Happy 2016! What have you been up to recently? It felt like the holidays and even the year went by so fast as we’re now approaching the middle part of January.
2015 was quite a hectic year for me. My body feels it and knows it all too well that I have decided to take a slower pace. Now, I’ve been going to bed so much earlier than I used to. I’ve taken a break from Instagram (yay!). I’ve also decided to connect more with family and old friends, not just by social media but face to face and hanging out. And I’m back to the yoga studio again! I'll look forward to re-evaluating myself at the end of the year and let's see how things will turn out then. I'm hoping that I will do well!
When it comes to healthy eating, I know that we all can do something. It doesn’t have to be complicated. It can be drinking more water. Maybe eating more plants or packing our own lunch. Something we can sustain over time.
One of the simple things that I teach in my cooking classes is making nut milks. This is great for those who are trying to avoid dairy. Also, even the packaged nut milks contain unnecessary processed ingredients. And isn’t it exciting if we can make homemade chocolate milks for us and our children? We can count our own ingredients - maximum 4-5, instead of unfamiliar ones shown here.
Homemade Chocolate Milk
Serves 2
Ingredients:
2 cups homemade almond milk or cashew milk (see recipe below)
1 cup warm or room temperature filtered water
2 Tbsp. cacao powder, I used this
2 Tbsp. coconut sugar or maple syrup
1/2 vanilla bean, scraped or 1/4 tsp. vanilla powder
Optional add-ins (create additional flavours and really delicious)
1 Tbsp. lucuma powder
2 tsp. maca powder
pinch of good salt
Blend all ingredients until well incorporated. It can be served warm or iced cold.
Homemade Nut Milk
Ingredients:
1 cup raw almonds, soaked overnight, drained and rinsed
or 1 cup raw cashews, soaked for 6 hours, drained and rinsed
4 cups filtered water
Place all ingredients in a high speed blender and whizz for up to 60 seconds until the water turns opaque. You would need a nut milk bag to strain the pulp from the almonds. If using cashews, it's not necessary. If you want to sweeten your nut milk, you can add 2 pitted Medjool dates. You can also check this older post on how to make homemade coconut milk or macadamia milk.
Wishing you the best of 2016!
Warmly,
Lina