Making Almond Milk

During a recent visit to check on a family member I spent time with a childhood friend named Louise.  Earlier this year Louise shared her fisherman stew recipe with me. On this visit we discussed almond milk. Louise uses vanilla flavored almond milk to make smoothies. I use unsweetened, as does Louise's sister Sharon.  I wondered aloud how easy it would be to make my own almond milk.

Several days later the idea returned. I did a little research. I would need:

• plain almonds
• water
• a nut milk bag*
• a blender or food processor

I used:

• 3/4 slivered almonds
• 5 cups water, total
• a homemade nut milk bag (a 20 inch square of voile, that I purchased from a local fabric store). The idea is not mine - I read about it on Nikki's Eating Vibrantly blog.

I soaked 3/4 cup slivered almonds for 24 hours. The following day I poured off the brown water and retained the soaked almonds. The soaked almonds were placed in  a blender with 4 cups of water.  I ran the blend on puree for approximately 2 minutes.

I placed the cloth square over a container and pour the almond water mixture into the container. The solids collected by the cloth square are gathered up and "squeezed" until no more fluid remains.

I yielded a quart of almond mils. The almond pulp can be used to make breads and other items.

Two taste testers told me that the milk tasted fresh and creamy. I used the milk to make smoothies. It was fun and I hope to make more milk again.  Now to try recipes featuring almond pulp.

Do you drink almond milks? Have you made almond milk? Have you used almond pulp to make dishes? Share your comments below.


Be well,
Technicolor girl

image created by Ink+ LLC

Valentine's Day Dinner

A text message  from Glenda reminded that I stated I would share the recipe of whatever dish I elected to have for dinner on Valentine's Day. The text read, "What did you decide to cook?". I cooked fisherman's stew using the recipe my childhood friend Louise recently sent me, with a few minor modifications.

Making the fisherman stew was a perfect excuse to use the Valentine's Day gift I purchased for me, a stockpot. The stockpot was on my wishlist after making a less than palatable French onion soup at home after class a few earlier.

Below is Louise's Fisherman Stew recipe. Louise  told me  when she she shared the recipe, "The measurements are a best guess. I do a lot of cooking by "eye". Make any substitutions you want. I cut the fish, shrimp, scallops and potatoes into slightly larger than bite size pieces. I prefer bigger chunks but you can cut them however large or small you want. This isn't a thick chowder. So if you want more like a chowder I would add less fish stock. 

Fisherman's stew

1-1/2 lbs cod

5 jumbo shrimp 

4 sea scallops

Chopped clams

1 piece of salt pork - from a package of 2 (cut into cubes)

2 tablespoons butter

4 small/medium onions

8 sprigs thyme chopped

2 bay leaves 

2 lbs potatoes

4 - 5 cups fish stock

1-1/2 to 2 cups heavy cream

1) medium heat render the fat from the salt pork - remove and throw away the fried pieces
2) add butter, onions, thyme and bay leaves to pan - cook till onions are translucent

3) add potatoes, fish stock - cover and boil for 10 minutes or slow - it should slightly thicken

4) reduce to low and add salt and pepper, fish, clams and scallops 

5) add shrimp when other seafood is almost done 

6) add heavy cream. Cook until the cream is heated

I modified the recipe slightly; I rendered the fat from bacon that I had on hand, I used seafood stock that I had on hand, and  I substituted the clams for lobster.  Louise's description was accurate about the thickness of the chowder. It was good the first night, even better the following day. I will make this in the future  using less stock to see what the dish would be like with a thicker consistency.

Please lt me know if you try this recipe and share your feedback in the comment area below. It's been snowing for almost 12 hours here today. The snow is expected to  continue falling  until early tomorrow morning. This may be the day to try the risotto recipe. Yes, I'll share the recipe with you. 

Be well,

Technicolor girl 

image created by Ink+ LLC