The Hypo Foodie: raw

I have been allergic to cow milk ever since my childhood, but I have decided to ignore this fact for some time. Since I wake up every morning with severe congestion, I now think that it might be wise to avoid the consumption of other allergens in the morning.

"Going nut over this milk!"

My belly asking for more.

I started making almond milk not long ago, but also discovered you can pretty much use any nuts. The method to obtain milk is the same whichever nuts you use, the only difference is the soaking time. As I write this, the price of almonds is undergoing a tremendous rise due to the droughts in Califonia. If I can use another nut for my everyday use, it reduces the price of this milk alternative.

Ingredients

1 cup of raw cashews or other nut,

Enough filtered water to cover the nuts while soaking,

Approximately 4 cups of filtered water,

1 tbls of vanilla extract,

1 tsp sea salt.

Method:

Put the nuts in a covered bowl to soak at rook temperature ( see the chart below for soaking time ),

Once soaked, rinse and strain,

Chop the nuts in a food processor until it forms a puree,

Gradually add the 4 cups of water,

Strain the liquid in the bottle or pitcher of your choice,

Add the vanilla extract and sea salt,

Refrigerate and consume within a week.

"What do I do with the remaining nuts" you ask? Don't throw them away, the are perfectly edible and full of enzymes and minerals. Consult the next post for simple ideas on how to use them before they go bad.

Why soak the nuts? I am neither vegan or a raw-food nut ( no pun intended! ) but if I can obtain a better quality/price/nutritive goodness ratio with a few simple steps, I'm all for it! Just as I have mentioned in the previous post on "veggiefruit" about consumming fruits and vegetable peels:

"Don't buy vitamins! Just keep the ones you already have in your food!"

I now add:

"Don't buy minerals or enzymes, just activate ( or keep ) the ones that are in you food!"

Plants with nuts and seeds contain enzyme blockers ( among others: phytic acid ) to keep the seed sleeping until optimal exterior conditions to sprout, which corresponds to rain season. The natural "soaking" washes away the enzyme blockers and allows the seeds to wake up and grow. When we buy raw nuts ( roasted ones are "dead" ), we get rid of the blockers buy soaking, thus obtaining a living food that contains:

Enzymes that helps with digestion ( no need for pro-biotics ),

More vitamins ( mostly vitamin B ),

Amino-acids ( proteins ) easily absorbed by the body.

Soaking time

Almonds: 8-12 hours

Cashews: 2-3 hours

Oat groats: 8 hours

Quinoa: 3-4 hours

Walnuts: 2-8 hours

Sunflower seeds: 6 hours

Would you like to have a nutritious, economic and environment-friendly boost in the morning? That’s veggifruit!

Veggifruit on homemade yogourt and chia seeds.

Around harvest time, I used to cook my own apple, pear or peache sauces. Then after some time, it struck me that these fruits, when ripe, hardly need to be cooked to make good sauces. Besides, as the cooking process breaks down some of the nutrients in it, not cooking it preserves its “ live” benefits. As a final step towards this recipe, I set out to add more vegetables to my meals, and since I never could manage to eat a salad in the morning, I decided to make “ veggifruit”. It’s basically fruits and vegetables that I like together reduced to a sauce consistency with a chopping machine. I usually make good batches of which I freeze the amounts I can’t eat in a week.

Why is it environment friendly? Because it reduces waste and if you do have to buy a countertop machine, I recommend only a good chopper and skip the mixer and/or juicer; it does it all. I’m not the liquid-smoothie type in the morning, as I like to have an all-in-one meal complete with carbohydrates and proteins. Besides, when I make smoothies or shakes, I always make more than I can drink, and end up wasting because it doesn’t preserve long. The veggifruit, I add one quantity at a time in either my morning granolas or in a muffin recipes that calls for fruit. That way, there’s no waste of mushy un-appealing leftovers. You don’t have to do the same, but I always keep the skins of fruits or vegetables that I eat because most of the nutrients are contained in it and throwing it in the garbage is, for me, a sad waste of good stuff and money*. Don’t buy vitamins, just keep the vitamins there are already in your food!

In short, there’s another “short and unsweetened” staple versatile food!

*Wether I buy organic or non-organic fresh produce, there is an evident need for a good washing to cleanse whichever is used to preserve it or anything that may have contaminated the skin. I don’t buy a special type of soap. I use water, a brush and dish soap: if it’s safe for the plates we eat our meals in, it’s safe for the food itself! I’ve been in places of the world where eating uncooked vegetables or fruits is hazardous, and even washing it in water isn’t safe ( as the water itself isn’t drinkable). The food available to us in north america is ten times more sanitized, I humbly think there’s no reason for us to refrain from eating it in whole, skins and leaves included, provided it is washed.

I will not list the precise quantities as you can never go wrong as long as you use things that you like. Just use what you have on hand and experiment if you are not sure which mix you like best. For those of you who have a juicer, there’s a fantastic way to re- use the byproducts, and you don’t even need to chop it! Just make sure everything is well washed.

Ingredients:

Base fruit; apple, pear or peach.

Vegetables; kale, beets, carrots, cucumbers, zucchini, celery, parsley.

To spice it up: fresh ginger if it’s your fancy. You may also add the zest of any citrus, it’s terrific. To preserve the mix longer, add a little lemon juice.

Instructions: chop it all together! It’s that simple. I shouldn’t have bothered to write it, right?