Homemade Almond Milk

Whether you like cow's milk or not, you will love this almond milk! It is so good with granola, breakfast cereal, in a smoothie, or with oats that you soak overnight. If you didn't try the granola yet, you should. It gets rave reviews from everyone who tries it! Anyway, we love this almond milk. You don't have to be lactose intolerant or vegan to enjoy it.

Almond Milk

Ingredients:

• 1 cup raw whole almonds
• 3 cups water

Soak the almonds in the water overnight or all day. (I have soaked it up to two full days because I didn't have enough time to make it when I planned. If this happens, just rinse and drain the almonds and put them in fresh water until the next day).The milk is best chilled, so it works well to soak all day and make the milk before bed.

• 4 cups water
• 1 T coconut oil, melted
• 1 T liquid sweetener, I like agave nectar because it blends really well into cold liquids
• 1 tsp non-alcoholic vanilla
• salt (optional)

Directions: 

1. Put 4 cups water in blender; add soaked, drained, and rinsed almonds.
2. Blend. For a Blendtec, blend on "whole juice" setting. I'm not sure what to say for other blenders, but blend for about a minute.
3. Strain milk through a nut milk bag or several layers of cheesecloth. You will want to squeeze it a little to extract as much milk as possible, but not so much that you squeeze out a lot of the ground almonds.
4. Return strained milk to blender and add coconut oil, sweetener, vanilla, and a pinch of salt if desired.
5. Blend for another 30 seconds; store in a glass pitcher in the refrigerator up to 4 days (ours has yet to last that long before being consumed).

I know there are things you can do with the almond pulp, but I have yet to try any of them....

Turkey Enchiladas

This recipe has been a regular at our dinner table for many years. I don't even know where the original recipe came from, but it was an instant hit. This recipe makes enough sauce and filling for 2 meals. I put half the sauce into a freezer bag, and half of the filling into another freezer bag. Then you have a very easy meal for another time. I also layer everything lasagna style instead of rolling them enchilada style. It's just quicker.

Turkey Enchiladas

Ingredients:

• 2 T olive oil
• 4 T flour
• 1/2 tsp ground coriander
• 1 tsp chili powder
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 2-15oz cans, plus 1-8 oz can tomato sauce
• 2 cups water
• l large onion, diced
• 16 oz ground turkey
• 1 T dried cilantro (fresh works, too)
• 3 cups frozen corn
• 4-15 oz cans of black or pinto beans (I use a combination of the two), rinsed and drained
• 3 tomatoes, diced
• Fresh ground pepper
• 12 corn tortillas (You will need another 12 when you make the other half later.)
• 1.5 cups shredded cheddar or monterey jack cheese

Directions:

1. Mix together flour, coriander, chili powder, and cumin. Preheat oven to 350. Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Stir in the flour mixture with a whisk; add tomato sauce, water, and 1/2 tsp salt. Continue stirring with the whisk until smooth, make sure to scrape any flour mixture away from the edges of the pot. Turn heat down and simmer for 10 minutes. Put half of the sauce into the freezer for another day.
2. Heat a bit of oil in a large skillet; add onion and turkey. Cook, stirring until browned, about 10 minutes. Stir in cilantro, corn, beans, tomatoes, and salt and pepper to taste. Divide the filling in half and put 1/2 into the freezer for another meal.
3. Spread 1/2 cup sauce into a 9x13 inch baking dish. Lay 6 tortillas on top of the sauce. Top with remaining filling, another 1/2 cup sauce, and half of the cheese. Lay the remaining 6 tortillas on top. Cover with remaining sauce and cheese. Bake until heated through, about 20-30 minutes.