Two Minute Almond Milk

Two Minute Almond Milk

Making your own Almond Milk has HUGE advantages.
1. It saves a lot of money - it costs well under half the cost of commercial Almond Milk.
2. It reduces packaging waste.
3. It saves trips to the store.
4. It saves storage space, since you only have to keep one small jar on hand to make a few gallons.
5. It gives you control over ingredients, so that allergens, gums, and preservatives can be avoided.
6. It saves time!
7. If you live in the city, and carry groceries home, it will save your back from lugging a lot of extra heavy cartons!

I don't often post times with my recipes, and when I do, I don't exaggerate.

This recipe REALLY does take two minutes to make!

(This is not my original idea, but I have seen it in more than one place, and I have no idea where those places were. These are my own proportions and my own directions.)

Here it is:

Two Minute Almond Milk
Combine in a container that is big enough
1 Quart Cold Water*
2 Tablespoons Raw, Smooth, Pure Almond Butter (not the "no-stir" or roasted kinds)
I use Maranatha Raw Almond Butter.

Place Immersion blender into container and blend for a full 60 seconds (1 minute). I am sure a traditional blender will work, too, I just always use the immersion blender myself.
Rinse off Immersion Blender - while you do that, the almond meal will settle to the bottom of the container.
Pour Milk into your pitcher/storage container, leaving "dregs" (almond meal) in the bottom of your blending container.
Enjoy! (or refrigerate to use later)
This milk does not have gums or emulsifiers, so it will settle - you will need to shake or stir each time before serving.

*You may use warm water and then just chill before drinking/serving.

NOTE: Dairy milks NATURALLY contain about 1 Tablespoons of natural sugars per cup. Which means that people who are used to drinking cow-milk (as my daughter calls it) are used to a very sweet beverage (which is one reason so many people "love" milk!). If you are working on transitioning away from cow-milk, or have a family member who is, I encourage you to add sugar to taste (perhaps 1 to 2 Tablespoons) and a dash of salt the first time or two you make this, and then experiment with reducing those amounts as tastes adjust.

This is being shared on Healthy Vegan Fridays, The Thriftiness Miss, Gluten Free Fridays, Friday Show & Tell, Making Your Home Sing Monday,  Inspire Me Monday, The Chicken Chick, Modest Monday, Plucky's Second Thought, Feeding Big, Slightly Indulgent Tuesday, Teach Me Tuesdays, Tips & Tricks Tuesday, Anti-Procrastination Tuesday, Happy, Healthy, Green & Natural, Rosevine Cottage Girls, Wise Woman, Wonderful Wednesday, Real Food, Allergy Free, Fabulously Frugal Thursday, The Thrifty Home's Penny Pinching Party, Simple Lives Thursday, Frugal Days, Sustainable Ways, Living Big on Less Money

Urban Grilled Corn

Urban Grilled Corn (next time, I'll make it even browner : )

In many places, Grilled Corn is sold as street food. The ears are grilled over charcoal until there are little blackened spots on the kernels. This caramelizes the natural sugars in the corn, emphasizing its natural sweetness, and makes it smoky & chewy.

Sometimes, you might have a craving for such food - or perhaps you have a recipe (like a salsa or entrée salad) that calls for Grilled Corn. Or, maybe you just want a slightly more intriguing staple side dish. But, you don't want to fire up the grill. Or maybe you can't - grilling is illegal in our neighborhood. Maybe Corn-on-the-Cob is out of season to boot.

I found this intriguing idea while surfing the net a while back. Unfortunately, I cannot recall where I saw it, but it is not a unique idea - I've seen it in several other places since. And, it's unbelievably simple : )

Urban Grilled Corn
Remove Frozen Sweet Kernel Corn from the Freezer.
Put it in a sieve, and rinse with warm water to thaw.
Pour into a dry nonstick pan over medium heat.
Cook, stirring frequently till corn has enough little charred spots to suit your tastes.
Season & Serve (or toss in recipe)

St. Nektarios of Aegina

Icon of St. Nektarios from Wikimedia Commons

How do you react when people are cruel to you? When they spread unthinkable lies about you (or believe those lies that others tell about you), make you lose your job, exclude you, and leave you without enough food to eat?

Do you fight back? Do you gossip about them -  telling others what they've done? Do you seek revenge? Do you hate them? Do you fall into despair?

Now, let's imagine that the people who do these horrible things are Christians. Not only Christians, but people you look up to in your Faith community.

Do you leave the Church? Do you feel betrayed by God? Do you stumble in your faith? Do you reject God & His Church?

This sort of thing is probably the #1 reason that I have seen people leave the Faith.

But, today's Saint - Saint Nektarios - took a different path.

He accepted the mistreatment. He simply accepted the slander, the loss of job & position, the lack of food, the exclusion. He didn't fight back. He didn't gossip about his abusers. He didn't seek revenge. And, most importantly, he remained Faithful to God. This was his Cross to bear in his life, and he bore it heroically. He chose not to hate, but to love. He chose not to reject suffering as something to be avoided at all costs, but to obediently endure it for God.

Despite the cruelty of other Christians, he Loved & Served God. He gave alms to the poor. He accepted any position he could get serving God - even those positions that were much "beneath him." He was a Bishop - yet because of the sins of others, he had to accept a part time job preaching - not even a full time position!

In the course of his life, he acted as Headmaster of a Seminary, and eventually founded a Monastery. But, he was always hounded by those who hated him.

At the end of his life, he suffered bravely and devoutly with physical illness, while others were being miraculously healed of their illnesses through his prayers. (He is the Patron Saint for those suffering from Cancer.) Again, others might have been angry at God when they saw others healed, but while they remained ill and in severe pain themselves, but St. Nektarios was Faithful & filled with Love.

It is quite likely that during his lifetime few, if any, recognized that they were in the presence of a Saint.

When St. Nektarios died of his illness, his body was washed, as was customary. When his undershirt was removed for the washing of the body, it was tossed on a neighboring bed - where there lay a paralyzed man. The paralyzed man was instantly healed! I suspect that the moment this happened was the first inkling most had that Bishop Nektarios was a Saint.

In the course of time, his relics remained incorrupt (his body did not decay) and gave off the odor of sanctity (instead of smelling like a dead body - his body smelled like Myrrh).

Many people came to his tomb to request his prayers for their healing - and many were healed - so many that an entire book was written (unfortunately, to the best of my knowledge, it is only available in Greek) just about these occurrences. My Father-in-Law was one of those people healed by the prayers of St. Nektarios.

Today is the day we remember St. Nektarios - an amazing, modern Saint. If you'd like to know more, I highly recommend  Saint Nektarios, The Saint of Our Century. It's a compelling read- almost like a novel - and very uplifting.

And, the next time you are mistreated by a Christian, remember that all the things we suffer in this life- whether physical, emotional, or Spiritual -  has the potential to either draw us closer to God - or further from Him - and let us pray for God's help to imitate the Love & Faithfulness of St. Nektarios.

This is being shared on Making Your Home Sing Monday, Modest Monday, Hear it on Sunday, Use it on Monday, Inspire Me Monday, Tell Me a True Story, Teach Me Tuesdays, Teaching What is Good, Anti-Procrastination Tuesday, Rosevine Cottage Girls, Wise Woman, Encourage One Another, Thrive @ Home Thursday