Easy Almond Milk

This is another super simple recipe:  

Basically, you need almonds, water, a blender and a few hours. Yep. That's it. 

I tried a new recipe this am which added a cinnamon stick, a date, and a pinch of salt to the overnight soak, and so I tried it out - a couple of ways. Results are as follows: 

Combine the following in a quart jar:

1 c. raw almonds (not roasted or dried)

Water - fill the remainder of the quart jar

1 medjool date

1 cinnamon stick

pinch kosher salt

Let soak overnight. 

Drain off water, and place almonds in blender - they should be swollen. 

Add 4 cups of water for every 1 cup of almonds to the blender. 

Blend until very smooth - strain through a sieve, and chill. Water down if thinner consistency is desired.  

I blended one batch without the date and cinnamon stick and another batch with the date and cinnamon stick. Personally, I found the one without, a little on the bitter side.and prefer the one with the date and cinnamon stick. 

This is a great milk for morning smoothies! 

Tropical Tapioca Pudding with Guava, Cinnamon, and Vanilla Beans

Today, I boiled guavas in a simple syrup, blended the fruit and syrup in my high powered blender, and strained out the seed granules.  It made an amazing nectar.  While my daughter and I thought about just drinking it right then and there, I felt a little guilty about it (I guess it couldn’t be worse than downing a pitcher of koolaid??) so we set off on a quest to figure out how to use this delightful concoction.

In the end, this recipe turned out to be an aromatic treat that my family found comforting with a tropical flair.  I hope you’ll love it as much as we do. 

Tropical Tapioca with Guava, Cinnamon, and Vanilla Beans

3 cups milk

2 cups guava nectar (link)

2/3 cups sugar

6 Tablespoons Minute Tapioca

2 eggs, beaten (or substitute 1 Tablespoon of chia for each egg)

1 cinnamon stick

1 teaspoon vanilla, plus scrape the seeds from 1/2 a vanilla bean.  Add bean pod to tapioca for flavor while cooking, but discard prior to serving)

Mix milk, nectar, sugar, and tapioca and eggs/chia in a medium sized pan.  Add cinnamon stick, vanilla bean seeds, and pod. Cook on medium heat until mixture comes to a full boil, stirring constantly.  Remove from heat. Stir in vanilla. 

Cool 20 min. Stir. Remove cinnamon stick and vanilla bean pod.  

Spoon into dessert dishes and serve with a dollop of whipping cream and a vanilla bean sliver, lightly dusted with cinnamon.

Serve warm or chilled.