Homemade EASY, LOW-FAT Coconut Milk

I love coconut milk but... I have a hard time handling large amounts of fat at once. Plus, no matte how delicious coconut milk is, it's pretty much cream and not easily drinkable. So (before Turtle Mountain came out with their version-or at least before I knew about it), I set about to make my own version.
First off, I had to make a lower-fat coconut milk. So, I figured out that 2T of full fat coconut milk (from the can) mixed with about a cup of water in my blender would equal 60 calories per serving and 5 g of fat. And guess what? Follow that basic ratio and you have low-fat drinkable coconut milk! Just double or triple it, etc to make a larger quantity.
This coconut milk is a good source of healthy fat and tastes the closest to milk of any recipe for "dairy-free" milk I've tried. And to answer the question, it does still taste a little creamy, at least to me. Maybe not like the original, but I think too if you want it creamier you could just lower the amount of water to coconut milk ratio. Also, this is an easy recipe and way cheaper than buying it in the store (aka. Turtle Mt brand). You can also make "lite coconut milk" for recipes using this same ratio and save money on coconut milk. (The only difference between the canned original and lite coconut milk in the store is water. So why not buy the full fat stuff and make more milk with it thereby saving lots more money? :))

Note: This is my post for Slightly Indulgent Mondays here.

Homemade Almond Milk: Delicious, low calories, and low cost! Under a $1 a quart!

I recently decided to try my hand at almond milk since I had success with rice milk and wanted to give this one a try. I have purchased almond milk from the store before (and liked it) but $6-7 a quart! that’s a lot of muhlah! I based my recipe of another one I saw online but to make it more cost effective and lower calories/fat, I changed it up. My recipe is about 60 calories or less per cup, and 4.5 g +/- fat per cup. And it’s delicious, sugar free, gluten free, and about 88¢ a quart! This recipe yields about 4 quarts or 1 gallon of almond milk! So are you ready for the recipe?

Here it is:

1 c. whole raw almonds

1 c. filtered water

Place your almonds in a bowl. Cover with water. Let soak for about 12 hours or overnight. (I soaked mine for at least 8).

Take you almonds and water and place in a blender. Add about 3 cups more water. Blend. Make sure it the almonds are ground up very fine.

Pour the result almost like a cream, into a big bowl. Take back one cup of it and add more water (about 3 cups). Blend. Repeat this process until you have about 17 cups of almond milk. You can even just stop after about 5 c. of almond milk that you’ve made and pour 12 more cups of water into the bowl. Mix together. Use your blender and a scoop. Transfer the milk back and forth a couple of times until you think you’ve got the mixture about the same consistency. Strain through a fine mesh and reserve what’s for another purpose. Pour your milk into containers such as Mason jars. Store in the fridge. Shake well before using. (Each time you use). When you get the the end of your milk, you’ll have some leftover pulp again. Strain that out and use it for almond cheese or some other purpose.

Note: To make flavored varieties, add flavoring such as vanilla and cocoa and sweeteners such as agave, honey, or stevia. Add about 1 T.- 2T. of agave or honey to each quart. Use 3/4 t. -1.5 t. stevia if you are using that instead (per quart).

The original recipe can be seen here.

My Homemade “Rice Dream"/ Rice Milk

How many of you out there LOVE "Rice Dream" by Imagine Foods? I do! My favorite is original, although I haven't tried chocolate! Anyway, I was thinking about how I could save some money and thought about once again trying to make rice milk. I had tried in the past with OK results but always went back to my good old "Rice Dream". I decided I needed to see what others thought online and I also looked at the labels. After looking at a idea online and reading the label more closely, I created my own version of "Rice Dream." Try it out and let me know what you think! If you try any of the options or make any alterations be sure to let us know!

Ingredients:
· ¼ t. sea salt
· A little less than 2T. high oleic safflower oil
· 1 c. uncooked brown rice
· 8 c. water
· More water as needed

Directions:
In a large pot, bring 8 c. of water to a boil. Add in 1 c. uncooked brown rice. Add ¼ t. sea salt. Stir. Put the lid on, turn it down, and simmer it for about three hours. Add the safflower oil. Mix. Take it off the heat. Pour in equal amounts of water and into your blender. You will need to do this a couple times. I would suggest that you strain the rice milk through a fine wire mesh or cheesecloth, if needed. Next, dilute your milk to your desired consistency with more water. Blend again. Pour and then store in air tight containers. I like using quart size Mason jars.

Options:
· Halve or double the recipe according to your needs.
· Sweeten with your choice of sweetener if you like.
· You may also flavor it with vanilla.
· If you choose to make chocolate/carob rice milk, add cocoa/carob and sweetener of your choice.

Original Recipe found here.