The Milky Way

Once upon a time, Zeus tricked Hera into breast-feeding Heracles. When she realized her mistake, Hera tossed Heracles away mid-suckle. The resulting back-splash of milk created the streak of stars we call home.

True story. Happened to me twice last week.

... ...

Ok, ok, ok. So maybe I've never been asked to nurse a demi-god. Maybe my boobs haven't created an entire galaxy.

Yet. I'm only 27 - there's still time.

What I have been nursing (yes, I'm gonna run with this metaphor; don't fight it) is a desire for cereal. Crispity-crunchity, eat mindlessly by the boxfull, cereal. There are lots of ways to make raw cereal - muesil, gronola, and oatmeal being the most common - but all involve soaking and dehydrating. Worth it, but time-consuming. I'm willing to put in the time and energy, but a rawgirl's got to have something with which to pass the time.

While my oatgroats are soaking (read all about it in a 'coming soon!' post) I have been occupying myself with various nutmilks. I'm not sure, though, if I like the term "milk." To me, at least, the work milk implies squeezing or pressing (and cows and teats and all that). Nutmilk, as I make it, is more about blending and pureeing. But what to call it? Nutjuice? Nutbeverage? Nutdrought? I'm open to suggestions.

Anyway, both my milk-speriment recipes are altered versions of recipes in Raw Food, Real World. Everytime I successfully make a recipe from this book, it gives me the self-satisfaction I need to be a raw foodist for another week. The authors of this book are so into each other and into their raw lifestyle. It's not exactly what I want, but it's analogous to it in such a way that reading the little stories that precede their recipes and making something edible out of their instructions makes me feel like the life I want is possible.


First up, Creamy Macadamia Milk

1 cup raw macadamias, soaked for at least one hour
3 cups filtered water (I've just been using my Brita)
3 tablespoons agave
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 packet of stevia
(I omitted 2 tablespoons of coconut butter, 1 tablespoon lecithin, and reduced the stevia from 2 packets to one. The former two were labeled as optional [coconut butter adds another flavor dimension; lecithin makes a smoother milk], and the latter was just because I didn't think I wanted my milk to be so sweet)


Blend the water and nuts on high for about two minutes. Add the remaining ingredients and blend til smooth.


Now, I'm not one for hyperbole but this might be the greatest beverage to ever exist, in this or any other reality, since the beginning of time. Seriously, macmilk tastes like liquid cake batter. It is light-years beyond the soy- and almond-milks I used to buy at the store. It makes a kick-ass base for smoothies and Roomie used it to dunk some oatmeal cookies I made as a gift for someone (he was just taste-testing the "burned" ones). Plus, bonus! Macmilk is super healthy for you. Lots of selenium, zinc, and omega-9's. Definitely four stars.


Today I tried a brazil nut milk. When I use new ingredients I almost always head over to wikipedia to learn a little more about it. So here are a few brazil nut fun-facts before we get to the recipe:


1. Despite the name, the largest exporter of brazil nuts is Bolivia. Bolivia nuts. It just doesn't roll off the tongue in the same way.

2. The continued production of brazil nuts is entirely reliant on pristine rainforests in which live large-bodied bees and the coryanthes vasquezii orchid, the scent of which the boy bees use to attract girl bees who in turn polinate the near-by nut trees. Nature is weird!

3. Brazil nuts contain radioactive radium. 1000 times more than in any other foods. Perhaps this raw diet will have the added benefit of finally giving me the mutant powers I have been waiting on my whole life.


Vanilla Brazil Nut Milk

1 cup raw brazil nuts, soaked for at least 2 hours
4 cups filtered water
3 tablespoons raw honey
1 tablespoon vanilla
1 packet stevia
(once again I omitted the coconut butter and lecithin and reduced the stevia)


Blend the nuts and water on high. The next step is to strain through a nut-milk bag or a few layers of cheese cloth. This helps make a smoother milk since brazil nuts have a kind of skin on them that does not blend. However, this is not an essential step - especially if you plan to pour the milk over cereal. I do not currently have either milk bags or cheesecloth so I didn't strain, skipping right to adding the sweetners and blending some more.


Was it a smidge gritty? Yeah a little. But it tasted a lot like french vanilla ice cream and that can forgive a multitude of sins. And like macadamia nuts, brazil nuts are full of selenium and magnesium and the good kind of saturated fat. Tastes great, great for you.


So now I'm the kind of person who makes their own nut milks and keeps it in old fruit jars in my fridge. At least when Zeus shows up at my door with a bastard son, I'll be ready for them. Who needs a goddess' breast when you've got a blender?