Soaked almonds for almond milk

Vegan pumpkin spice latte.

The spice is from the cayenne & freshly ground cinnamon sticks. The milk is soy or homemade almond.

The time it makes you feel all warm and cozy is right now in this brick ass winter season.

Love you all.

Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies with Almond Milk

Yield: 12-14 large cookies

Ingredients:

• 7 tbsp Margarine + 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil (or 1/2 cup Earth Balance- see note)
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/4 cup cane sugar (or use white)
• 1 flax egg: (1 tbsp ground flaxed mixed with 3 tbsp water)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp kosher salt
• 1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour
• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 cup dark chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350 and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. In a small bowl, mix together the flax egg and set aside.

2. With an electric mixer or in a stand mixer, beat the Earth Balance until fluffy. Add the brown sugar and cane sugar and beat for 1-2 minutes until creamy. Beat in the flax egg.

3. Beat in the remaining ingredients and fold in the chocolate chips.

4. Shape balls of dough and place on the baking sheet. Bake for 10-12 minutes (or up to 14 mins on a Silpat mat). Allow to cool for 5 mins. on the baking sheet and then transfer to a cooling rack for another 10 minutes.

Note 1) For a crispier cookie edge, use 7 tbsp margarine and 1 tbsp olive oil. I preferred cooking them this way. They also spread out a bit more. Alternatively, for a softer cookie, use 1/2 cup Earth Balance and no oil.

Note 2) As suggested by Ashley, to retain the crispy factor of the cookies place them in the freezer after cooling in a container or baggie. It was the only method I tried that kept the crispiness of the cookies! Simply thaw on the countertop.

(via ohsheglows)

What’s for brunch? Hm, let’s see now. Vegan pancakes with grade B maple syrup, grits with vegan cheese, simple delicious tofu scramble made with olive oil, salt & freshly ground pepper, garnished with fresh cilantro and a slice of cantaloupe.

I’d have all this with an almond macchiato.

Photo courtesy: thewannabechef

Homemade Almond Milk

Ingredients

• 1 cup almonds4-6 cups water
• 1 teaspoon vanilla (100% optional)
• 2-4 tablespoons agave (100% optional)

Preparation

• Place the almonds in a bowl and cover with water. Let soak for at least 6 hours, preferably overnight.
• Place all the ingredients in a blender.
• Cover tightly, and puree for a minute or so, until it’s milky. There will be some foam at the top from all the blending, but this will recede upon sitting.
• To give the milk a smooth texture, place a fine mesh strainer or cheesecloth over a large bowl (if using cheesecloth make sure it’s tightly secured) and empty the almond milk into the strainer.
• Squeeze or use the back of a spoon to push through all the liquid. What you will end up with is almond pulp.
• Keep the milk in a covered jar or container in the refrigerator, it should last for 5 days.

Instead of throwing the almond pulp out you can add it to cookies, pancakes and breads, eat it like a spread, a la almond butter, or if you have a dehydrator you can even make almond flour.

(via sogoodandtasty)

PB Vegan cookies with almond milk. Or maybe rice milk.

Almond milk cafe latte. (via veganddemanding.wordpress)

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. When I forget to soak oats overnight, I rely on my desk stash of cereal.

For the past couple of weeks I’ve been having Flax Plus Multibran with Unsweetened Almond Milk. It’s a very nice combination. The cereal tastes saltier than most but when it soaks into the milk, you get a very nice crunch/mush thing going.

And all the OMEGA-3 fans will be happy too!