Raw Almond Zucchini Hummus

I am always at a loss when it comes to the left over pulp from making home made nut milks.  Usually I just dry it in a low oven and freeze it for flour.  The other day I Googled 'nut pulp recipes' and found this gem courtesy of Choosing Raw.  It is delish!  The base recipe is from Choosing Raw but I have modified it a little bit and added some other variations below.

1-1 & 1/2 cups of almond pulp
1 zucchini (clean well.  you can use the skin.)
Fresh garlic (use as much as you want for your taste)
The juice of 1/2 to 1 lemon, again depending on taste
Sea salt to taste
1 tsp of ground cumin

Put everything in a food processor or high-powered blender and mix until incorporated.  Chill for several hours or overnight.  Use with veggies, as a spread, or with crackers.

Roasted Red Pepper-roast 2 large red peppers until skin in charred.  Dice small and mix into hummus by hand after it's been blended.

Garlic-Add a whole head of garlic into the mixer.

Cracked Black Pepper-Add 1/8-1/4 cup of whole black peppercorns to the mixer.

Chive-Add 1/4 cup of fresh chives to the mixer

Recovery Monster

I started making this after my workouts. I wanted to give my body a huge dose of protien.

2 cups of water (more if needed at the end)
1 tablespoon of organic, extra-virgin coconut oil
1 banana
1/2 of a Hass avocado
1/2 cup of blueberries
1 scoop of Garden of Life's Super Seed Beyond Fiber
1 level tablespoon of hemp powder (I use Bob’s Red Mill)
1 level tablespoon of ground flax or flax meal (I use Bob’s Red Mill)
1 level tablespoon of ground chia
1 level tablespoon of spirulina
1 level teaspoon of maca powder
1 level tablespoon of cacao nibs
1 tablespoon (about 5 full-sized halves) of walnuts
1 tablespoon (10 whole pieces) of raw almonds
1 tablespon of raw cashews
1 level tablespoon of raw hulled pumpkin seeds
1 level tablespoon of raw hulled sunflower seeds

Put everything in the blender and mix thoroughly. I will admit, this doesn’t taste fantastic but it wasn’t disgusting either. If you want to sweeten it, you can add a bit of raw honey.  This recipe makes enough for 2.  You can either share it with someone or you can store half for the next day.  The best way to store it would be to put half in the freezer in ice cube trays.  When they freeze, pop them out and put them in a freezer bag.  Lable it as one serving.  When you want to use it, throw them in the blender with some water!

Garlic Scape Pesto

This time of year, the long green tops of garlic start to appear in gardens.  Gardeners and chefs alike know that this is one of those limited edition spring treats that they have to jump on.  And you can't beat the price!  I paid a buck for a bag of 40!  Cutting back the long green scape from the garlic plants helps grow stronger bulbs.  It also makes a delish pesto!  Normally pestos have cheese.  But hey!  Who says you can't change the rules?

40 garlic scapes
2 cups of slivered raw almonds OR chopped raw walnuts (nuts should be plain...no seasonings!)
3 cups of good quality extra-virgin olive oil

Prepare the scapes by washing them in cold water.  Cut off the seed pod at the top.
Cut them into smaller pieces and put them in the food processor*.
Turn on food processor and slowly add nuts to the scapes.
When the almonds and scapes are well gound, start adding the olive oil in a steady stream.
Process thoroughly.

I used a small ice cream style scooper to scoop out balls and freeze them on a cookie sheet.  When they were solid, I put them in freezer bags.
This makes a great spread with Mary's Gone Crackers Products or as a dip with fresh veggies.  And of course you can always use it with pasta or risotto!

If you feel the overwhelming need to add cheese, no worries!  My Italian roots made it hard to leave it out.  (I made some for friends and I did put in the cheese for them.)  After you add the olive oil, slowly add 1 cup of grated parmesean reggiano or romano pecorino or a combination of both!  If you do choose to use cheese, I recommend a good quality Italian imported cheese made from pastured sheep or goat.

You can find this recipe along with many others on Allergy Free Alaska

*I did try to make this in my Vitamix and it didn't work so well.  It was too thick of a mixture to do it in there and the Vitamix overheated so I highly recommend a food processor for this!

Raw Almond Milk

I made this today in the blender.  It's super easy!  And it tastes better than the store bought stuff.  You have the ability to make it thicker or thinner by altering the amount of water.

Soak 1 cup of whole, raw almonds in about 6 cups of water for a couple of hours.  Strain and rinse well.  Put almonds in the blender with 4 cups of water and blend for about 5 minutes.  Taste to see if you need it sweeter.  If you do, add a little raw honey or agave or a couple of medjool dates (be sure to take the pits out!)  Reblend.  Strain using a fine mesh sieve or you can use nut milk bags if you have them.  If you want to make more, you can but for the best results, make it in batches of the above recipe so you don't over-fill the blender.  You can also add cinnamon or nutmeg for flavor if you like.

You'll have some left over pulp when you finish. You can do a few things with it.  You can dehydrate it either in the oven or in qa dyhydrator if you have one.  Youc an use it in place of flour in baked goods.  You can also do what I did and put it back in the blender, add about 3-4 cups of cold water, 1/4 cup of cacao nibs, and some agave nectar and make chocolate milk!  I dehydrated the rest of the pulp in the oven after that.

Store in the refrigerator in a glass container.  Canning jars work well.

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Raw Vegan Fruit Tart

I made this yummy treat for a family gathering and I was surprised at how well it went over.  I come from a very Italian family and everything is fried and cooked to death.  And heaven forbid it if you don't have meat and pasta on the table.  I made this tart look so pretty that everyone wanted to try it.

CRUST
12-15 medjol dates pitted and diced
2 &1/2 - 3 cups of raw sliced almonds

Place dates and almonds in the food processor and process until well combined.  Press into a 9" glass pie plate.

FILLING
3 ripe mangoes peeled and pitted

Place mangoes in the blender with the kelp or moss and blend well.  Pour onto crust.

TOPPING
Kiwi, various berries, pineapple, peaches, nectarines, or any other fruit that you desire.

Slice and arrange fruit on top of filling.  Chill for about an hour before serving.

CHOCO-BERRY BANANA Smoothie

1 cup of hemp milk or almond milk
1 banana
1-2 sambazon acai berry smoothie packs
small handfull of sliced almonds
6 medjool dates pitted

Blend this one good to really chop up the dates.

DRINKING UP SOME SUN Smoothie

1 cup OJ juiced fresh
2 peaches or 2 nectarines or 1 of each pited & diced
1/2 a mango chopped
4 apricots pitted & chopped chopped
1 banana
a 1-inch pineapple slice
a handfull of sliced almods
2 tablespoons each of hemp and flax seeds

Juice the orange and put the juice in the blender with the rest of the ingredients.  If you don't have a juicer then just put the orange in the blender with everything else.

CHOCO BLAST Smoothie

1 cup of chocolate hemp milk or chocolate almond milk(yes kids! they make it in chocolate too!)
6 medjool dates pitted
1 banana
1 acai berry smoothie pack
1/4 cup sliced almonds
ice

The milk and acai should go in first. Once the acai is broken up, add the rest of the ingredients. Add ice to the glass to chill smoothie.

THE PERFECT PROTIEN Smoothie

1 cup hemp or almond milk or a combo of the two
1/2 avacado
6 medjool dates pitted
5 dried apricots
1 banana
1 tablespoon flax seeds
1 tablespoon hemp seeds
1 tablespoon chia seeds
2 tablespoons sliced almonds

You know the routine. This smoothie gets very thick so you will have to add water. If you can't finish the whole thing, you can freeze the rest and eat it later kinda like icecream.

CHUNKY MONKEY Smoothie

1 cup hemp milk or almond milk
1 banana
1 handfull of sliced almonds
8-10 pitted medjool dates pitted

Get the milk spinning in the blender and start adding the ingredients a little at a time. If it gets too thick, you can add a little bit of water. Either pour over ice or blend the ice in.

PLUM CHERRY SHABANG Smoothie

1 cup hemp milk or almond milk
1 large red plum quartered and pitted
2 handfuls of pitted fresh cherries
6 medjool dates pitted
1 handful of sliced raw almonds

Put the hemp milk in a blender on high-speed then add the rest of the ingredients in order one at a time while the blender is still going. Blend for about 3 minutes after you add the last ingredient.