Almond Milk & Kale

After a year of planning on it, I have finally used my almonds to make almond milk. It was pretty easy. The basic gist is you soak your almonds then blend them with milk, strain out the crumbs, and voila! The almond crumbs were then dehydrated and put in the freezer to be used for almond meal later. So, here is the result:

yielded from 1 c. almonds

Many of the recipes I looked at suggested adding a date to sweeten it and vanilla to flavor it. I did neither because I didn't actually taste it until this morning. The boys had it with their cereal for breakfast. Both thought it was interesting. Aaron seemed the most enthusiastic, and Jared didn't care for it. At that point I decided to try adding vanilla to it. Aaron thought it was even better and raved at how good it was. Jared appreciated the change and felt it helped. I suggested they have the frosted shredded wheat with it so the sugar would dissolve and sweeten it. Aaron ended up finishing his cereal but giving up the remaining milk, and Jared had me finish off both. I really appreciate their willingness to at least try all these experiments I undertake :)

As for me, it was different but I didn't dislike it. It wouldn't be hard to get used to. I may experiment with it some more to see what kind of flavors to add to it. I haven't tried it in a smoothie yet so I don't know how it would taste that way. The coconut milk I have been using doesn't add a lot of flavor change, but I have noticed it isn't quite as creamy tasting.

Yesterday Whole Foods had a 4 hour sale on kale - 5 for $5. Kale goes for $2/bunch at regular stores and this organic stuff sells for a lot more than that. Either way $1 a bunch was a great bargain so I had to get my hands on it. Five bunches is a LOT of kale though. So, I've spent my morning processing it. I've made kale chips (already eaten most of them), frozen two bunches, and will use the remaining two for recipes. These are the ones I'm planning for:

Enchilada Casserole with Kale and Sweet Potatoes (will probably use the butternut squash in my freezer for it)

Kale Tart (basically a quiche)

Zuppa Tuscano (from FB)

The only reason these aren't already in the works is b/c it isn't dinner time! Maybe I should make them anyway and freeze for later.... hmm

Oh, and my next experiment will be coconut and peanut butters.