Guys I kid you not, this was by far the easiest and best thing I have EVER made. The problem is, is that the pictures do not do this justice. This was just the right amount of sweet and so nutty and spreadable. I refused to put powdered sugar in it (No refined sugars please) that is supposed to give it a creaminess like the Nutella brand but the texture did not compromise the insanely delicious flavor.
Read MoreEVERGREEN SYRUP!
So visiting my best friend in Canada was AMAZING! We did so many things that was needed for a vacation away from NYC. We went to a Nordic spa in the mountains, took long walks and trail runs through her acreage in the Canadian woods. We played card and read books by the fire. We made bonfires and most importantly made delicious drinks for the bonfires also!
This is a quick recipe for Pine syrup. We actually accidentally picked it from Spruce, so either would work but Pine has a bit more distinct flavor! It can pair well with a ton of different alcohols. We used gin with tonic and you can also use a whiskey, rum galore! A hot tea would be really nice with it too.
What you'll need to make the syrup
-3 cups water
-2 cups of any of these > sugar/maple syrup/honey
-1/2 cup pine needle
What to do!
1. Bring your water to a boil and then put your pine needles in along with your sugar
2. Heat it on low for 2 hours
3. Strain through cheese cloth or regular strainer
4. Mix with favorite alcohol or tea (about 1 oz or so depending on preference)
5. Enjoy and share!
Compost your Pine needles, sit by the fire and enjoy!
So remember the post I wrote regarding my zero waste home made almond milk? One of the things I wrote about is keeping that almond pulp after you milk it! The picture to the right is the milk and the leftover pulp. Honestly if you were to rewind a few months ago and I did make almond milk, I would have just pitched the pulp because I would have no time or thought to keep it. With my new mindset and constant determination to use everything I own and waste nothing, it brings me so much joy to find different uses for things that seem to be "trash".
Which brings me to this post! We are gonna make almond flour with our pulp! Then in my next post we are gonna make insanely moist banana bread with it! I spent about $15 every week or two on almond flour with plastic packaging that wasn't recyclable. Now I find that this new method is way more cost efficient and SO much tastier! It is only two easy steps! Dry it out (bake it) and pulverize to a powder.
1. I saved pulp from two batches of almond milk so I had about 2.5 cups worth. In order to dry it out spread it on a baking sheet. For my birthday my best friend, Olivia bought me an entire set of waste free equipment goodies, including a eco friendly baking mat that I am so thankful for. She got it at a local artisanal shop here in Brooklyn but there is a similar one here. After you spread it out, put it in the oven on the lowest setting. I do 200-250 degrees for about an hour, checking on it and sometimes rotating the pulp every 20-30 minutes. You may have to do it for longer if you do not have all the moisture out.
Before the oven.
After the oven
You can click on the photos to make them bigger but you see the difference in color and texture in each one. The left one is fluffy and moist and the right is crispy and brown. That is what we want - to take ALL the moisture from the pulp.
2. Blend it up! Any machine you have that will make it into a fine powder is great.
You did it! Store it in an airtight mason jar or another ecofriendly container. Now prepare yourself for breads, cookies, pancakes and so many other things to fill your sweet soul.
So when I decided to go trash free, there was a lot of built up excitement. Excited thinking about everything I could replace, followed by a slight doomed feeling thinking of the things I just couldn't do without and no hope of replacing. Then when I managed these feelings and ideas, I realized not only can I replace the impossible things, but probably make them way better. With that being said, I set out to find an alternative to store bought almond milk. I use almond milk every morning for my smoothie ritual so this was important to me.
The first thing to do is make sure you buy almonds in bulk! Better yet, bring your own cloth bag, that you can get here! These bags come in many different sizes so all your bulk shopping dreams can come true. I buy raw organic almonds. Why? Because organic means not used with pesticides/herbicides. Almonds easily absorb these chemicals because of their high oil content. When I buy, I also make sure to buy about two pounds worth just so you aren't taking multiple shopping trips for it. This amount lasts me about a month!
I searched high and low for recipes and the foundation of all of them are the same, but you can just tweak a few things based on preference. I personally wanted thick almond milk and I found an amazing recipe which I changed a bit to my preference. You can find it here! Below is my version of simple and creamy almond milk. Lets get started!
Kitchen tools:
Blender/vitamix/food processor (any of these work)
A small/medium sized pot
Cheese cloth (what I use) or nut bag straine
Ingredients:
1. Put 1.5 cups of almonds in a container and completely immerse in water. Let sit for 8-12 hours. You can do a bit less (no less than 6). The longer you leave it, the stronger the almond flavor.
The photo shows the jar I used to submerse and the container I will use to keep in the fridge!
2. After you have waited the allotted time, its time to whip out all your goods!
All my jars are unlabeled because they are rotating jars, meaning I will use them constantly for different bulk things. Starting from left I have coconut sugar, vanilla, salt, and maple syrup, and in the front I have my cheese cloth.
3. Strain and rinse the almonds well. Throw almonds with your dash of salt and 5-6 cups of water in the food processor or any blender you have for a few minutes. Let them blend until you see some nice froth. After its blended up, you now leave it and let it steep (about 10 minutes)! This is an important part because this is where your flavor will become stronger. I stir it mid-steep with a wooden spoon.
4. While you are letting that steep you can set up your jar! You can use a bowl too. Whatever is easiest to strain. At the bottom of my jar I put in the vanilla, 1/4 cup coconut sugar and dash of maple syrup.
Then pour a little at a time making sure it won't overflow. You'll have to squeeze strain the pulp with your hands every so often making sure all of the milk is out of the cheese cloth. I'll remove some almond pulp out of the cheese cloth every now and then so it doesn't get backed up. Save the almond pulp in another jar for later use (pancakes, almond flour, breads etc…)!!
5. By now you should have a separate jar with the almond pulp and your jar of fresh almond milk! Make sure you stir in the sugar.
Now if you want it thick listen up!
6. Pour half of the milk into a small sauce pan and put on medium high. Monitor it carefully because right when it starts to form small bubbles along the sides of the pan (almost boiling) then its done. The point is to thicken it up just right, so don't let it start to really boil. When its forming small bubbles, take it off immediately and pour it back in with the other half of the milk! Let it sit out until room temperature.
You did it!!!! Enjoy!!