Pumpkin Seed Milk: Wowee!

Hazelnuts, move over and make room for the latest and greatest: Pumpkin seed milk! I was skeptical when I made my first batch. But it turned out so well! The milk has none of the grainy-ness that nut milks typically have. And since I don't like to strain out the pulp, this is a fantastic discovery. Pumpkin seed milk is suuuuuuuper smoooooooth :)

Here is the approximate recipe and procedure to make 1 quart:

1. Soak 1/2 cup of raw pumpkin seeds overnight
2. Place the soaked seeds in the blender with about 2 cups of ice water
3. Add about 4 or 5 medjool dates
4. Add 1/2 of a vanilla bean
5. Blend on high for about 1 minute
6. Add 2 more cups of water
7. Taste and adjust sweetness or thickness

I made another batch using a combination of pumpkin and sunflower seeds. This is a great way to mix up the routine and get a wider array
of nutrients. I'm not abandoning the Hazelnuts altogether, but it was time to rotate them out for a while.

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"Almond Moo" Smoothie

It's after 3 PM, and I'm hungry. But I don't want to spoil my appetite for dinner. So what do I do?

I'm thinking, Almond Moo :)

My friend, Lynn, made this smoothie for me a couple weeks ago. I had to have two glasses full. The next day, I made my own.

This is her recipe:

1. 1/2 C plain or vanilla soy milk
2. 1/2 C chocolate soy milk
3. 1 frozen banana (this makes it thick!)
4. 1-2 tsp almond butter (freshly ground, no additives)
5. Blend!

For mine, I substituted Hazelnut milk for soy milk.

But I also add other things like carob (I am on a total carob kick lately), coconut oil, cinnamon, etc. Whatever strikes my fancy. I also like to add a tsp of chia seeds and take it to-go. By the time I drink it, the chia has had time to soak and gel. I love those little gel-ly chia seeds. It reminds me of bubble tea. Add chia to your favorite beverage and see what happens!

PS. you can also make this into Peanut Butter Moo by sub-ing in peanut butter.

Yumm-moo





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Chocolate Carob Protein Shake with SUNWARRIOR

Had an amazing workout at the gym this morning, and I want to share with you my latest post-workout drink. I'm loving it!

It contains only three ingredients:

• 1-2 C Hazelnut milk
  
• 1 scoop Sunwarrior Protein powder
  
• 2 T Carob
  

You can mix them in a blender or shaker. I use my Vitamix. It's quick; it's easy. That is, as long as you have your hazelnut milk prepared. I've written before on how to make almond milk and touched on Hazelnut milk once in this article. But now I use Hazelnuts (also called Filberts) because they are locally grown, can be obtained in a truly raw state (unlike almonds which are by law pasteurized), and thus can be sprouted.

Hazelnut milk is also easy to prepare. You just need to plan ahead about 8 hours to allow the nuts to sprout.

Needed ingredients for 1/2 gallon of milk:

• 1 C Hazelnuts
  
• 1/2 C Brazil nuts
  
• 6 large medjool dates
  
• 1/2 vanilla bean
  
• Water
  

• First, I soak the nuts in water for at least 8 hours. This allows the nut to sprout, making its nutrients bioavailable.
  
• Second, I drain the soaked nuts and put them in my Vitamix blender with the dates and vanilla bean and about 2 cups of water.
  I blend on high until the nuts are reduced to an extremely fine texture. They should be basically liquified.
  
• Third, I add more cold water to make 1/2 gallon in total.
  
• Lastly, I taste it. Mmmmm... yummy.
  

And that's it. You have your Hazelnut milk ready to go into the super-easy carob protein shake.

The reason I like the Sunwarrior protein is because it contains one amazing ingredient: Brown Rice Protein (Biofermented Raw Sprouted Whole Grain Brown Rice Protein). Talk about amazing. No fillers, extra junk, or dubious ingredients. It has a complete amino acid profile and is gluten free. If you have allergic reactions to most other protein powders, I encourage you to sample this one. Chances are, you will not react badly. I prefer the natural flavor because then I can tailor it to be chocolate, vanilla, or whatever.

This shake is just enough to recharge me right after a whirlwind session of weight training and intervals on the stairmaster.

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Raw Power Breakfast

My favorite mid-morning breakfast (after my green smoothie, of course) is a sprouted buckwheat cereal with Hazelnut milk. So good! This combo will stave off hunger all morning. Just yesterday I prepared for a long trek up Mount St. Helens by starting off with a coconut smoothie and the buckwhat cereal I'm going to share with you today. It did the trick and gave me the energy I needed for the climb.

Raw Sprouted Buckwheat Cereal

Ingredients:

• Raw buckwheat groats
  
• Raw sunflower seeds
  
• Raw pumpkin seeds
  
• Raw Chia seeds
  
• Cinnamon
  
• Raisins
  Optional:
  
• Slippery Elm Bark powder
  
• Licorice Root powder
  

At least 8 hours beforehand, you will need to sprout some raw buckwheat groats, raw sunflower seeds, and raw pumpkin seeds. Amounts don't matter much here; you just make as much as you want and keep the ingredients in the refrigerator for the next day. I sprout each of these items overnight by soaking them in water. In the morning, I drain the water and rinse the seeds. I store the sprouted sunflower and pumpkin seeds in a jar in the refrigerator and continue to rinse the buckwheat for another 8-24 hours. I sprout the buckwheat just until I can see little tails poking out, but I do not want them to get too long.

Once you have your sprouted seeds and buckwheat, combine the ingredients in a bowl in the following approximate amounts:

• 1/2 C. Buckwheat
  
• 1/4 C. Sunflower seeds
  
• 1/4 C. Pumpkin seeds
  
• 1 tsp. Chia seeds
  
• 1/4 tsp. Cinnamon
  
• 1/8 C. Raisins
  
• 1 tsp. Slippery Elm Bark powder
  
• 1/4 tsp. Licorice Root powder
  

Top the combo with homemade Hazelnut Milk made as follows:

Ingredients:

• 1/2 C. Raw Hazelnuts
  
• 4 Dates
  
• 1" Vanilla Bean
  
• 3 C. Filtered water
  

1. Sprout the Hazelnuts overnight by soaking them in filtered water.
   
2. Rinse the nuts in the morning and put them in your blender.
   
3. Add the dates, vanilla bean, and about half the water to the blender.
   
4. Blend on high for approximately 3 minutes.
   
5. Add what remains of the water.
   
6. Adjust the sweetness with dates and consistency with water.
   

Yummy!

Sprouts are an energy-giving food. As Ann Wigmore states in her book, they are "biogenic--alive--and capable of transferring their life energy to your body." You should incorporate as many sprouts into your regular diet. Sprouting your nuts, seeds, grains, and legumes increases the vitamin and mineral content significantly as well as increases the digestibility. Check out Ann Wigmore's book The Sprouting Book to read about the amazing benefits of sprouts.

Pumpkin seeds and Sunflower seeds provide high quality proteins and fats, magnesium, iron, phosphorous, zinc, and vitamin E. By eating the seeds sprouted, those nutrients are ready and available to nourish your body.

Chia seeds provide amino acids for rebuilding tissues and Omega-3 oils to keep your brain and joints healthy and to assist in the absorption of fat soluble vitamins.

The Slippery Elm/Licorice combination is a great addition to soothe, heal, lubricate, and nourish the entire digestive tract. Both act to calm inflamed mucous membranes and tissues.


Sources:
http://articles.herballegacy.com/slippery-elm-ii-%e2%80%93-applications-of-slippery-elm/
http://articles.herballegacy.com/the-benefits-of-the-use-of-licorice-in-herbal-preparations-part-iii/
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