Good morning!! Well, I am super stoked this morning. We woke up to another 3 inches of snow… ugh, no… I am not stoked about that. I have already shovelled 3 times in 24 hours and am so done with winter. As I was shovelling, I reminded myself that a better response to winter would be,”I am very grateful for being physically able to be outdoors getting exercise and enjoying my surroundings.” I realized that was just the yoga talking. I am grateful, but seriously, I couldn’t care less if I ever see another snowflake.
Ok, so that brings me to what I am excited about! I was hungry after moving snow around the driveway and was about to make myself a bowl of ‘porridge’ using almond milk in the fridge. (Yes mom, I know it is a miracle that I actually eat porridge now after secretly spitting it into my napkin and flushing it down the toilet for years as a kid!).
I have been tossing up doing my first video demonstrating how to make almond milk. I really wanted to post today, so it was fate when I was watching this morning’s video by Dr. Greger on how to make a breakfast grain bowl. His simple hack caught my eye, and got me out of trying to video myself…
Usually, almond milk is made by soaking raw almonds in water overnight, blending them with water in a Vitamix and then straining the milk through a cheesecloth, or nut milk bag. (I know, sounds weird right?) This is a really great practice and you can even use the “meat” from straining in baking, but it takes longer than this ingenious time and money saver.
What got me so excited about this trick was the fact that the whole almond milk making process was eliminated. No soaking, waiting and straining!
This near magic almond milk was made with just almond butter and water! Just for fun I added in a date for sweetness. Voilà! Almond milk in literally 2 minutes. Make as much or as little as you want for a fraction of the cost of regular store brands! Plus, you don’t have the packaging waste factor, and it is ridiculously fresh and frothy! As an added bonus, you don’t have to study the ingredient list and wonder if ingredients such as; carrageenan, gellan gum and natural flavour are doing your body any favours. (The Food Babe once did a report saying that natural flavours can come from a beaver’s anal gland… I said PARDON?!)
So… blend water, almond butter (raw is best so that the nuts haven’t been heated) and a date for some natural sweetness if you like that. Honestly, this kind of stuff makes me so happy. Simple, healthy food.
Serve it over your granola or porridge, bake with it, or use it in your latte and leave the cows milk and it’s hormones and puss where it belongs… in the belly of calves growing to be 900 pounds. For some extra goodness, add in a touch of turmeric, nutmeg, cinnamon or vanilla! Or… I know!.. Stir in some melted dark chocolate or cocoa powder and have yourself a homemade hot chocolate after you come in from shovelling snow again!!
Here is the recipe. Simple, simple. Then below is the breakfast I made myself using the warmed almond milk.
Yes it is that easy!! www.thevibrantveggie.com 
Ingredients
Instructions
I heated up some of the milk and added half a cup of oatmeal, 1 tablespoon of ground flaxseeds, 1 tablespoon of chia seeds (both high in Omega-3s), some pumpkin seeds, dried golden berries and topped it with sliced bananas and frozen blueberries.
And as usual, an informative video on why grains and “carbs” are what your body needs… NOT THE ENEMY! Just love your complex carbs like whole grains, not the simple carbs like sugar and white flour…. Healthy eating is simpler than you think…
Ask yourself these two questions:
- Did it come from the ground?
- Would your grandma recognize it as food she would have eaten as a child?
If the answers are yes, then it is probably good for you!