Yes, You Can Milk an Almond

There's a great website called The Kitchn. I think it's a foodie off-shoot of another great site called Apartment Therapy - which I've visited often.  I discovered the site because a friend of mine kept posting recipes from the site that REALLY appealed to me. I found myself "sharing" a lot of these recipes, just so I could find them again. (I couldn't just go to the site and start following it, like a normal person...)

Anyway. One recipe that I simply HAD to try was "making almond milk at home". 

The first time I ever had almond milk was, as a very young person, during a visit to Sicily to see my family. My cousin (actually my grandmother's first cousin), Nino, took me for a passagiare, which is the practice of taking a post-dinner walk around town. As is common, we walked to the town square to have a treat and he recommended the having the almond milk. I thought I'd died and gone to heaven.

Almonds figure heavily in Sicilian cuisine so I already had a familiarity and love for the taste but this was something else entirely - intense, smooth, slightly sweet. It was amazing. Unfortunately, commercial almond milk that's available here is too sweet and not at all like the drink I still have on those rare occasions that I get to visit Sicily.

So... off to try this, seemingly simple, recipe in my own kitch(e)n!

Step one: Soak raw, preferably organic almonds in water overnight or up to two days.

This step was easy - although I didn't read the instructions properly and I put them in a covered mason jar instead of an uncovered bowl. I'm not sure if this made a difference but the idea of leaving an uncovered bowl of soaking almonds on my counter seemed...um...disgusting and bug-attracting.

Although, after two days, this is pretty gross too

Step two: Drain and rinse the almonds

 Yep. Done and done.

Step three: Put almonds and clean water in a blender

Again, easy enough. Although, don't fill the blender too full or it will spill over. I ended up doing my blending in two batches.

Step four: Pulse until almonds are chopped up, then blend for a full two minutes

So, seriously, two minutes is a LOT longer than you'd think. I actually set a timer and was surprised at how long this seemed. I'd highly recommend timing it instead of going on instinct or, I promise, you won't have blended it enough.

Step five: Strain the blended almonds

My first (failed) attempt

So...yeah. Here's where things got sticky (and messy). My first attempt was to use cheesecloth. That got me nowhere fast. The stuff just sort of sat on top of the cheesecloth not draining and, again, I wasn't about to leave it on the counter and just walk away for a couple of hours while it dripped - glacially slow. So, I strained in two steps:

1. I strained the milk through a fine-mesh sieve, pushing against the solids with the back of a wooden spoon, squeezing out as much milk as possible. 
2. I filtered the milk a second time through coffee filters. The finer silt that was left was minimal but it made a difference in the "grittiness" of the milk. And I wanted the very smooth milk that I remember.

Part two of straining

The final product is smooth and very tasty. I chose not to sweeten it but, if I did, I would use a small amount of honey. The last tip I have is this: the actual recipe (link above) calls for 1 cup of almonds to 2 cups of water, with 2 cups of clean water to blend with in step four. I found my final product to be more watery than I would like and I think, in the future, I'll blend with 1/2 the water called for, in order to try to give the milk a little more "body".

Yummy on cereal!

Overall, it wasn't a bad first try although I would like to find a more efficient straining system. 

Finally, what to do with the left over ground almonds? The recipe suggests using them "as is" as an additive in smoothies or yogurt (good addition of protein) or drying it to make almond meal which can be used in baking. I decided to try drying it out just to see what the process was like. The answer... long and arduous. LOL  In a 200 degree oven, spread out on a cookie sheet, the meal took nearly four hours to dry to a point where it felt like almond meal. I had to go in occasionally and break up the lumps so they'd dry too. I now have a bag of almond meal in my freezer that I'll have to find a use for at some point. Maybe a coating for fish??

Oh! And the almond milk only lasts a few days to a week in the 'fridge so don't make a lot unless you're really thirsty. It will separate but that's not "going bad" - you just have to shake it. You'll know if it's bad because it will start to taste sour. A little honey could help extend the life because it wards off bacteria, for what that's worth.

Give it a try, if you like almond milk or think you might like almond milk. Then, on a warm summer evening, sit on the patio and sip a glass. You may feel like you're in Sicily for a few minutes. :)

- Alex

Spaghetti Bread!

Have you heard about spaghetti bread? OMG, it's some of the best comfort food ever!

This is what you need:

Pizza dough
8oz of spaghetti cooked and sauced just the way you like it (make it saucier than usual)
8oz shredded mozzarella cheese
Parmesan cheese
1/2 stick of melted butter with 3 large bulbs of fresh garlic pressed into it

Let's get started:

Cook up your spaghetti and set it aside.

Roll out your pizza dough in a rectangular shape. Roughly 18" x 22". Transfer it on to a greased cookie sheet (It will hang over the edges.)

Spoon your spaghetti noodles in a line in the middle of the dough. Top with shredded mozzarella, Parmesan cheese, and a small drizzle of the garlic butter mixture. Leave at least 4" clear on all sides of spaghetti mound.

With knife or kitchen scissors, cut slits (as shown below) down the long end of the dough roughly every 2-1/2" to 3".

Pull the strips up (stretching them a bit) one at a time from either side to create a braid pattern.

Brush on the remaining garlic butter mixture on the outside.

Bake in a 350 degree oven for 30-35 minutes (or until golden brown).

Now this recipe is not an exact science. You only have elbow pasta on hand...why not? There is one random Italian sausage in the fridge...cut it up and throw it in. I use whatever I have handy. You get the idea.

–Cassandra

Beginnings and Endings

 A little slice of my world this week....

: My latest quilt is done and off to my friend Gael to quilt for me. Ahhh, what did folks do before the long arm? I'm so excited to see it quilted!

: Quilt design iterations done. Time to start thinking about the next one.

: Home made bread and cream of mushroom soup (old old vegetarian cookbook). Heaven.

: Little projects to catch up on. More monster patches are in order.

: Re-knitting the eaten sweater. It feels so good to have yarn in my hands in the fall.

: I've been dreaming about a Schoolhouse Tunic for me. Anna Maria Horner LouLouthi voile on sale made it happen sooner rather than later. Can't wait to dig in!

–Cassandra

Vintage MD: Soup's On

Let's just call me lazy. Or maybe I'm enamored of my own previous posts... 

A few years ago, I wrote this blog post about autumn soups. Because I keep coming back to these again and again, I thought I'd introduce them to any new readers who may not have made it that far back into our archives and also remind our regular readers about these culinary delights. Madison is enjoying an Indian Summer right now but, as soon as the sun goes down, it gets cold and I want warm comfort food. Both of these soups fall into that category. I hope you enjoy them. :)

Soup's On! (originally posted on 9/24/10)

Autumn came unceremoniously to Wisconsin - as it often does. There were a couple of "transition" weeks thrown in there where it rained and got a little cooler but, for the most part, it was summer one day and not-summer the next.

This season is bittersweet. I hate that summer is over because I love the sun and the warmth and the activity. Plus, the end of summer means that winter - my most hated season - is just around the corner. (Argh!)  But there's something lovely about autumn too. The crisp feeling in the air. The smell of crumbly leaves. Wrapping up in a favorite sweater. And, for me, the return of comforting soups.

Now, don't get me wrong - I eat soup year round. I'm a huge fan of cold soups in the summer with Cold Cucumber Soup being my favorite. But there's something so nest-y and "mom" about a good, solid hot soup that I think of autumn and the subsequent unmentionable season asthe seasons for this particular food.

There's also a nice dovetail with soup and the dreaded "garden clearing." The last of the tomatoes (which look kind of puny), the overgrown and flowering basil/fennel/oregano/etc., the squash, etc. all need to be dealt with. They're generally not nice enough to stand alone at this point so they need to be cooked into some lovely concoction and soup is the perfect vehicle.

Coincidentally, Bon Appetite Magazine's September (2010) edition has a really nice article about a woman who taught herself to cook by making soups. It's a fun story and I recommend it for both the treatise on soups and the provided recipes.

So, to kick off your autumn the right way, make a big pot of soup this week! Here are a couple of recipes to get you started. One uses up the last of the garden and the other is a fast and easy soup created from canned beans. Enjoy!

Squash & Tomato Soup

3-4 large tomatoes or the equivalent in medium to small tomatoes, skin & seeds removed, chopped
4-6 cups of various cubed summer squashes (eggplant, zucchini, summer squash, etc)
1/2 a large onion diced 
1-2 cloves of garlic, diced
2-3 T olive oil 
Basil, oregano, thyme, (or Italian-blend seasoning) to taste
Salt & pepper to taste
Parmesan cheese, grated, to taste
(optional: diced bell pepper; kale; spinach; cabbage)

Heat soup pot on medium to medium-high heat. Add olive oil. Saute onion until translucent. Add garlic and saute for one minute. Add chopped squash. Saute for a few minutes - until squash is a bit soft. Add chopped tomatoes. Stay with the pot, stirring occasionally, until the tomatoes have cooked down enough to make a broth. If your tomatoes don't have enough juice to make a broth, add a small can or two of diced tomatoes with their juices. Add your herbs. Once the consistency is sort of stew-like, lower heat to simmer and cover. Let it cook for thirty minutes or so and check that the squash is done. As soon as you're happy with the consistency, salt, pepper, and cheese to taste. Serve hot with a cheese to sprinkle on top.

This is the base soup. You can add many different veggies to this (see "optional"). Any vegetables you add, just saute for a bit before you put the tomatoes in. Common sense says that harder veggies (eggplant, carrots, celery, etc) should cook a little longer. Softer veggies like spinach and summer squash need less time to cook so plan your sauteing accordingly. :)

Three Bean Soup

2-3 T olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
1-2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 small head of green cabbage, chopped
2 cans of garbanzo beans
2 cans of canellini beans
2 cans of black beans
Stock (preferably vegetable) to cover
1 Bay leaf (optional)
Salt and pepper to taste

Saute the onion in the olive oil until translucent. Add garlic and cook for about 1 minute. Add cabbage and stir well to coat cabbage with oil/onion mixture. Cook until cabbage is wilted and a little soft. Add the beans and mix well. Cover with stock – I use vegetable stock but chicken is also good. The use of vegetable stock means no additional fat is added to the soup. Add bay leaf and salt if desired. Bring to a boil, lower heat and simmer for one hour. I usually cover it to ensure less splatter but if you simmer uncovered, the soup will boil down a bit and be thicker.

edit: When I made this soup yesterday (9/18/11), I added some browned ground Italian sausage. It really adds a new dimension to the soup - if you're not a vegetarian of course.

Buon Appetito!

- Alex

Jewels of Denial

Today Alex is a bit under the weather. But lucky you...I found this great post of hers from a couple years ago that deserved another look. Enjoy!

I was an artistic kid. Right on through college, my focus was on art, in some form. Sometimes it was drawing (I'm pretty mediocre), sometimes pottery (also mediocre), some art history, and eventually interior design.

Then I got married, had a baby and, suddenly, didn't have time to sit around a contemplate the mysteries of  cerulean blue or Basquiat. In 18 months, all my dreams of being a boho artist in NYC were dashed.

Interestingly though, creativity can't be killed. It will bubble to the surface somehow, someway. For me, it came out in cooking. I had to cook every day and I discovered that I could get pretty creative with recipes. As a result of years of playing around in the kitchen, I'm a confident and decent cook who will, often, take risks with good results.

Once my son was in high school and fed himself most of the time (Easy Mac and potato chips, mostly), I found myself in need of a new creative outlet. In my neighborhood, there was a bead shop that had the most enticing front window filled with a gorgeous array of semi-precious stones and stunning finished jewelry. After a number of weeks of window gazing, I finally screwed up the courage to go inside. I wandered around, entranced by the colors and shapes, and was pleased to find that a strand of semi-precious stones isn't all that expensive. I also discovered that (like most craft shops) the staff was completely willing to help me learn whatever I wanted to learn. I had found my new muse.

Cassandra and I have spoken before about the siren song of craft supplies. When one starts a new craft, it's very easy to become enthralled by it and want to buy all the gorgeous bits that go with the new hobby. With beaded jewelry-making, very few tools are actually needed but it's not unusual to fall into the abyss of beads. As I mentioned, even semi-precious stones (including pearls) are pretty inexpensive when viewed individually. It isn't until you have a rubbermaid container full of them and realize that it's a few hundred dollars worth that the depth of the obsession comes to light. Like with yarn, there comes a point where I had to put a moratorium on bead buying. The rule (for all my crafts) is, "Supplies can only be bought with a specific project planned."

Another issue was that, while I enjoyed the action of making jewelry, I'm not an active wear-er of jewelry. I created hundreds of necklaces, earrings, bracelets, and more - sometimes even specifically FOR myself - but rarely, if ever, wore them. I'm not a big jewelry fan. I like it on other people and I like to wear things that belonged to my grandmother or mother but, in general, I wear the same silver hoop earrings and single silver ring every day. So, for the most part, I just gave it all away as gifts. Eventually, I stopped doing this craft because I figured people were sick of getting my jewelry for every gift-giving opportunity.

A rosary made by me

So, I'm left with a big box of beads, good tools, and an occasional desire to break it all out and start again. I won't get rid of my supplies because the day will come when someone wants a necklace for a wedding or a specific pair of earrings and I'll be able to make these items without having to re-invest in the hobby. Plus, every once in a while, I love just looking at the beautiful beads and imagining what they could become.

- Alex

Vintage MD: Bonafide

We continue this week with another vintage post. Let your craft flag fly, high and proud!

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Monday, September 20, 2010

Bonafide

“Craft is the word of the decade,” says Murray Moss, founder of the design gallery Moss in New York. “It went from having the most pejorative meaning to being embraced.”

photo courtesy of Die Hipster Die!

Crafting has been enjoying a resurgence in recent years. Some view it as a desire to connect with our past, or a movement to a 'softer' aesthetic, or, simply, an extension of the hipster milieu - like ironic facial hair on men. There are, as with all things that reach a tipping point, myriad theories for "why."

Perhaps it's our attempt to hold on to something "real" as our society moves farther and farther into the world of information and technology. Crafting recalls our history. Crafting results in a single, finished, imperfect product and adds a bit of beauty to the world. Crafting creates something that can't be digitized or duplicated.


Our great-grandmothers did these activities out of necessity. Frugality was the primary reason to learn to cook, bake, sew, knit, etc. But there was also a cultural need. Cooking and baking were part of the woman's "job" and women used crafting as a way to stay busy and to socialize. Sewing, knitting, or quilting in a group was a great way to spend an afternoon gossiping with the girls.

Today, frugality doesn't even come into the equation. It's rarely, if ever, cheaper to make something by hand - including a meal. Cheap knit goods from China, fast food restaurants on every corner, and mass production, means that crafting today is exclusively about aesthetics and the pleasure of creating. Interestingly, this dynamic has also created a  big gap in the perceived value of  hand-created items. A "non-crafter" has no real sense of the time, effort, and cost associated with that gift they just got or that cool piece they just saw at the shop. For the crafter, that misunderstanding of the "value" of the finished item can represent a huge blow to the ego. When you spend three months knitting a baby blanket for someone ("every stitch is knit with love!") it's tough to see it given the same reaction as the one purchased from a big-box store.

I'd like to think that, as crafting becomes more widespread and legitimized, more people will recognize the beauty and value in hand-crafted items. I got my first taste of legitimacy when I saw the movie Handmade Nation at our local film festival. But, it was an indie film with a narrow release so it really wasn't changing too many perceptions. Today, however, the Wall Street Journal Magazine helped us take a great leap forward. In the story titled "A Gripping Yarn," the WSJ editors explore the phenomenon of neo-crafting in regard to home furnishing and interior decoration. It's an intriguing article in both the subject matter (knitted chairs??) and the validity it gives to the crafting movement.

For me, personally, this article represents the moment that my hobby became bonafide - legitimate and beyond scorn from those who give me "the look" when I knit in public. Now, if the NY Times will just do an in-depth article on the cost and effort to create something from scratch, maybe my sister will stop looking at my "homemade" gifts as though they're dead rats.

– Alex

Sprout It!

Homesteading - the resurgence of self-sufficiency - has really gained momentum in recent years. Some take it to extremes and it becomes "survivalism" (see: Doomsday Preppers), but for many, it's simply a back-to-basics way to reclaim the skills of our past. This becomes more and more appealing as we face a future that's so completely immersed in and dependant upon technology. There's something very comforting about the authenticity of gardening, canning, and making your own whatever. In one of my previous posts, I waxed jealous about all the cool crafting ideas that come from this movement.

Amazon has this new thing they do called "add-on items" where, at the time of checkout, they serve up a few, inexpensive things tangetially related to what you're purchasing. They are, essentially, impulse buys. The incentive is that you get free, two-day shipping. Of course, this isn't an incentive to those of us who already have Amazon Prime but it's still kind of fun to be offered these little by-the-cash-register items.

So, when I bought a couple of homesteading-related books recently, imagine my delight when I was served up an Amazon Add-On of a "sprout lid" for wide-mouthed Mason jars. For only $2?! Count me in!

Here's the deal with me and sprouts... I LOVE alfalfa sprouts. I could put them on everything. However, I rarely finish an entire container of store-bought sprouts before they go bad. And, as we all know, Alex hates wasting food. So the idea of sprouting at home has always been appealing.

I thought I'd buy some seeds locally but never got around to it and then, one night, I just pulled the trigger and bought them, online through Amazon, from the same people, The Sprout House, who brought me my lid. For $15 I got enough alfalfa seeds to last me for a really, really long time.

Thus began the sprouting adventure.

Holy cats. If I'd known it was this easy, I never, ever would have bought them from the store! Here, in pics, is how I went from seeds to edible sprouts in three days:

Step 1: Put seeds in jar. I used two tablespoons.

Step 2: Soak in water for 8-10 hours.

Step 3: Drain all water.

You'll notice that the seeds are sticking to the sides of the jar. I read online that this was a good thing to do - swirl them up and allow them to stick. It helps to keep them from sitting in any leftover water in the jar (which will rot the seeds). My friend, SSAF, recommended tilting the jar upside down (sorry I didn't get a pic of that) to ensure that any leftover water would drain out. So, I just propped it up against the backsplash of the counter and put a folded paper towel under the jar. Don't put the jar fully upside down or you'll trap the moist air in the jar. Tilt it.


12 hours in. They're growing!!!

After the initial soak/drain, you must rinse and drain the seeds twice a day. I did as part of my morning routine and just before I started cooking dinner.

And this is what happened after just three days: 

Approximately 1 C of edible sprouts

A small amount of unsprouted seeds.

One thing I learned was that not all the seeds will sprout at the same time, that's why you end up with a few unsprouted or only partially sprouted when most are ready to eat. I haven't quite figured out what my next move is... Do I keep the sprouts in the jar and refridgerate the whole thing? Do I remove them from the jar and put them in some other container (this would allow me to keep rinsing the unsprouted seeds...)  I'll keep working on it and, hopefully, become a master sprouter. Frankly, it's so easy, I'm starting to think that I need to buys some additional, different seeds soon... Maybe something spicey.

Oh! If you don't want to buy the little plastic lid, you can use a double layer of cheesecloth under a Mason jar ring.   :)

Cassandra asked me what the nutritional value was of sprouts. I had no idea because I don't usually care when the item is a salad ingredient. But I thought I'd look it up and let you know. So, basically, not a lot. 5% of the USDA daily allowance of Vitamin C, some Vitamin A, a little Calcium and Iron. However, I did find this amazing nutritional site, Self Nutrition Data.

Sprout it!! (maybe that's the next Portlandia skit).

- Alex

What's rocking my world?

Right now...

: Casting on a sweater for me. Coraline by Ysolda Teague. Yarn is KnitPicks City Tweed in "Romance". Why do I feel so guilty knitting for myself?

: Treasuring the time with my littles. I'm realizing how fast they grow up.


: Finally sewing together the blocks of my quilt. I actually had a moment of panic that it would look too crazy once it was put together because of the variety of color and blocks. But no, it's coming together beautifully. (If I don't say so myself!)

Please excuse the bad camera-phone image. It's all I had at the time :)

: Starting the hand embroidery on the quilt. I decided to sew the blocks together until the quilt top is in quarters, then tackle the hand embroidery. I tried to do it a block at a time but now I've decided that having it sewn together first is easier for me. More posts to come about the handwork in the future.

: I'm finally getting through season 2 of Downton Abby...season 3 here I come!

: My favorite thing in the world to eat is the vegetarian matzo ball soup. My husband and I collaborated on this fantastic recipe. I will share it with you all as soon as I type it up!

No, we really don't need to make this many!

So, what's up with you?

–Cassandra