Winter Blizzard..

Well.. as you can tell by the title .. there is a blizzard going on outside right now! In Victoria,, where I was told it is not supposed to snow.. lol. This is our third winter here. And the idea that there is no snow is a good concept, however, that does not seem to be the reality, as each winter we have been snowed in pretty good for a time . Mostly because there are no snow removal equipment, and the city has to make do with what they have.
So.. as the hail is hitting the window, and the wind is swirling, the snow covering the ground in shades of orange from the Sodium Vapour lights of the city,,, I will send out a recipe that is nice and warming! It is 4:30 am as I write this, so there is no Vita Mix going to be sounding out,, though it would be nice to have some of this right now.. mmmmm.....
We sold this at a craft fair in November. It was very well recieved!!

Warm Mexican Almond Carob ( or Cocoa ) Mylk

1 1/2 cups almonds, soaked ( you can use hemp seeds, sesame seeds or any other seed or nut if you like)
3 cups water
3 pitted soft dates ( like medjool, or honey dates)
2 tbsp raw carob powder
or
2 tbsp cocoa powder ( you will need to add more sweetener, cocao is bitter).
pinch cayenne powder ( optional)

Blend the almonds and water together until smooth. At this point you can strain the almond mylk and have the pulp strained out to give a 'smoother' texture. Our family just keeps the pulp and drinks it along with the rest. It is delicious! Use a nut straining bag for this, if you do not have one, then you can make one very simply.( I will give directions after the recipe.)
Add the rest of the ingredients and blend until creamy and smooth.

The blending should make it warm, however if you have it in the fridge, you can put it on the stove and warm to finger warm. This is a tricky bit though, you need to be constantly watching to make sure it does not get too warm. The cayenne pepper, if you added it , will keep you all warm inside too.

Makes 3 servings.

I do not have a photograph of the bag, so you will need to use your imagination to put it together! It can be a great christmas or holiday gift. If you make them bigger, they can also be used as produce bags. I am going to make a bunch this year, to give as gifts. I have made them in the past, but too small for produce bags, and was able only to fit a couple of lemons or apples in them! That is how the strainer bags were born,, I had all these wonderful produce bags too small for anything else!

Use an old sheet that is clean. Make sure there is no fabric softener remnats left in it. Run it through with vingear in the rinse, this will help. ( perhaps more than once. We have not ever used fabric softener, but other people do, and we have removed the smell from our sheets by washing them several times in vinegar rinses in the machine.)

Cut out rectangles of fabric the size of a peice of paper. ( regular notebook size) this makes a good pattern. You can make the size larger or smaller depending on what you like, this is a good size though for straining mylks.

Sew up the edges at the top by folding over . Be sure to tuck the unfinished edge in and fold over that to make a 'clean edge'. No need to have bits of fraying fabric in your mylks. Place the two peices together outside in. Then sew up three sides. Turn out and VOILA! Mylk bag!!
You can use an old drape or curtain for this too.

Later today I will make a big batch of this for the potluck we are going to!