Quirky Cooking Almond and Sunflower Milk

Quirky Cooking is a brilliant blog by Jo Whitton. This lady is a genius!

This is from her home page:

My mum taught me to cook from a very young age, using basic, fresh ingredients, and cooking ‘from scratch’. I developed an interest in healthy eating as I grew up, and when I got married and we started our own family, I worked hard to cook wholesome, delicious meals.

I studied up on healthy foods. I ground my own grains, baked my own breads, cakes and biscuits, cooked with fresh fruit and veges, and tried to avoid junk food. But despite my efforts to keep us all healthy, I was constantly fighting exhaustion, headaches, recurring colds, tummy upsets, low blood pressure, and low weight problems. My children also began to have health issues, and it all seemed to point to food reactions.

With the help of a naturopath, I worked out which foods were causing the problems, and learnt to replace them with alternatives that our bodies were more easily able to cope with. We began to eat a more wholefood diet, cutting out dairy, wheat, sugar, and over-processed and refined foods as much as possible. We were also more careful to avoid additives, colours and preservatives, and tried to buy mostly organic or pesticide free.

Cooking for food intolerances with four young children is a lot of work, so I was very excited when I first saw a Thermomix in 2003! I knew it would save me a lot of time and money. I bought my first Thermomix in August, 2004, and very soon found I couldn’t do without it.

I used it for:

• grinding grains and making wheat free and gluten free breads;
• making dairy free milks and creams and custards;
• whizzing up juices and fresh fruit ice-creams and sorbets;
• baking cakes and desserts with wholesome ingredients and natural sweeteners;
• making nut butters, sauces and spreads without additives;
• and for quick, healthy meals.

Changing to an allergy-friendly diet built on wholefoods and fresh ingredients has made a major difference to our family’s health. After eating this way for a couple of years, I decided I really wanted to help others learn to cook healthy food for their families. Many people I talked to were struggling with allergies, intolerances and health issues, and they found the idea of changing their diet overwhelming. Or they thought healthy (and allergy-friendly) food was bland and boring. As a busy, homeschooling mum, I couldn’t go and study to become a naturopath or nutritionist, and help people that way (which I would have loved to do), so in 2008 I decided to start a blog to share my recipes, tips and meal plans with others. I wanted to encourage people to get creative with their cooking, using wholesome ingredients to make delicious food that would suit their family’s needs.

Healthy eating doesn’t have to be boring. Food intolerances and allergies don’t have to make life difficult. My hope is that ‘Quirky Cooking’ will help to open people’s eyes to the possibility of wholesome food that tastes great, is easy and fun to make, and meets the needs of those with diet challenges.

I hope you enjoy the recipes I’ve developed for my family, and that my blog will be an encouragement to you in your journey to good health.

Here is Jo’s recipe

ALMOND AND SUNFLOWER MILK

1. Grind for 15 – 20 seconds, speed 9:

• 50g raw almonds
• 50g sunflower seeds

2. Add and cook for 4 minutes, 60 degrees, speed 4:

• 1 litre water
• 1 Tblspn coconut oil (or grapeseed oil)
• pinch sea salt
• 20g raw honey (opt.)

3. Pulverise for 30 seconds on speed 8.
4. Strain through fine mesh strainer/coarse cloth into bottle

I did find this milk separates more than rice milk, but that doesn’t bother me – I just shake it up.

IF YOU DON’T HAVE A THERMOMIX

1. Try using almond meal, and grind the seeds up in a coffee grinder or nut/seed/herb grinder.
2. Then cook it on a very low heat in a pan while whisking it for a few mins.
3. Then whiz it up in a blender until frothy…?

I did not have any sunflower seeds, so I just doubled the almonds!

And make sure you wait for the almond milk it to cool before squeezing it through a cloth. I was impatient because we had run out of food for breakfast and I wanted to make a green smoothie. I burnt my hand!

 

Enjoy.

With love, light and appreciation

Helene
www.evolvingmamma.com
www.lightchiro.com.au