Dairy-free creamy beetroot dip

This recipe is super easy, looks great and tastes yummy. It is a variation on a recipe I heard about which included Parmesan cheese. Right now I'm off dairy so had to think of how to adjust the recipe. There is a little preparation involved if you want to soak the cashews but otherwise it's a throw it all together and blend it to a smooth consistency kind of dip.

Instead of Parmesan I used savoury yeast flakes which I had bought a while ago for making nut cheese. I had read that it had a cheese like flavour. Well, it seemed like the perfect recipe to test that out.

Ingredients

• 1 425g can of beetroot (drained)
• 160g raw cashews (soaked in water for 8 - 12 hours)
• 1 - 2 cloves of garlic
• The juice of one lime
• 2 heaped dessert spoons of savoury/nutritional yeast flakes
• Salt and pepper to taste

Putting it together

• Blend the drained cashews in a vitamix/food processor
• Add the drained beetroot, garlic, lime juice, salt & pepper and blend some more
• Add the savoury yeast flakes and blend again until you have a smooth and impressively pink dip
• Spoon out into a bowl
• Eat with carrot sticks or dry biscuits

 

Result

It looks fantastic and it taste pretty good too. I've had it in the fridge for almost a week and it has preserved well, probably due to the already preserved nature of the beetroot.

Verdict

I think this might just make it into my staple repertoire for when I have a bunch of people over for afternoon drink and nibbles. I love that it's dairy free and that it is high in protein and Vitamin B.

A word on savoury yeast flakes

Also known as nutritional yeast - this a product advertised as 'perfect for vegetarians'. The reason for this is that it is high in vitamin B12. It originates from molasses and though it is yeast it is deactivated. Basically they have killed the yeast culture but retained its nutritional properties.

To learn more you can google nutritional yeast or savoury yeast flakes and you find all sorts of sites that explain what it is and how to use it. Popcorn factors a lot in the 'how to use' stories.

It appears that the main reason why people use it is because of its cheesy taste.

More information:

• http://blog.fatfreevegan.com/2011/10/what-the-heck-is-nutritional-yeast.html
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nutritional_yeast

'I did it myself' almond milk

I haven't drunk cows milk in years and my naturopath is not keen on my drinking soy. What does that leave me with? In the supermarkets there is an ever increasing supply of milk alternatives such as oat milk, rice milk, almond milk etc.

Aside from the fact that my body doesn't seem to like dairy milk, there may be other reasons to consider reducing reliance on the diary industry. When looking at any mass production industry it is important to remember that what happens in other countries may not be happening in Australia. But equally I believe that as the consumer we have a responsibility to inform ourselves of what we are consuming and how that consumable has been made available to us.

All that aside, the milk alternatives available in the supermarkets are often sweetened and are always in those UHT, longlife containers. A carton of almond milk can cost me $7 and since I don't drink that much of it anyway, it often goes off before I've finished the darn thing, so I'm tipping out about $3 each time. There has to be a less wasteful way.

A quick trip to google to search for 'how to make almond milk' came up with loads of youtube videos, blog posts and websites. There seems to be a variety of ways from the simple to quite complex. Me being me of course chose to start with the simple option.

Recipe
As I've already explained there are countless recipes on the Internet. However, the one I based my first attempt on was one of the many youtube videos - the only difference is that I added vanilla essence.

Ingredients
1 cup raw organic almonds
3 cups of water (filter is preferred)
1/2 tsp organic vanilla essence

Equipment
Vitamix (or equivalent high powered blender)
Nut bag (I found mine online at www.rawpleasure.com.au)

Method

• Soak almonds for 8 to 12 hours in room temperature water
• Drain the almonds and put them into the Vitamix
• Pour in three cups of water
• Add the vanilla essence
• Turn on the Vitamix and turn up to high speed and blend for 30 seconds to a minute (don't let it get hot)

• Place your nut back over a bowl (I used a jug bowl knowing that I was going to need to pour the almond milk into a container later)
• Pour the mixture into the bag.

• Using your hands (clean of course) massage the milk from the bag. I found this part interestingly soothing. Almost like using a stress ball. It was quite amazing to also see how much almond milk came out with persistence.

• Pour the almond milk into bottles and store in fridge
• Apparently you can use the almond meal left in cookies or burgers. Haven't figured that part out yet. 

Result
YUM! Certainly straight from the bag the milk was just a touch warm and so tasty. I'll be interested to see what it's like tomorrow on my breakfast. I filled two 300ml bottles and a third of a small glass.

Verdict
Would I do this again? Definitely. I love the fact that I made it myself, that it hasn't been made and then heated in order to store in UHT cartons on shelves for an indeterminable amount of time. There is the factor that I have to remember to soak the almonds but all in all it's an easy and fast process. This batch is very creamy so I even wonder if I could reasonably use more water which would yield more milk (wow, don't get to use the word yield that often). I'm keen to try a couple of variations on this - one which doesn't require the nut bag (keeps the whole nut) and another which is a chai drink.

Am I nuts or can you make cheese out of almonds?

When I heard about nut cheese I simply had to try it. So I trawled the internet to find the best recipe I could find. I realised that if I was going to give this a proper go then I would need to purchase a few items. A cheese basket and some cheese cloth for starters. Having done a feta making workshop in the past I knew exactly where to get such items.

CheeseLinks run workshops on making all sorts of cheeses and appear to be one of the few places that sell the equipment for those keen to continue making it at home. After my feta making workshop about two years ago I bought a kit of stuff which I have since misplaced.

So I got online and ordered some small cheese baskets for $1 each and a large cheesecloth. Once they arrived I was ready (if a little nervous) to make my almond nut cheese.

Recipe
There are many recipes online. The one I am basing my version on is via a YouTube video about eating and raw vegan diet.

Ingredients I used
1 cup raw organic almonds
1/2 cup water
1/4 tsp some type of probiotic (I used two capsules of Nutritious Care Polybac 8)

Method

• Soak the almonds in fresh filtered water for 20 - 24 hours
• Peel the almonds (I should have poured boiling water over the soaked almonds for a few minutes as the peeling of the almonds became quite a lengthy and fiddly process
• Place almonds in the trusty Vitamix along with the 1/2 cup of water and probiotic

• Blend until smooth adding more water as needed (my mix was still a little grainy but I didn't want to add too much more water as I want a reasonably firm 'cheese')
• Spoon the 'cheese' into the cheese baskets lined with the cheesecloth

• Rest the baskets over a cup or in a bowl to allow liquid to drain
• Fold the cheesecloth over the 'cheese' and place a weighty thing over it (I used teacups with canned goods)

• Place in a warm dark place to ferment for 8 - 12 hours
• Taste test your 'cheese' - if you want a stronger tasting cheese you could ferment for a further 24 to 72 hours.
• Season cheese to your liking then store in a glass container (with lid) in the fridge for up to a week. 

What I did
I used the three different baskets of almond cheese to try different method.

• Basket 1 was spooned into a tea cup and a pinch of salt, a 1/4 tsp of lemon infused olive oil and some chopped up Greek basil was stirred through. Pressed back into the cheese cloth and basket. From here:
• half went into the dehydrator
• half went into the fridge
• Basket 2 was squeezed further of fluid pressed back into cheesecloth and basket. There there:
• half went into the dehydrator
• half went into the fridge
• Basket 3 was squeezed further of fluid and pressed back into cheesecloth and basket. It was left to ferment a further 12 hours

Result
Firstly I'd like to confirm my suspicion that cheese made out of almonds does NOT taste like cheese. However, I do admit that there are so many recipes online that perhaps one of them does produce something a little more cheesy. But this recipe and all the variations did not taste like cheese. But here is a record of the results. The texture was very soft - kind of like a ricotta. Each of the basket methods produced a different flavour and so a different experience.

• Basket 1: this was my preferred result. The herbs, flavoured oil and salt really made this 'cheese' taste yum! The dehydrated one was even better but both were great. 
• Basket 2: not too bad but it really didn't have much taste at all. It was very mild and a little sweet. Again, the dehydrated one was a bit nicer.
• Basket 3: Umm...it tasted a little sour which got me a little nervous thinking I'd fermented it to a point it might not agree with me. I thought maybe it would be better if I dehydrated it ... it wasn't.

Verdict
Would I do this again? Hard to say. I certainly wouldn't do the last basket option again but the first was really nice. I might not bother with the cheese baskets (after buying them online for this experiment!) and just make an almond based dip or spread. The addition of the herbs really made it something so might pull this out for a dinner party or the like. I also am curious about some of the other recipes I found with different ingredients so perhaps my cheese baskets won't get lost in the back of the 'I was once interested' cupboard.

Relevant links
CheeseLinks: http://cheeselinks.com.au/

The ginger & kaffir lime leaf experiment

One of my favourite drinks is Rochester Ginger 'with the kick of two very angry mules'. It's basically a cordial but calling it that strips it of it's sophistication and it's zing.

When visiting my sister earlier this year I was unlucky enough to get a cold. Well, she had a cure for that. A ginger drink she made with her Vitamix. It was like drinking straight ginger! The shock to my taste buds aside it got my mind thinking. Years ago I had made ginger ale which was really nice and gingery but was seriously laborious in that I had to mince copious amounts of ginger. My sister had just removed the one deterrent for me. I could just throw it all in the Vitamix and let it do the mincing for me! So be aware that this recipe includes the use of a high powered blender

I started looking up recipes and found quite a few for ginger beer which I will one day attempt but for now it's a little too long in production for me to be bothered (yes, I am quite lazy really). But then I started looking up how to make ginger ale and ginger syrup. What follows is a step-by-step of how I got creative.

Recipe origin
Most recipes I found online were the same. Ginger, sugar, water, boil it all up and you have your ginger syrup. The variations was in the amount of sugar. 

Recipe evolution
I have been revisiting my love of kaffir lime leaves recently and wondered (as I do) if it would be nice with ginger for my ginger syrup experiment. I also figured that ginger and lemon go well together so why not include that. Also, I'm not that keen on using sugar where I can help it so surely I can use honey instead and a little less, maybe?

Following is an almost measure specific account of what I used.

• Three big ginger things (approx 275g)
• 1 lemon (peeled with as little of the white as possible, and juiced)
• a bunch of kaffir lime leaves (I think it was about 12 leaves?)
• Some water
• 1/4 cup of honey (or more to taste if you wish)

Method

• Chop the ginger into big sized chunks and throw into the Vitamix
• De-stalk the kaffir lime leaves and throw them in too
• Juice the lemon and pour into the Vitamix
• Fill with water so that the water level is two storeys of the ginger (if you know what I mean)
• Blend well (as only a high powered blender can do!)

• Pour the very fragrant mix into a saucepan, add the lemon peel and bring to the boil
• Drop the heat to a simmer party and let it do its thing for about 5 -10 minutes (the house smells spicy!)
• Add the honey, stirring to ensure it doesn't go to the bottom and simmer for another 15 - 20 minutes (basically reducing it)

• Strain your gingery liquid through a fine sieve over a container (preferably glass or ceramic)
• Let your liquid cool completely (note that the ginger liquid will be cloudy not clear - all the more gingery!)
• Pour your cooled ginger delight into a bottle or jar that you can tightly seal and chill in the fridge for at least an hour
• Crack open your homemade gingery goodness and make with it what you will!

Result
Well, I was after something not so sweet and really gingery - I achieved that for sure! I'm dissapointed but not surprised that I can't taste the kaffir lime leaf at all. With the ratio I had I guess I can't blame the kaffir lime leaves for not being able to be noticed amongst the bold and firey ginger. I can just taste the lemon which is enough to give it a twang. Predominately the experience is za za zing!

Verdict
Would I do it again? Probably. It could be good to do another batch but with lemongrass instead of kaffir lime leaves which has more of a chance in standing up to the firey personality of the ginger. I now have this ginger liquid so I'm going to try and see what I can do with it. I also have the ginger pulp which I think might be perfect to add to some stewed apple. I don't think I would bother with adding more honey as I was quite able to drink it with the minimal sweetening that it had. The less sugar I can do without the better!

Buckwheat, Banana, Booyah!

I'm always a little skeptical of recipes that declare they are fail-safe. Sort of like when people told me that growing rosemary was childs play. Apparently I can kill the unkillable.

Despite my skepticism I decided to try the so-called fail-safe buckwheat banana bread recipe.

The recipe
The recipe comes from a website called Grain Free Living. Sounds like my kind of site so I figure they must know something about getting it right. As the recipe is mostly in ounces I'll translate below. I have made this both as a loaf and as muffins.

Buckwheat is not a cereal
but actually a fruit
seed related to rhubarb

Ingredients
300g - 400g of really ripe mashed banana
2 free range eggs
1/3 cup maple syrup (I've made this with honey too)
1/2 cup mild tasting oil (I just used olive oil)
1 tsp cream of tarter
1/2 tsp bicarb soda
150g buckwheat flour
I heaped dessert spoon of rice protein powder (totally optional)
2 tsp cinnamon

Method

1. Heat oven to 170 degrees
2. Grease and line either a loaf tin or use muffin/cup cake baking cups
3. Blend all the ingredients together (you can use a food processor or a blender)
4. Pour blended mixture into the prepared tin or baking cups
5. Bake in the oven for about 40 - 45 minutes for loaf, or 35 minutes for muffins (depending on your oven)
6. Basically bake until you can pull a skewer out clean
7. Let them or it cool for 5 - 10 minutes

Result
Firstly, it really is fail-safe! Even when I accidentally put in 1/2 tablespoon instead of 1/2 teaspoon of bicarb soda it still tasted great. Using the blender (and I have a very high powered blender) means the end product is really smooth. I added the cinnamon and the rice protein powder because I seem to have an aversion to sticking to the standard recipe. But it all worked and I've made it three times now. The muffins freeze really well too.

Verdict
Super easy, real food ingredients and yummy. My favourite combination.

Relevant links and information
Sunwarrior protein (a non-dairy, non-soy protein powder): http://www.sunwarrior.com.au/

Benefits of buckwheat: Buckwheat is high in insoluble fibre and is a good source of protein and B vitamins and is rich in phosphorus, potassium, magnesium, iron, and calcium.
Learn more about buckwheat and its nutritional benefits