My new obsession: BRAZIL NUT MILK!

It is once again my favorite time of year! I love the crisp, fresh air of fall, the cool mornings snuggled under a mountain of covers, my first trips in the evenings back to the sauna and steam room, the changing of the landscape to the most vibrant and jeweled earth tones, the digging in the bottom of my drawers to once again find socks, the excitement of planning weekend getaways, the over-indulgence in vegan treats at all of the fall festivals, the new yoga schedule, finding my hoodie for trapeze class, the fall campus, once again indulging in hot baths and tea late at night. There are so many things that I love about fall that I secretly long for the end of summer each year, even though this means that my travels will once again come to an end. One of the things that I love most about fall is a renewed interest in cooking, especially soups, and baking. During the summer, my fridge is stuffed with fresh produce, and I prefer to have lighter fare such as salads and smoothies. In particular, I love my green smoothies, which I make with either green juice, fresh spinach or kale, or frozen wheat grass. But when the weather starts to turn, I tend to feel cold all of the time. My nose turns to an ice cube and my fingers and toes feign frostbite. This is when I need to ditch my mostly raw foods approach to food and turn the stove top and the oven back on. I have also been busy making some new juices to ward off the falls colds going around campus, and have become very savvy at making my own nut milks.

I have really been craving three things recently: 1) coffee (which is unusual for me) 2) chocolate (not unusual at all) and nut milk. I have been buying cashew milk from Blue Print, but I have also made my own in vanilla and pumpkin flavors. I also combine the cashew milk with a decadent espresso from Whole Foods, pumpkin butter and pumpkin pie spice to make my own mocha lattes in the morning. I also recently made my own Brazil nut milk, and absolutely loved it! It is rich and creamy and I can't get enough of it!

Recipe

2 cups Brazil Nuts (from bulk section)

6-8 cups filtered water

1 tbsp scraped vanilla beans or vanilla bean powder

1 tbsp allspice

Raw agave nectar or raw honey to taste

Equipment

High-speed blender or Vitamix

Nut milk bag or strainder

Directions

Soak the Brazil nuts overnight in bowl covered with at least one inch of water. In the morning, drain the liquid and put softened nuts in the blender with filtered water, spices and sweetener. Blend on high speed for 30 seconds to one minute, then strain to separate liquids from solids.You can reserve the solids for baking or to make pancakes (I am working on a recipe for that now!). Refrigerate the milk until chilled. Enjoy and try not to become addicted!

Makes ~ 20 oz

I usually just drink my nut milk straight from the jar, but I found a recipe on the web for a coffee, cinnamon and cardamom granola with hazelnuts, so I made this and threw in some fresh raspberries- delish!!

Coffee Cardamom Cinnamon Granola, courtesy of 80/20 Blog