More sprouts!

The sprouting Jar -- kept on its side so the grains get more air

Last night (Tues) I started some more sprouts. This time I'm trying oat groats and buckwheat groats. I'm so glad I found these instructions before I started. You're only supposed to soak them for 20-30 minutes because otherwise they get water logged and won't sprout. I was going to soak them overnight, whew! The other important thing about these is that you have to rinse the water until it runs clear or they won't sprout. This morning, my buckwheat groats are already sprouting a bit. I'll "harvest" them tonight.

 Sprouts in Action! 

These are buckwheat groats. You can see a tiny white bud coming off the pointy end.

What to do with the almond pulp?

It's seems like a shame it get rid of the almonds leftover from making almond milk, so I've been experimenting with ways to use it. But first, this is what I do with it:

1. After the all the almond juice has been squeezed out, I spread the almond pulp out on to cookie sheets, try not to have more than 1/2 inch or so.
2. Place in 170 F oven until dry. About every 1/2 hour, I gather it all into the center of the cookie sheet with a spatula and mix it a bit then spread it back out to ensure it all dries relatively evenly.
3. Place in a container and store in the frig.

If I'm going to use it in a recipe, I sift it first, most of it will go through, but there will be some bits left, probably. I learned the hard way not to try to grind it in a coffee grinder, it turns to almond butter and clogs the grinder! Aaaggghhh!

Nutty Cracker - Take 2

Nutty Crackers – Take 2

1 t. chia seeds, ground + 2T water

1 1/2 cups sifted almond pulp (leftover from making almond milk)

½ cup dried almond pulp (leftover from making almond milk)

1/3 cup sunflower seeds (raw), coarsely chopped

1/3 cup pumpkin seeds (raw), coarsely chopped

½ t sea salt

4 T coconut oil, melted

4-6 T water

1. Add the 2 T of water to 1 t of ground chia seeds (make sure they are food grade). Allow to sit until thickened. This acts as an egg substitute.
2. Mix all dry ingredients together.
3. Mix in chia seeds.
4. Mix in oil.
5. Mix in water 1 T at a time. You want enough until you can form a ball.
6. Roll out on to cookie sheet. I put a silicone mat on my cookie sheet, shaped the dough into a log, placed wax paper on top and rolled it out to 1/8 – ¼ inch thick. I sprinkled just a bit of fine sea salt over the top.
   
7. Bake at 350 F 20-30 minutes until lightly browned.

The dough is still a bit crumbly and difficult to handle, perhaps another teaspoon of chia seeds next time.

Here's what I tried the first time.

Citrus Juice

I'm a little behind in posting! This past weekend we had guests and I know they like orange juice, so I wanted to make some fresh squeezed citrus juice for them, something I had at another friend's house about a month ago. For some reason, though, mine is quite a bit different. It turned out pretty good anyway! This is what I did.

Citrus Juice

3 Pink Grapefruits, squeezed
2 Lemons, squeezed
3 Limes, squeezed
6 oranges, squeezed
9 T agave nectar
6 packages of stevia (PureVia brand)

Mix it all together in a pitcher. I added a little bit of the orange pulp to add a little fiber and because I like it!

It's a bit too grapefruity. I think next time I would only use 2 grapefruits. I'm sure the 9 T of agave measures out better somehow, but I was adding 1 T at a time to taste.

Price comparisons

Yesterday, Carlos and I (sans Kira who was off with Papa and Mimi for the weekend) went to Tijuana Flats over by USF and got a Carnitas chimichanga and chips and queso...yummy! We'd never had the carnitas version before and really loved it, definitely our favorite! We had a great time being just the 2 of us. It reminded us of when I was pregnant with Kira, we were both working at home and could just get up and go whenever we want. It was one of the best times of our marriage.

After lunch we went to Abbey's Health and Nutrition and Whole Foods to check out their prices and compare them to Chuck's and Nutrition S'Mart that we checked out last week. Overall, My favorite place is definitely Whole Foods. They have the best selection, the best produce, a cafe, yummy samples. However, the best prices are generally at Nutrition S'Mart. Abbey's was good, they had stuff there that I hadn't seen elsewhere. I've heard from others that they are very knowledgeable. Chuck's is ok too, but their produce is generally the worst and it "feels" messier than the others. For us, Chuck's is the most conveniently located and a great thing about them is that they have 20-50% off everything in the store on Super Tuesday, which is the second Tuesday of the month. The price savings otherwise, though, definitely warrant an occasional trip to Nutrition S'Mart.

There were some snacks at Whole Foods that I definitely want to try. I can't wait! They were generally a mix of different seeds (flax, sunflower, pumpkin) and fruits (dates, raisins). I will post my experiments as I try them.

Almond Milk - Take 3

I found a recipe for Brazil nut milk, so I thought I would adapt it to almond milk since I have almonds and no Brazil nuts (which, by the way, are good for the alkaline diet, too). So far this is definitely my favorite. I made a lot (total of 6 cups, fills up my pitcher, but I tried to add ingredients so that the amount is divisible by 4, you'll have to adjust a bit if you make less). I call it Coco Almond milk, but the coconut flavor is barely there.

Coco Almond Milk 

4 cups of soaked almonds (probably about 3 to 3 1/2 cups dry)
4 cups of water
2 T amber agave nectar
1 1/2 t vanilla extract
about 3 dashes of sea salt
3 capsules of soy lecithin (520 mg each)*
2 t coconut oil

1. Soak the almonds overnight in water in the frig.
2. Rinse well in running tap water over a colander
3. Process the almonds (do 1 cup of almonds at a time)

• Place almonds in blender
• Add 1 cup of water
• Blend on high for 1-2 minutes until well blended
• Strain the almond mixture**
• Pour the almond milk into your pitcher, put the strained almond pulp in a bowl for use in other recipes. See here for what to do with it.
• Repeat with remaining almonds
• I rinse out the remaining bit of almonds in the blender with the almond milk I've already strained and strain it again.

4. Add 2 cups of water to your pitcher, mix.
5. Pour 2 cups of almond milk back into blender (rinse blender well first to remove almond bits).

The following is not the order I did it because of a minor disaster I had (see * below), but is what I intend to do next time:

6. Add  agave nectar, vanilla extract, sea salt and soy lecithin. Mix well on high.
7. Add coconut oil, 1/2 t. at a time. Mix well on high (I think!)
8. Pour mix in blender into pitcher and stir. Hopefully, it's all blended, still working out the kinks of mixing in the coconut milk.

* The original recipe calls for adding lecithin powder, which I didn't have, so I tried without it....BIG MISTAKE! After mixing everything together, the coconut oil was a big glob on the top of my almond milk, yuck! As my background in chem teaches me (duh!) oil and aqueous solutions, don't mix! Lecithin is an emulsifier, meaning it enables water and oil to create a homogeneous mixture. We don't have the powder, but my dear hubby did have capsules in the cupboard for cooking purposes. So I added those one at a time until the coconut oil was mostly mixed in. Next time, I will add the lecithin to the aqueous solution first to make sure it's well mixed and then add the coconut oil a bit at a time so ensure I don't overwhelm the mixture. Hopefully, that will be more successful.

This recipe makes a good base for smoothies, to put in cereal, etc. For just a plain ole yummy glass of "milk", you might want to jazz it up a bit. Carlos made a yummy concoction. He added 1/4 t vanilla and 1 t agave nectar to about 8 oz, yum, yum, yummy!

**I actually took pictures this time so you can see what I do! When I strain the almond mix the separate the milk from the pulp, I put 4 layers of cheese cloth over a strainer which is sitting on a 4 cup measuring cup (LOVE that measuring cup, very handy!)

 

Blending the almonds

Straining the almonds

Getting ready to squeeze out the milk

The almond pulp

Chickpea Sesame Crackers

Today Kira and I made sesame crackers using chickpea flour (besan) using this recipe (gotta scroll to the bottom), but modified a bit because I didn't have all of the ingredients. You can buy chickpea flour, but I chose to make it instead. I bought dried chickpeas and ground them in a small food processor as much as I could (it was really loud and took a long time to grind). I seemed to have a hard time getting it into flour texture, but I was able to get enough to experiment with by sifting it. The remaining bits are about 5 mm or less; I'm going to try grinding them in a coffee/spice grinder and/or grain mill, when I get one or the other.

I also used almond flour using the leftover almond pulp from making almond milk the other day. I had already dried the pulp in a 170 degree oven and stored it in the frig. Before using it in the cracker recipe, I sifted it. Here's what we tried:

Chickpea Sesame Crackers

1/4 cup chickpea flour
1/4 cup almond flour
1/4 t salt
1 T toasted sesame seed, lightly ground
1 t toasted sesame seeds
1/4 t soybean oil
about 3 T water (add water until it forms a ball)

1. Mix all the dry ingredients well.
2. Mix in oil.
3. Mix in water 1 T at a time.
4. Knead the dough well to mix all the ingredients.
5. Wrap in plastic wrap and set aside to rest for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 350 F.
6. After resting, roll out. I put it on a silicone mat, put wax paper on top and rolled with a rolling pin.
7. Cut into the shape you want.
8. Poke each with a fork.
9. Bake 15-20 minutes.

They taste pretty good, but there is an after taste that I can't identify....

I Have Sprouts!

On my last major shopping trip, I purchased 2 sprouting jars. So, I decided to start the project on Monday (today is Wed)

1. Monday night, I started soaking about 1 cup of white wheat berries in each jar. I filled the jar up with water and let it soak overnight. 
2. Yesterday morning, I rinsed thoroughly under running tap water for at least 30 seconds. Then I drained them for a couple of minutes, letting them sit upside down. 
3. Around 3, I rinsed and drained them again. 
4. By 6 or 7ish, I saw teeny, tiny white buds coming of the tips of most! I couldn't believe it happened so fast! I rinsed them again, drained and let sit overnight. 
5. By this morning there was a bud coming off most, if not all the wheat berries. So, I laid them all out out on 2 cookie sheets an put them in a 170 degree oven to dry (I can't wait to get a dehydrator! I think the oven is too hot, I think it destroys some of the nutrients.) 

I'm following instructions from 2 sites:

http://thehealthyhomeeconomist.blogspot.com/2009/06/how-to-make-sprouted-flour-at-home.html
http://www.ezhealthydiet.com/sprouts.html

I'm going to try making the flour in a spice grinder, I can't wait to get a grain mill. We plan to get the attachment for out Kitchen Aid. It's a bit pricey, so I'm gonna sell some stuff to earn some money to get it.

Almond Milk - Take 2

I made some more Almond Milk yesterday. I think it turned out a bit better. It was a little thicker, more like milk. This time:

Almond Milk

1. Soak 2 cups of almonds in water overnight in the frig.
2. The next day, rinse well with fresh water.
3. Put 1 cup of almonds in blender, add 1 cup of water. Blend until it's as smooth as you can get it.
4. Drain "milk" from almonds. I use a strainer covered with cheesecloth, although I hope to get a nut bag sometime soon, hopefully, it will be less messy. Set aside nut pulp.
5. Repeat with remaining almonds.
6. Add 1/2 t. vanilla extract.

I noticed that it smells a bit sour, not sure if that's normal, but it seems to taste ok. I saw a recipe in which someone added dates, I guess to sweeten. I think I might try that.

With the leftover almond pulp, I dried it in a 170 degree F oven. I'm not sure how long it was since Carlos took over for me. I put it in an airtight container and stored it in the frig.

Almond Milk and Nutty Crackers

This afternoon I made some almond milk. (Click here for some nice step-by-step instructions with extra ingredients and pictures):

Almond Milk

1. 1 1/2 cups of almonds soaked in water overnight in the frig. Be sure to add a couple of inches of water over the almonds because my almonds soaked up so much that they were a bit uncovered this morning. This will result in about 2 cups of soaked almonds.
2. Drain water, rinse a couple times with fresh water.
3. Put in blender 1 cup of almonds, 2 cups of water. Blend until as smooth as you can get it.
4. Drain the "milk" from the almonds. I used cheesecloth (4 layers) over a strainer. Reserve almonds.
5. Repeat steps 3 and 4 with remaining almonds.

That's it. It's pretty bland, there are lots of ideas to jazz it up but for now, I'm happy to have it rather bland with fewer calories for cereal, smoothies, that sorta thing. Next time, though, I think I will use 1/2 the water so it will be thicker. 

I've been wanting to make my own crackers so they have fewer carbs, no wheat and no preservatives. I found a few recipes that use almond flour, so I thought I would use the almonds left over from making almond milk. I tried it without drying it. From the recipe above I had about 2 cups of almonds total. This is the recipe I tried:

Nutty Crackers, take 1

1 1/2 cups of almond "paste" (not sure what to call it!)
1/2 t sea salt
2 T soybean oil
3 T coconut oil
1/4 c coarsely crushed pumpkin seeds
1/4 c coarsely crushed sunflower seeds

Roll out to about 1/8" - 1/4". I rolled them out on a flat cookie sheet covered with a silicone mat. I put wax paper on top and rolled with a rolling pin. (Do not make the mistake of thinking you can do it without the wax paper, it sticks!) Bake at 350 degrees, 20-30 minutes or until golden brown.

I like them! They are rather tasty, but a bit greasy. They could probably use just a touch more salt.

I had a hard time getting everything to bind. I'm a bit concerned with all the fat and I'd like to try to get some protein in there. I'm thinking I might try a little bit of protein powder added in next time. I have no idea of the chemistry of cooking, so I have no idea how that will work.

I based my recipe on a couple recipes. The first was the Rosemary Fig Crackers Recipe without the rosemary, figs and egg (I didn't have any eggs). Noticed a couple others that used no eggs (Chickpea Crackers and Sesame Crackers and Gluten-Free Herb Crackers) that seemed to use extra oil.

"Unique" smoothie

So Carlos was cooking and I needed something quick and easy. He creates these disgusting concoctions, just to get the "stuff" he wants and needs and chokes it down. I can't do that! However, I was a bit desperate so I did try something. I drank it again this morning, it's not super yummy, but I can drink it and it has good stuff. I made a:

Kefir smoothie

4 oz Kefir, plain, unsweetened (I buy it at Publix)
1/2 scoop protein powder
2 T. Chia seeds
squirt of Agave (probably about 2 t)
Kefir is really thick, so I diluted to about 10 oz. with alkaline water

I put it all in a shaker cup and shake, shake, shake!

Chia is a bit gritty/chunky, but it's a texture I can deal with.

Major Shopping Trip

So on Tues we decided to do some price comparison between Chuck's Natural Food Marketplace and Nutrition S'mart (the most conveniently located health food stores for us, although they are quite far away, so it was an all day experience). On some other day, we will also check out Wild Oats and Abbey's. We chose that day primarily because it was super Tuesday at Chuck's where everything is 20% of (second Tues of the month). We found that for the most part Nutrition S'mart was cheaper. I didn't figure in the 20% off because we were exhausted by that point!

I must admit, I was overwhelmed, I couldn't think. For some reason, I'm kinda stuck on wanting to sprout grains, I guess I'm excited about the project and I want to try making bread and crackers and other fun stuff with it. Beyond that, I couldn't figure out what to buy, I was just sorta circling the store. I did have recipes, but I guess cost overwhelms me so I can't make a decision, so Carlos stepped in and helped me! We bought fresh veggies, coconut oil, lotsa almond (for making almond milk, almond butter, almond meal), sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, wheat berries, oat groats, buckwheat groats, mung beans, a couple of sprouting jars, some alkaline water and some other things I can't remember at the moment. As we were driving home, it was getting kinda late, we were tired and Kira spots miraculously a Cici's Pizza with a small sign tucked in amongst a bunch of other stores! Amazing! We stopped and suffered later! I'm not even sure it was worth the agony.

I realized that I can't start my project yet, though because we are going away for the weekend and it takes a few days to do the whole sprouting thing. So I'm waiting to start until Sun. night. There are a bunch of How-To's online, I'm gonna go with this one: http://www.ezhealthydiet.com/sprouts.html We'll see how it works.

I did try a pretty yummy smoothie yesterday. I think it's pretty alkaline, although I used all frozen fruits/veggies, so I'm not sure. This also fits in well with the Zone diet, so I was pretty happy with it. Initially, the taste wasn't too exciting, but by the time I was done, I really enjoyed it.

1 cup Mixed berries, frozen
1/3 - 1/2 banana, to taste
1/2 cup kefir (bought at Publix)
1/3 box Spinach, frozen
water, add as needed

--Mix in blender until smooth. I had to add probably close to 1 cup of water. 
--Blend in:

1/2 scoop soy protein powder, unflavored (see note below)
2 T. Chia seeds, ground

This has approx. 28 g net carbs (45 g carb, 17 g fiber), 24 g protein, 5.5 g fat

NOTE: In the future, I do not intend to use soy protein. It's what I have on hand, so I'm going to use it up, but I'm concerned about some potential negative health effects it is reported to have. I'm going to use either whey protein or a soy-free veggie protein powder.

In the future, I hope to start making my own Kefir, it sounds fun! Again, lotsa sites online to tell you how to do that, when I get to it, I'll explain more. Kefir is basically fermented milk, kinda like yogurt. It has lots of nutritional benefits. At Nutrition S'mart I saw coconut milk kefir, which I may try. Otherwise, I hope to be able to make it with fresh, unpasteurized goat's milk. We'll see how that goes!

Getting Started

I'm kinda having a hard time starting. I'm feeling quite challenged to get protein that isn't from animals. I eat mostly cottage cheese (a controversially alkaline food), although tonight we ate some turkey sausage. There's so much food in our house that is non-diet friendly and lot that is diet-friendly but not alkaline diet friendly. We've decided we are going to give a lot of it away, rather than just toss it. I've been enjoying figs, an excellent alkaline food! I think Kira might like them too, a great bonus! I found a cereal at Publix that is made from sprouted grains (sprouting the grains makes them alkaline), so I'm hoping it's alkaline. (I wish I knew how I could test food to determine the pH of its ash.) It tastes a bit like cardboard, but I added cinnamon (which is great for moderating the effects of carbs on your insulin) and stevia and I actually enjoy it!  Today I made an alkaline dish (I think) that tasted pretty good, Carlos said it's ok, Kira gobbled it up:

Sweet Potato Apple Yummy
1 lb of sweet potatoes, chopped up into bite sized pieces
2 small Red Delicious apples (recipe called for Granny Smith), chopped up into bite sized pieces
1/2 t. cinnamon
1 1/2 T butter
1/2 t. salt
3/4 T light (colored) agave nectar

Mix all together in microwave safe bowl (I think mine was 2 qt). Microwave 5 minutes. Mix. Microwave another 3-5 minutes until sweet potatoes are soft.

I calculated the Nutrition Info to be approximately:

serving size 3 oz (8-9 servings total)
75 kcal
1 g protein
16.5 g carb
     2.25 g fiber
1.8 g fat

Poor Carlos really suffered yesterday. He has been pretty good about drinking water with baking soda and trying to stay alkaline for about a week now. Sunday we celebrated mine and my aunt's birthday with family. We had roast beef, mashed potatoes, candied carrots, cake, ice cream (all yummy and acidic). He reacted very badly. If I hadn't been fine he would have thought he had food poisoning. He's better today, but it took at least 24 hours for him to feel better. This is the guy that can eat food that's been in the frig for 2 months with no problem....