BM# 97: Week 2, Day 2
Theme : Vegan recipes

I feel blessed that no one in my family has any food allergies. When my niece was born, there was a doubt whether she was lactose intolerant, but thankfully she wasn’t. They had switched to almond milk for a while but now everyone is back to normal milk and a normal diet.

For a lot of Indians, vegetarian diet is not a big deal but switching to a vegan diet is not easy. Given the affinity for yogurt and ghee, it’s a difficult switch. Growing up, me and my brothers never used to drink milk. No coffee, no tea and no milk with the malt based drinks like Boost or Bonvita. But we used to have a lot of yogurt and ghee everyday. My brothers still don’t drink tea or coffee but I started that habit about a decade back.

For whatever reasons you are choosing a vegan diet, milk is the first thing that we miss. Now a days there are so many dairy alternatives you can pick from the supermarket aisle or even better, make your own nut milk at home. Like the almond milk here. And the residual pulp can be made into a healthy bite with dates and oats.

Read on for the recipe.

Almond milk

• 1 cup almonds
• 4 cups water*

Method:

Soak almonds for at least 10-12 hours or up to 2 days.

Drain the water and grind the almonds with 4 cups of water until the nuts are completely mashed up and very smooth.

Strain using a filter lined with a cheese cloth. I used a handkerchief for this.

Gather the cheesecloth around the almonds and twist and squeeze out as much of milk you can.

Refrigerate the almond milk in a sealed container and use with in 2-3 days.

Note:

*You can reduce the milk to 2 cups for a thicker almond milk.

*You can add a tablespoon of maple syrup along with the almonds for a sweetened version.

*The almond pulp can be added to oatmeal,

Almond Pulp Energy Bites

Recipe source: Simple Sweet Vegan

• 3/4 cup oats
• 1/4 cup chia seeds
• 2 tablespoons cocoa powder
• A pinch of salt

• 15 dates*
• 3/4 cups almond pulp leftover from making almond milk

Method :

1. Pulse the oats, chia seeds, cocoa powder and salt in a food processor until they resemble sand.
2. Add the almond pulp and dates. Pulse until everything combines and forms a ball.
3. Take it out and use a tablespoon to scoop out the dough and roll into a ball. I got about 15 balls of this size.

*You can soak the dates ahead in hot water for sometime if you prefer. That would make breaking it down a little easier. Drain and use in the recipe.

*You can add a tablespoon or two of almond milk or water to combine everything if the dough doesn’t stick together.

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing this BM#97