If you’ve already mastered homemade nut milk,  now is the time to graduate to the next nondairy milk level – one that involves sprucing up the mix with more interesting ingredients.

Enter: lavender rose almond milk. This recipe is a floral rendition of the vegan milk alternative. It can be used in all the places you’d normally use almond milk – oats, cereal, baked goods, smoothies, and coffee – and will add just a kiss of lavender and rose accents in which a discerning palate will surely luxuriate.

Let this lavender rose almond milk recipe be just the beginning of your trek towards flavored nut milks. Lavender and rose pair very well together and leave a delicate brush of aroma to your otherwise plain almond milk. Feel free to replace the almonds with any other nut, and if want the lavender and rose flavors to be stronger, simply add more of them, a pinch at a time.

For this recipe, I use dried lavender and dried rose petals, but you could use fresh lavender and rosewater if you prefer them. Simply replace the dried lavender with a sprig of fresh lavender and the dried rose petals with a tablespoon of rosewater.

Lavender Rose Almond Milk Recipe

Makes about three cups

Ingredients

• 1 cup raw almonds, soaked in water overnight
• 3 cups water
• 4 Medjool dates, pitted
• ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract
• Pinch of sea salt
• 3 pinches dried lavender
• 3 pinches dried rose petals

Directions

Drain and rinse the almonds. Add all of the ingredients into a blender and blend for 30 seconds, or until the almonds have completely broken down.

Pour the mixture into a nut milk bag over a pitcher or bowl. Squeeze the bag until all of the liquid has been filtered from the pulp. Store the pulp to use later as a base of a vegan and gluten-free cookie or cracker.

Store the lavender rose almond milk in a sealed pitcher and keep on hand for all your milk needs.

Related on EcoSalon
10 Essential Items for a Vegan Pantry
10 Health Foods with More Sugar than Coke
Should You Be Drinking Goat Milk?

The post Nondairy Milk Goes Floral: Lavender Rose Almond Milk Recipe appeared first on EcoSalon.

Goat milk may be the dairy alternative you’ve been looking for.

Cow’s milk simply can’t get a break, can it?

If you aren’t vegan and are searching for a better alternative to cow’s milk, look no further than goat milk. Nut milks may be getting all the attention as the dairy alternative of late, but goat dairy products are the next in-vogue milks–and for good reason.

Goat’s milk has less lactose and a similar chemical structure to that of human breast milk. It makes up 65 percent of the consumption of milk worldwide, but is only recently becoming more popular in the U.S., where cow’s milk currently reigns supreme. It has a denser, creamier texture and earthier taste than cow milk. One cup of full fat goat milk contains 168 calories, 10 percent of the RDA of vitamin A, 33 percent of the RDA of calcium, 10 grams of fat and 9 grams of protein.

While goat’s milk may contain more calories, fat and saturated fat than cow’s milk does, it also contains less sugar and a higher amount of calcium, magnesium, potassium, vitamin C, vitamin A and protein. Cow’s milk offers more B vitamins and selenium, but considering that it is very difficult to digest goat milk may still be the healthier choice.

The fat globules in goat’s milk are much smaller than they are in cow’s milk, making them easier for digestive enzymes to break down. Goat’s milk also contains higher levels of short- and medium-chain fatty acids, giving it the unique ability to improve the metabolism while inhibiting cholesterol deposits.

Cow’s milk contains a hard-to-digest protein called casein that is highly allergenic. The levels of casein in goat milk are about 89 percent lower than in cow’s milk. One study of infants allergic to cow’s milk found that up to 93 percent of the subjects could drink goat milk with virtually no side effects.

Looking to Give Goat Milk a Try?

LaLoo’s makes incredible 100 percent goat milk ice cream in five different flavors.  They are totally decadent and absolutely delicious. Coach Farm makes goat milk yogurt with live active cultures and natural flavors. In its raw state, goat milk is  the most nutritionally potent, but it is difficult (and oftentimes illegal) to access raw goat milk on the market. Raw goat milk cheese, however, is readily available. Mt. Sterling makes a variety of raw goat cheeses. Meanwhile, goat milk can also fit into your beauty routine, as it is an increasingly common ingredient in soaps and other toiletries, such as in this Canus goat’s milk soap with marigold.

Related on EcoSalon

Is All French Cheese Organic?

Nutritional Breakdown: Macaroni and Cheese

Goat Milk Yogurt Ranch Dressing

Photo Credit: Carly Lesser and Art Drauglis

The post Should You Be Drinking Goat Milk (Even if You’re Not a Baby Goat)? appeared first on EcoSalon.

This week’s Link Love: cool off with a maca mocha smoothie (but should make it with almond milk?), natural cosmetics to keep you hot-mess free, Amber Valletta promotes eco designers and the question of all questions: why are straight men so bad at oral sex? 

Maca Mocha Smoothie? Yes, please. [via Eat Drink Better]

14 natural cosmetics to keep you hot-mess free. [via Organic Authority]

Former supermodel Amber Valletta features eco designers on the E! Network [via Girlie Girl Army]

Lay off almond milk, you ignorant hipsters. [via Mother Jones]

Why are straight men so bad at oral sex? [via Vogue]

Related on EcoSalon

Link Love: ‘Game of Thrones’ Wine + Fatima Olive Beauty + Apple and Female Anatomy

Link Love: The Many Ways of Beauty + How to Wear Black in Summer + Eco Bedrooms

Link Love: What ‘Office Space’ Did for Humanity + The Tweeting Dress +  DIY Beehive

image via Mother Jones

The post Link Love: Is Almond Milk Wrong? + Eco Designers on E! + Why Men Suck at Oral Sex appeared first on EcoSalon.

Nut milks are convenient to make for the home cook and just a matter of a few ingredients and a moment’s foresight to start soaking those nuts. Skip dairy milk and go nuts with homemade nut milk!

Vegan milks are increasing in popularity — rice, almond and soy milks grace grocery store shelves and come in a variety of flavors and variations. But even though store-bought versions are animal-friendly, they often contain preservatives, sweeteners, and other additives that deem the product over-processed and not the healthiest.

Sure, you could buy a grocery store version of nut milk, but why not maintain its full integrity, beyond being vegan, by making it yourself. That way, you have complete control over what goes into the mix and can make more exciting nut variations of milk, while adjusting the consistency, sweetness and flavors according to your tastes. All you have to remember is to soak the nuts the night before, and the rest is easy.

Soaking nuts is not entirely necessary, but for your health’s sake, it’s worth doing. Nuts contain “enzyme inhibitors”, which stall the nut from sprouting in birds’ fragile tummies after consumption. For humans, however, enzyme inhibitors make nuts harder to digest. Soaking nuts in water for a period of time helps to leach the enzyme inhibitors from the nuts, giving them more life force energy and doing your body a big favor. Aside from remembering to soak the nuts, creating nut milk is surprisingly easy and incredibly rewarding.

The following recipe can be altered according to your tastes. Use whatever nut or seed you like, keeping in mind the different soaking time requirements.

Soaking Time (room temperature):

Soak nuts in enough water to cover them by several inches as they will swell up.

Almonds: 12-18 hours

Brazil Nuts: 12-18 hours

Cashews: 4-6 hours

Hazelnuts: 12-18 hours

Macadamia nuts: 12-18 hours

Pine Nuts: 4-6 hours

Pistachios: 4-6 hours

Walnuts: 12-18 hours

Chia Seeds: 1 hour

Flax Seeds: 2-3 hours

Pumpkin Seeds: 6-8 hours

Sunflower Seeds: 6-8 hours

Basic Nut Milk Recipe

Makes 3-4 cups

Ingredients

1 cup nuts
2.5-3 cups water
1/2 teaspoon vanilla (optional)
2 teaspoons agave, maple syrup, or honey (optional)

Directions

Soak nuts (or seeds) for designated time. Drain and rinse thoroughly. Add to a blender with water. Blend for one minute, or until smooth. Use a cheese cloth or fine sieve to drain and separate the nut milk from the pulp. Add vanilla or sweetener of choice. Use in smoothies, vegan versions of cream dishes, or as is. Enjoy!

Photo Credit: amazingalmonds, waferboard

The post Go Nuts With This Homemade Nut Milk Recipe appeared first on EcoSalon.

Slather on the gravy…2012 style.

In the 8th edition of McCall’s Cooking School, which was published in 1981, an advertisement for Wyler’s Bouillon cubes presented a rice and gravy recipe. Despite its simplicity, the gravy calls for ingredients that put a dent in your diet and health. Here is a better, vegan alternative to gravy that keeps the creamy, buttery goodness without all the preservatives, simple starches, and hydrogenated fats.

Most bouillon cubes are high in sodium and contain monosodium glutamate (MSG). One cube has nearly 600 milligrams of sodium and MSG is a potentially dangerous additive that can cause an host of symptoms, such as heart palpitations, headaches, and numbness. There is often a large amount of preservatives in bouillon cubes as well.

And while margarine is a cheaper substitute for butter, it’s a fat you should steer clear of. During its production, vegetable oils are heated at levels that completely destroy antioxidants in the oils and virtually make them them cancerous. Then the margarine is hydrogenated, using hazardous chemicals that remain in finished product as well as create fat molecules that are unnatural and unknown by the human metabolism. White flour is also an empty substance in the human body and is hard for it to process.

We can do better. By keeping the ingredients real, we take one step, but by keeping them vegan, we go a mile. Here’s a vegan gravy recipe that’ll satisfy even the most skeptical of palettes.

Vegan Gravy

Ingredients:

• 1.5 cups crimini mushrooms, chopped
• 1/2 tablespoon vegan butter (Earth Balance)
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 1.5 tablespoons vegan butter (Earth Balance)
• 1 tablespoon whole-wheat flour
• 1 tablespoon nutritional yeast
• 1 cup almond milk (or any other vegan milk)
• 1/2 cup white wine
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 2 teaspoons dried thyme
• Fresh thyme for garnish

Directions:

In a medium saucepan over medium heat, melt the 1/2 tablespoon of butter and add the crimini mushrooms, salt, and pepper. Stir and cook down until the volume has reduced and the liquid from the mushrooms is cooked off.

In a separate pot over medium heat, melt the 1.5 tablespoons of butter, add to it the flour and nutritional yeast, and stir until evenly combined. This will prevent clumping later. Next add the milk, wine, and soy sauce. Reduce the heat to medium-low and continuously stir until the mixture thickens.

When the mixture thickens to desired consistency – it should drip in clumps, not drizzle, from a spoon – add the cooked mushrooms and dried thyme. Stir over medium-low heat for 1-2 more minutes.

Garnish with fresh thyme and serve aside rice or whatever you’d like.

Bon Appetit!

Images: JB Curio, Aylin Erman

Aylin Erman currently resides in Istanbul and is creator of plant-based recipe website GlowKitchen.

The post Vintage Recipe Revamp: McCall Cookbook’s Gravy (2012 Style) appeared first on EcoSalon.

Revamping American classics.

This recipe is taking you back to the early 1950s, a November 1952 advertisement in Woman’s Day to be exact. The ad glorifies Del Monte peaches by providing readers with a recipe for Peach Kringle, which is essentially canned peach slices baked into cinnamon and sugar-coated biscuits. I’m not going to argue with that combo – it sounds delicious! My challenge in making this recipe modern is to give it a healthier twist.

Canned peaches are peaches sliced and poached in sugar water. One cup of it is nearly 200 calories, near 40 grams of sugar and under 5 grams of fiber. In order to enjoy this for breakfast, it’d be nice to up the ante on fiber and keep the sugar coming exclusively from the peach itself, not from add-ins.

This 2012 version of the Del Monte classic addresses all of these concerns. Using simple and makeshift whole-wheat biscuits and fresh, unadulterated peaches, this Peach Kringle deserves an ad of its own for both its taste and sight. Enjoy!

Peach Kringle

Serves 6

Ingredients:

• 2 cups whole-wheat flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 4 tablespoons butter, chilled
• 3/4 cup almond, rice, or soy milk + 1/4 cup
• 2 large peaches
• Drizzle of honey (optional)
• Dash of cinnamon

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.

Combine the whole-wheat flour, baking soda and salt. Mix until evenly combined. Add the butter, breaking it up with a fork or your fingers with the flour. Pour in the milk and use your hands to form a ball.

Break the dough into 6 pieces. Roll them into biscuit-sized balls and place them equal distance apart in a glass baking dish. Core and slice the peaches into wedges. Disperse them throughout the baking dish and in the crevices between the dough balls. Pour about 1/4 cup of milk into the bottom of the pan – I find that this helps keep the biscuits most while cooking and steams the peaches.

Bake for 15 minutes or until the biscuits brown. Drizzle with honey and give it a dash of cinnamon. Serve warm.

Enjoy!

There is nothing quite like flipping through the pages of grandmother’s faded cookbooks in all their imperfect glory — the worn edges, the rampant sauce stains and the cluttered pencil marks. With their casseroles, ham dishes and affinity for elaborate presentation, the Betty Crockers and the Joy of Cookings provide a glimpse of food before it all became so much more complicated. At EcoSalon, we love good vintage inspiration, even when it comes to food. Welcome to Vintage Revamp, where we take old and classic recipes and refresh them with a modern-day twist.

Images: JB Curio, Aylin Erman

Aylin Erman currently resides in Istanbul and is creator of plant-based recipe website GlowKitchen.

The post Vintage Recipe Revamp: Del Monte’s Peach Kringle appeared first on EcoSalon.

Cake for breakfast? Of course.

It’s a shame that so many cake recipes call for eggs, cream, and loads of sugar, when the same texture – fluffy, moist, flaky, and rich – can be matched sans the heavy ingredients and dangerous boost in blood sugar levels. Sure, there’s room for those kinds of desserts too, but if you’re anything like me and need dessert everyday – that is, require for basal human function –  then it helps to have an arsenal of silhouette-forgiving, vegan dessert recipes on hand.

This vanilla cake recipe is a simple, foundational recipe that can be altered according to your tastes. Like chocolate? Add cocoa powder. Like more texture? Add dried fruit and nuts. Like things bigger? Buy more pans for layering. But what I’ve written here is a mild, flaky cake that is a lot like a soft, light, and slightly sweet bread to be complemented with tea, coffee or almond milk.

I added a personal touch to the cake by baking it over pineapple slices, which add moisture and make for a great presentation. I chose pineapple for its taste, but the diamond-under-the-rough fruit is also packed with immune-boosting vitamin C, promotes healthy gums and teeth, sharpens vision, improves digestion, and alleviates arthritis symptoms.

Pineapple also contains the enzyme bromelain, which helps to break down protein. This knowledge comes in handy after you’ve eaten a hefty meal – chewing on a bit of pineapple can help to make room for dessert, because foregoing dessert is seldom an option. And lucky for you, this recipe cuts to the chase and adorns the top of a vanilla cake with brown-sugar glazed pineapple slices, so you make more room for dessert whilst eating dessert. Pure logic, my friends.

Note: If you want a caramelized effect, use a metal spring-form pan and the brown sugar is a must, since it helps to caramelize the pineapples. I personally like my pineapples to tenderize without becoming too sweet, since I treat this dish more as a “S’pose-I’ll –just-have-this-here-cake-for-breakfast-since-it’s-so-clean-and-healthy” item than a dessert item. For this reason, I use a glass pan and sometimes forego the brown sugar. When I do want the cake for dessert, I warm it up and drizzle with honey for that extra sweetness.

Pineapple Bread Cake

Serves 8-10

Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon brown sugar (optional)
• 2 cups whole-wheat flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
• 2 tablespoons vegan butter + 1/2 tablespoon for coating baking dish
• 1/2 cup maple syrup
• 1/3 cup canola oil
• 1 1/2 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup almond milk

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Coat the bottom and sides of baking dish with 1/2 tablespoon of butter. Sprinkle brown sugar on top, evenly across the area of the dish. Skin a pineapple and cut along its width as thin as possible, making 4-6 discs. Place pineapple on the bottom of the baking dish.

In a medium bowl sift together the flour, baking powder and salt. Using your hands, cut the vegan butter (I like to use Earth Balance) into the dry mixture, using your fingers to create a meal-like texture.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the wet ingredients, except for the almond milk. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix until pasty. Add the almond milk a little at a time until the mixture reaches a thick, but easily spreadable texture.

Carefully spread batter over the pineapple slices in the glass baking dish.

Bake in the oven for approximately 35 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

After you remove the cake from the oven, loosen the edges with a knife and let cool down. When cool enough to handle with your bare hands, use a cutting board to help flip the dish over so that the pineapples are exposed.

The result is a light but comforting bread-like cake that has just the right touch of pineapple to keep things interesting. Cut a piece and serve warm with almond milk for dipping or enjoy aside a morning coffee.

Enjoy!

Aylin Erman currently resides in Istanbul and is creator of plant-based recipe website GlowKitchen.

The post Recipe: Vegan Pineapple Vanilla Bread Cake appeared first on EcoSalon.

Protein-packed and ahead of the grain gang.

I am a creature of habit when it comes to breakfast, but I often force myself to break the cycle for the sake of an exciting ingredient. Amaranth is a new find on my part, and it completely defied my expectations with its uber-light, yet creamy texture. This recipe turned out delicious and is definitely going to be repeated for a high-protein and high-fiber start to my day!

Amaranth is one-of-a-kind. Although it acts very much like a grain, it is actually the fruit of a plant. It boasts a nutritional profile that tallies off both the protein and fiber boxes – it is packed with 5 grams of fiber and 9 grams of protein per cup. It contains up to 30% more protein than wheat flour, rice, and oats do. Amaranth is also free of gluten, which is inherent in many other grains, and it is a great source of the essential amino acid lysine, which is rather limited in other grains or plant sources. Cooked amaranth is 90% digestible, is high in vitamins and minerals and prevents disease, supports the immune system, prevents grey hair, and lowers blood pressure.

It is an unusually healthy food that you should experiment with, and why not for breakfast?

Amaranth Cereal Breakfast

Serves 2

Ingredients:

Serve with fruit. I chose fresh figs and bananas. I also added a teaspoon of no-sugar-added strawberry preserves for some extra sweetness and a sprig of mint for an aromatic touch.

Perfect way to start the day!

Bon Appetit!

The post Recipe: (Protein Packed) Amaranth Fruit Cereal appeared first on EcoSalon.

The frappuccino gets a major health revamp.

While it is high in calories, sodium, and cholesterol, it’s really the sugar content that blows one of Starbucks’s beloved beverages out of the water. Starbucks’s Caffe Vanilla Frappuccino Blended Smoothie contains 310 calories per 16-ounce serving, in addition to 3 grams of fat, 2 grams of saturated fat, 10 milligrams of cholesterol, 220 milligrams of sodium, and 67 grams of sugar.

Sugar will go straight to your head, give you a short-term high, and then leave you lethargic and glum. It spikes your blood sugar levels, leads to weight gain, is nutritionally empty, contributes to candida, and, to put simply, is actively bad for you. If you are going to consume sugar, get it from something a bit more decadent and lasting than a down-in-a-hot-second drink, regardless of how delicious it may be!

My version of a vanilla Frappuccino smoothie is sugar-free, save for the optional chocolate syrup glaze and whipped cream, using a few drops of zero-calorie, low-glycemic stevia instead. The recipe also goes a step further by replacing cow’s milk with almond milk. Almond milk is a mere 40 calories per 8-ounce serving and avoids the common issues that arise when ingesting dairy, such as hard-to-digest proteins, hormones, depletion of enzymes and vitamins through pasteurization, saturated fat, synthetic chemicals, and a boo-ing cow.

Cutting corners in so many other ways, it’s up to you whether you want to indulge with a topping of whipped cream and chocolate syrup. You can find vegan variations of both in your local health food store.

Enjoy!

Sugar-Free Vegan Vanilla Frappuccino

Ingredients:

• 1 cup coffee cooled
• 1 cup almond milk, soy milk, rice milk, or skim milk.
• 1 banana
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 handfuls of ice
• 1 tablespoon cocoa powder
• 4 drops of liquid stevia, or 2 packets of powdered stevia
• Whipped Cream (optional)
• Chocolate Syrup (optional)

Directions:

Combine all ingredients in a Vitamix and blend until smooth.

Bon Appetit!

Aylin Erman currently resides in Istanbul and is creator of plant-based recipe website GlowKitchen.

Image: Starbucks

The post Nutritional Breakdown: Vanilla Frappuccino appeared first on EcoSalon.