Milk and Cookies

Project Proposition:

Make homemade almond milk.

My Thinking:

I want to decrease the amount of preservatives and hidden sugar in my diet. I have been on a recent pre-workout protein shake 2-3 hours before my evening workout. Typically I’ll throw in some yogurt or soymilk, but have been looking for an alternative.

Bingo, almond milk (homemade)! I figure the almonds will give an extra punch of protein in my shake while keep the sugar and preservative at bay.

Solution:

After referencing the website I tried my hand at it.

http://www.noveleats.com/drinks/raw-homemade-almond-milk/

I didn’t use as much water as the recipe called for in fear of over diluting the milk – I only used 4 to 5 cups of water max.

Success or Mishap?

My almond milk came out rather boring, but was perfect for my Spiru-tein Unsweeten Shake. So mission accomplished.

However….

I had a friend that also attempted to make the almond milk this weekend and had to play around with some agave/ vanilla to make the milk sweeter and better tasting for cereal, etc.

Depending of what you’re going to use your homemade almond milk for, I would suggest taking some time to experiment personal preferences. Regardless of however you alter the almond milk, you will have a fabulous by-product – almond meal! Almond meal is great for a variety of uses such as cookies (see below), crackers, bread, and so on.

Hmmm…cookies….

Project Proposition:

Create power cookies out of left over almond meal.

My Thinking:

Not only will I make use of my almond meal, I will also throw in some whey protein shake mix to make these cookies super cookies. Only kicker is I am looking for a recipe either low in sugar or no sugar at all.

Solution:

After much surfing, I found the perfect recipe (hooray for chocolate!) http://kecirohomeschool.com/foodforrestoration.htm

I started by beating the egg in the blender (I was being lazy and crunched for time), I threw in the rest of the ingredients, about 3 tablespoons of chocolate whey protein powder mix, and to thicken things up about ½ cup to ¾ cup of whole wheat flour.

Success:

Sadly, I did not make these cookies in the shape of hearts, just circular. However they came out tasting more amazing than anticipated AND protein packed because of the almond meal, whey, and the egg. Also, I felt better about these cookies being made with honey as opposed to refined sugar.

The recipe only made about 11 cookies, but that was the perfect amount for the boyfriend, boyfriend’s brother, and me to guiltlessly gobble.