aren’t cheap and it seemed like such a waste to toss it!

They were good – not to sweet but enough to make you feel like you were getting a little treat after dinner.

Let me know what you think if you make them!  Or how you tweak it to make it your own flavor!

Have a great day everyone!

– Shari B. =)

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SOYsage Gravy and Biscuits

Nov 27

Posted by Shari B. in Recipes | 3 Comments

Hello there FitFeat friends!  I hope you had a fantastic Thanksgiving!  I know we did!  I’ll write a separate post to recap our holiday, but wanted to put a recipe out for you vegetarians/vegans who would like to make a tweaked version of Sausage Gravy and Biscuits.

MSP loves the original recipe.  Because it was so high in bad fats and flour, we only made it on a holiday, once or twice a year.  I didn’t want to have to sit out on the fun, so this year I decided that I’d try to substitute some ingredients to make it something I would eat too.

SOYsage Gravy & Biscuits

  • 1 tube of Gimme Lean non-meat ‘sausage’
  • 1/4 cup flour
  • 2 cups almond milk (or soy, skim, whatever you drink)
  • sea salt & black pepper to taste
  • 6-8 biscuits of choice

If you are using biscuits that require oven time like we did, start those first as the rest goes really fast.  Our biscuits took 9 minutes in the oven.img 866

Brown the Gimme Lean in a pan sprayed with olive oil over medium heat, crumbling as you go.  It gets easier to crumble the more it cooks.img 867

Once the ‘sausage’ is fully browned, sprinkle the  flour into the pan until the ‘sausage’ is well coated.

Add the first cup of almond or soy milk (still over medium heat) and stir well.  The ‘sausage’ and flour will soak it up really quickly.img 868

Add the second cup and continue to stir well.  Now the gravy will really start to build.  Add sea salt and pepper to taste.  Keep stirring until warmed through and at a consistency you like.  If you like a thin gravy, you’ll want to remove it pretty quickly and/or add more ‘milk’.  If you like it thick, stir longer over the heat and you’ll find that it gets really thick really fast. img 869

My version was only 255 calories per serving (2 small biscuits of 50 calories each and 1/4 of the gravy).  And it is FILLING!  Enjoy!img 872

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Mashed Faux-tatoes

Sep 30

Posted by in Product Review, Recipes | 9 Comments

Hey everyone! 

Well, my quest for finding a fun new veggie didn’t turn up anything.  King Soops only had ‘normal veggies’ so I at least bought a veggie that I haven’t had in a long time:  cauliflower.  (Looks like a trip to Whole Paycheck Foods is in order to find the fun stuff!  Better leave the credit card at home…!)  

Back when the South Beach Diet first came out, there was one recipe that quickly became ‘famous’ from that program and that was using cauliflower to create a dish that resembled mashed potatoes.   The ingredients in the South Beach version include a couple of dairy products, and while I don’t shun dairy completely, I will find ways to minimize or avoid things made from cow’s milk when I can. 

Here is my twist on the original recipe of what I like to call Mashed Faux-tatoes:

  • 12 oz package of cauliflower florets
  • 2 tbs MimicCreme
  • 1 tbs nutritional yeast flakes (approximate – use to your own taste)
  • sea salt and pepper to taste

Steam the cauliflower until tender (I used the steamable microwave bag, 3-4 minutes on high). Place steamed cauliflower in a food processor and begin pureeing.  Add the MimicCreme and continue pureeing until you have the consistency of mashed potatoes (a few minutes max).  Add nutritional yeast, sea salt and pepper to taste then run the processor for a few seconds more to thoroughly mix all the ingredients.

This makes a pretty small batch (essentially a single serving) since I am the only one in my house that will eat cauliflower. Adjust your batch size as needed if you have veggie eaters in your house.

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Before my trip I’d ordered the MimicCreme to have on hand when I returned.  I’d planned to use it in my coffee but learned that it can also replace cream in most recipes, which is why I’d decided to try it in the faux-tatoes before giving it a thumbs up or down.  I’ve been searching for something to use in my daily coffee other than fat-free liquid Coffeemate and thought this might be the solution.  I tried it for the first time yesterday.  I had to use a fair amount to get the level of lightness in my coffee plus a full pack of Stevia as this ‘cream’ is unsweetened.  It does give a very creamy taste to my coffee and it worked great in the cauliflower, so I’d say it’s a definite thumbs up!  Which is good, seeing how I had to order a package of SIX from Amazon!

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 My Tuesday started with my Denver mug, in honor of being home!

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I woke up hungry so had 1 cup of Kashi GoLean cereal with some almond milk. 
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Then I took the dogs out together for their wog.  We did 2.5 miles – Riley got really tired right at 2 miles and kept stopping to lay in the grass, so we cut the loop really short.  I’d been aiming to get them out for 4 miles but I need to remember that in dog years she’s like 70 and so I need to take it easier on her.  That was the extent of my ‘planned’ exercise and the rest was running stairs from the 2nd floor to the basement floor with laundry and massive unpacking!

After wogging I had a scoop of Chocolate Vega mixed with almond milk.  
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For lunch I was in the mood for a veggie wrap.  This one started with a warm whole wheat tortilla, smeared with Tofutti.  I sprinkled pepitas on, then added sliced avocado, sliced tomato, alfalfa sprouts, sea salt and pepper.  For crunch I added a few Baked Lays on the side.  It was so good… I might have to have another one for today’s lunch too!  But maybe with some fauxtatoes on the side.  :)

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Afternoon snack was a delicious lemon flavored Larabar.  And some hot green tea.

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For dinner I ate my leftover Chipotle bowl (rice, black beans, fajita veggies, pico de gallo, and corn salsa) with a spinach salad on the side.

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I’m working on getting the recipe page going since I had a few requests for that before I left for my trip, so you should see that coming soon! 

Have a WONDERFUL WEDNESDAY!  Still looking to hear some comments on your favorite interesting veggies or a veggie you’ve never tried but wanted to!  I like to eat pickled beets, but have never tried them any other way, so that’s one that I’d like to purchase and prepare myself to see how it goes.  My most recent new veggie was fennel, which I tried because I heard that it tastes like licorice and it actually kind of does!

– Shari B.  =)

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