Homemade Almond Milk ( Raw )

Almond milk is a beverage made from finely ground almonds and water. Almond milk is a milk substitute used by those either lactose intolerant, vegans and vegetarians as well as by people who follow a raw food diet. I am neither of these I just like almond milk for it's taste and to use as a fun substitute ingredient to cow milk or soy milk. This nut milk has been popular since Medieval times throughout Europe and the Middle East. The popularity during Medieval times was mainly because almond milk keeps longer than cow's milk.

This light yet creamy milk does not only taste good it is also nutritious. To those of us who do not have a nut allergy we can benefit from the Vitamin E,Vitamin A, Zinc,Magnesium, Iron, Calcium, No Cholesterol ,lactose free, people with soy allergies can use it as an alternative, and Low Saturated Fat. Homemade almond milk is better than prepackage because prepackage usually has sweeteners and preservatives. Though some companies do add in vitamins and minerals to try to make it comparable to cow's milk, you may want to read the package carefully if you choose to buy prepackaged. But before completely switching to almond milk only you may want to do more research and definitely speak with your Doctor to see if this would be a good alternative for your body's needs.

Almond milk can be used as a substitute in the same way you would soy milk or regular milk. The only instance where almond milk would not work too well would be in baking when the recipe is for fatty or buttery baked goods. If you are following a raw food diet this recipe is one you'll love, no cooking involved. And a tip to you about some to the prepackage almond milk , some companies actually use roasted almonds and not raw, so read those packages. This recipe is a small recipe that can easily be doubled or tripled for your needs.

Your Ingredients:
-100 grams or 3.5 ounces blanched almonds
-2 cups or 500 ml water

optional:
sugar or honey or dates to sweeten

-1 large pot or bowl
-cheese cloth or a clean kitchen towel or very fine sieve colander
-blender

1. Place the blanched almonds in a large bowl and cover with water. Leave to sit overnight.

2. Drain the water, and place the almonds in a blender. Pour 1 cup of water into blender, and if using sweetener add it to the blender as well. Blend until the almonds have completely broken down to a fine almost paste.

3. Place the cheese cloth (or other options) over a large bowl. Pour the liquid over the cloth, then pull up on all ends to squeeze out liquid on the bowl.

4.Once the liquid is all removed, place the ground almonds back inside the blender and add the remaining 1 cup of water. Again repeating step #3.

Done and ready to enjoy the Almond milk. Serve or use the almond milk straight away or store in the refrigerator until you are ready to use ( it will keep fresh for 5 days). The milk will separate a bit while it sits, just give it a quick stir or shake and it's ready.

Don't discard the ground almonds you can use them in baked goods. An option is to dry the ground almonds then once they have completely dried place them back in the blender and blend into a fine almond flour. Again this can be used in baked goods or any other recipes that might call for almond flour. It works great I have a recipe to share using the leftover almond flour, coming soon.

** For my Homemade Non Separating Almond Milk recipe click here.**

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Emeril's Crab Cakes with Avocado Emulsion

Today I am doing another recipe review that is an amazing mouth watering recipe belonging to a world famous Chef, Emeril Lagasse. Emeril is a celebrity chef in the US with a TV show, many books, restaurants around the US and has merchandise collection for sale. He is know for his Cajun,Creole and Portuguese cuisine. If you are not familiar with him you should really check him out, he is an amazing Chef. We have actually used this recipe a couple of times and both times it has resulted with heavenly results. Crab cakes are a popular American dish with unique recipes from the different American coastal crabbing industries. Crab cakes are not only popular in those areas, they are also to be found in an assortment of restaurants in the US. My husband and I searched and looked at several different recipes from different regions, but this is the one that appealed most to the both of us.

The recipe calls for fresh crab meat picked over from the shells and cartilage. Being that we are currently living in a land-locked country we won't be finding fresh crabs anytime soon. I have never seen fresh crab (nor Lobster) for sale at any of the local stores. Luckily we have found canned crab meat and have used it as a substitute. One time we were very lucky to have found canned Grade-A Russian king crab meat, which was just perfect and at a bargain price. This last time we weren't so lucky, we could only find Thai crab meat that was lower grade and smaller shredded pieces, but nonetheless worked just fine.

The only thing I changed from the recipe is that I allowed the crab meat to sit overnight before adding the breadcrumbs and frying. I'm glad I did this because it really allowed the crab meat to pick up the flavors from the spices. It is your choice if you want to do as I did or just follow the recipe as is.

One of the suggested sides to serve these heavenly crab cakes is Emeril's Cilantro-Avocado Emulsion. That is the creamy green sauce you see in my photos. The emulsion was so creamy, tangy and a bit spicy which went perfect with the crab cakes. I think that the flavors added or helped bring out the taste of the crab even more. Plus it gave the meal a fresh and light feeling to the fried cake. Which for me is a big plus since I'm not such a big fan of fried foods because of the greasy after taste left behind, the emulsion really took that away.

The crab cakes were light with and crispy on the outside. The inside felt soft with a burst of flavors, there were just simply scrumptious. The recipe was one of the best crab cakes ever! A Five Star rating all the way. Even though it was a bit time consuming it was well worth every second. This is a recipe that I would really suggest for a dinner party as a main dish or made into small pieces as an appetizer.

Here is the recipe for Emeril's Crispy Louisiana Crab Cakes with Cilantro-Avocado Emulsion.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/emeril-lagasse/crispy-louisiana-crab-cakes-mango-salsa-spiced-tomato-glaze-cilantro-avocado-emulsion-recipe/index.html

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