Preserving Walnuts by Making Wine

Here's a recipe for Green Walnut Wine. Pick unbruised green walnuts during June. Prepare this wine in June so that will be ready by Christmas. Makes a great gift, too!


Ingredients:
40 green walnuts, in their shells, quartered
5 quarts strong red wine
2 pounds white table sugar
1 nutmeg, grated
1 clove
1 vanilla bean
1 quart brandy


Directions:
Quarter the walnuts. Place in a large container than can be covered. Add the rest ingredients (but NOT the brandy). Cover tightly. Leave in a dark cool room for 50 days, lightly shaking every 2 weeks or so. After the 50 days, uncover. Add the brandy. Let sit for a few moments, then drain the liquid using a sieve and several layers of cheesecloth. Pour the liquid into your prepared (sterilized) bottles - I use a funnel. Leave 1 1/2 to 2 inches of headspace. Seal tightly. Place in a cool dark place for minimum of 6 months. Can store 1-3 years. Refrigerate after opening.


Walnuts are well known for being a great source of amino acids. I wonder if making wine from them changes that? Anyone?

Recipe: Mint Julep, a drink for Kentucky Derby

Another item served at almost every Kentucky Party is the mint julep - an alcoholic drink that makes use of local Kentucky Bourbon and mint, and is quite suited for the Southern and Genteel Ladies attending the racetrack!

Ingredients:
4 fresh mint springs
2 1/2 ounces Kentucky Bourbon whiskey
1 teaspoon powdered sugar
2 teaspoons water

Directions:
In a collins or other unusual/fancy glass, crush the 4 mint sprigs with the powdered sugar and water (called "muddling"). This lends flavor to the bourbon. Fill the glass with crushed ice, then add the bourbon. Top with a bit more ice and garnish with an additional mint sprig. Serve with a straw that has been cut to just barely be above the glass - that way when taking a drink, your nose will touch the mint spring!

Copyright (c) 2009 V P Lawrence-Williams

Recipe: Buttermilk

I posted a recipe the other day for cornbread, and realized that not everyone had buttermilk. Here's a substitution that should work just as well for you.

Ingredients:
Milk (just under one cup)
1 tablespoon of vinegar or lemon juice

Directions:
Add the vinegar or lemon juice in a liquid measuring cup. Add enough milk to have a total measurement of 1 cup. Let stand for about five minutes, then use how much of that you need for your recipe.

Recipe: Electrolyte Drink

Dehydrated due to diarrhea or working hard/sweating? If you don't keep Gatorade or Pedialyte around, try this recipe:

Ingredients:
1 quart water
8 teaspoons white sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda

Directions:
Mix thoroughly. I tried this with a quart bottle, screwed the cap on tightly, and shook. Not exactly the tastiest thing, so I added a half teaspon of lemon juice to give it a little lemony taste. Helped a great deal.

Also heard you could add a package of colored drink mix like kool-aid or even tang to improve taste.

Recipe: Banana-Strawberry Smoothie

Next time you buy bananas on sale, or you get a great deal on them because they're a little "too ripe", get a bunch! (Get it? Er, sorry). When bananas are ripe, peel them, break into 1-2 inch pieces, wrap tightly in plastic wrap, label, and freeze. This will help you make sure you have bananas the next time you want a smoothie!

Ingredients:
1-2 frozen bananas
1 cup frozen strawberries
8 ounces milk (we use soy milk)

Directions:
Add milk to blender first, then add frozen fruit. If desired, add a scoop of protein powder. Blend until smooth.

Add other fruit as desired. Sometimes we take whatever harvests that day: raspberries, blackberries, blueberries, etc. If you need a little more liquid, you could use apple juice too.

Copyright (c) 2009 VP Lawrence-Williams

Recipe: How to Make Oat Milk

Oats help lower total cholesterol and low density lipoprotein cholesterol levels. Here's a recipe for oat milk:

Ingredients:
1 cup raw rolled oats
5 cups water
1 teaspoon vanilla extract or 1 tablespoon brown rice syrup

Directions:
In a large pot, add all ingredients. Bring to a boil. Cover and reduce to simmer for 50-60 minutes. Using a fine sieve or cheesecloth, strain twice into a mason jar, label and refrigerate. Keeps 2-3 days. Use the remainer/pulp for baking.

This is the end of our "how to make ** milk" lactose-free substitutions recipes. You've got the general idea - print out the recipes, and feel free to substitute your own nut, etc. when experimenting with milk substitutions. Try: Peanut Milk, Brazil Nut Milk, Pine Nut Milk, Hazel Nut/Filbert Milk, Macadamia Milk, Millet Milk, Pecan Milk, Pumpkin Seed/Pepita Milk, Quinoa Milk, Sesame Seed Milk, etc.


Copyright (c) 2009 New View Group, LLC

Recipe: How to Make Cinnamon Sunflower Seed Milk

Here's another recipe for a lactose-free milk substitute:

Ingredients:
1 cup raw sunflower seeds
3 cups water
1 tablespoon honey
1 teaspoon cinnamon

Directions:
Soak the 1 cup of seeds in the 3 cups of water for 4-8 hours at room temperature (or overnight). Be sure to cover to keep out any bugs. After soaking, add the seeds and water they soaked in to a blender. Add the honey and cinnamon. Blend for 2-5 minutes - mixture should be kinda white. Strain twice into a mason jar, label and refrigerate. Good for 2-3 days. Use the sediment/pulp in pancakes, muffins, crackers, etc.

Copyright (c) 2009 New View Group, LLC

Recipe: Homemade Soda Pop

We love soda pop but hate spending the money, and hate that the store-bought sodas are so full of sugar. We got to thinking ... what if we could control the ingredients? We did a little research and found these recipes. Can't wait to try them!

Root Beer Soda Pop:

Our VHTS's favorite soda!

Ingredients:

1 teaspoon dry yeast

1/2 cup warm water

2 cups sugar (will experiment to see if we can substitute honey)

1 quart hot water

4 teaspoons root beer extract

Directions:

Dissolve yeast in the 1/2 cup warm water. In a separate container, dissolve the sugar in the 1 quart hot water. Combine both mixtures in a gallon jar with the root beer extract. Fill the jar the rest of the way with warm water. Gently stir until all is mixed together very well. Cover. Set in warm sun for about 4-6 hours. Refrigerate. Serve the next day. NOTE: Experiment with the amount of yeast - too much and it'll taste too carbonated and "nasty". Try 1/2 to 1 teaspoon of yeast.

Ginger Ale Soda Pop:

Great for stomach problems.

Ingredients:

3 1/2 cups water

4 inch long piece of ginger root (peel and chop)

2 tablespoons vanilla extract

3 teaspoon lemon extract

1/2 teaspoon stevia (sweetener) powder

Directions:

Boil the ginger in the 3 1/2 cups water for 10 minutes. Strain. Pour the ginger juice/syrup into a large jar. Add the extracts and stevia. Mix well. Cool then store in refrigerator as a ginger-soda-pop syrup. When ready to prepare as a drink, pour 1/8 to 1/4 cup of the ginger syrup into a tall glass, and add 1 cup (or a little more) of sparkling water. Add ice and serve.

How to Make Sparkling Water or Seltzer:

There are a lot of gadgets on the market to make your own soda pop or seltzer or sparkling or carbonated water. You could get those and use to make your special drinks.

You need two items:

-a seltzer bottle (aka soda syphon)

-chargers (small cannisters of pressurized CO2)

Don't buy the cheap plastic kinds as they'll break easily. The seltzer bottle is like a thermos bottle with a sprayer built into the top. The chargers do the actual carbonation. The charger fits into the spray head. Fill with regular water, snap-on or screw-in the charger. Press the plunger. Out comes freshly carbonated sparkling water. It's not as fizzy as what we could buy in the store, but it'll do!

We've been trying to figure out how to make carbonated or seltzer water without using a gadget, but so far no luck. Anyone know?

Recipe: How to Make Walnut Milk

Here's another recipe to make a milk substitute:

Ingredients:
1 cup walnuts
4 cups water
2 tablespoons honey or 1 teaspoon stevia

Directions:
Soak walnuts 24-36 hours to remove bitter tannins. Rinse. Place walnuts with 4 cups clean water in a blender. Blend on high for 3-6 minutes. Strain twice through cheesecloth into a mason jar, label and refrigerate. Use within 3 days.

This milk is full of the omega 3/6's, essential amino acids.

Use the leftovers for making goodies like bread, pancakes, muffins, etc.

Copyright (c) 2009 New View Group, LLC

Recipe: How to Make Cashew Milk

Here's another recipe to make a lactose-free milk:

Ingredients:
1/2 cup raw cashew pieces
1 cup water
1 tablespoon honey

Directions:
Combine all ingredients in a blender. Set on high to blend into a thick cream. Add more water until you achieve the desired consistency, for another 2-5 minutes. This is a very rich milk.

Copyright (c) 2009 New View Group, LLC

Recipe: How to Make Rice Milk

As you know, Hubby's lactose intolerant. We posted a recipe to make soy milk on January 28, so this is our easy recipe to make rice milk.

Ingredients:
4 cups hot water
1 cup still-warm cooked rice (either white or brown)
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 tablespoon honey or brown rice syrup

Directions:
Whip all ingredients in a blender until very smooth and frothy (about 4-7 minutes). Let it sit as is for 30 minutes without disturbing. Then, very carefully strain and re-strain, pouring the milk through a cheesecloth into a mason jar. Label the jar so when you make other milks, you can keep track of what's in what jar.

This recipes makes about 4 cups of rice milk. Good for a few days in the refrigerator. Use the sediment/remains to your rice recipes, muffins, pancakes, etc.

Alternatives:

• To make creamier rice milk, re-cook the rice with some of the 4-cups of hot water until the rice is very soft. Add the sweetener now. Then do the blender step.
• If you don't like the taste, blend it up with a banana and some berries for a smoothie.
• Soak a cinnamon stick in the drink pitcher. Yum!
• You could add a cup of organic coconut milk to the final product to give it a nice texture.
• To add more flavor, add 1/4 cup ground almonds, hazelnuts or cashews to the cooking rice. Almonds would add more minerals, including calcium, to the milk.

Enjoy!

Copyright (c) 2009 New View Group, LLC

Recipe: How to Make Soy Milk

Hubby is lactose intolerant, so, although we will get a mini milk cow and possibly a goat when we get our little farm, we'll make milk from soybeans that we've grown ourselves. And since we'll probably make a lot, we'll need an automatic soymilk maker (soy milk machine). Meanwhile, here's a recipe for making soy milk without a machine.


Ingredients and Directions:

1. Gather about 125 g whole soy beans. * This will make 1 liter of soy milk.


2. Crack the soybeans.


3. Soak and dehull the soy beans.


4. Clean the soy beans.


5. Soak in water for 6-9 hours.


6. Remove hulls by rubbing in hands (kneading).


7. Rinse soybeans again to get rid of loose hulls. This helps the process.


8. Microwave the wet soy beans for 2 minutes (to destroy enzymes that could make it taste beany instead of milky).


9. Add the soaked soy beans and 1 liter of water to a blender. Grind well.


10. Strain the mixture through a cheese cloth to get the soy milk. The leftover part is called okara and can be used to make bread, crackers, or cattle feed.


11. Boil the soy milk for 5-10 minutes.


12. Cool and refrigerate in a mason jar. Label with date and kind of milk. Use within 3 days.

* Gram is a measurement of mass. There are 4.5 ounces to 125 grams.

Can add a bit of salt, chocolate syrup and/or vanilla extract to flavor the milk. Can also add a few teaspoons of brown rice syrup while warm - stir well. Can use as with any other milk to cook or make smoothies.

We're researching recipes to use our soy milk. Do you have any?

Copyright (c) 2009 New View Group, LLC

Recipe: Party Punch

This is an easy recipe from items you might already have stored:

46 oz. can pineapple juice
46 oz. can red Hawaiian punch
2-liter bottle ginger ale

Directions:
Chill the three ingredients. Just before serving, combine in a punch bowl. Serve with ice or special "ice" (below).

Special Ice:
Open a can of mandarin oranges and/or chunk pineapple and/or maraschino cherries. Place a piece of fruit (or two) in each section of an ice-cube tray. Fill rest of each section with water or pineapple juice. Freeze. Use as ice cubes.

Copyright (c) 2009 New View Group, LLC

Recipe: Refreshing Citrus Drink

This is a great drink to make early in the morning on a Hot Summer Day - chill until the heat really gets to you. Then bring it out and enjoy!

Ingredients:
2 tablespoons lime juice
1 11-ounce can mandarin oranges
1 8-ounce can pink grapefruit
2 1/2 cups water
2 tablespoons sugar

Directions:
Add all ingredients in blender, and whirl until well blended. Pour into a sealable pitcher. Chill until ice cold. Serve over ice and garnish with fresh raspberries and mint.

Recipe: Coffee Ice

Coffee Ice:
2 cups decaffeinated prepared coffee
3 teaspoons sugar

Directions:
Combine sugar and coffee; whirl in blended to get light and frothy. Pour into a large shallow bowl that can be frozen. Cover. Freeze 1-2 hours or until solid around edges only. Remove. Beat with mixer or whisk until mixture is smooth, and has no more ice crystals. Re-cover. Re-freeze for 1 hour. Repeat or serve. Serve in chilled, stemmed glasses, or in lemon or orange shells. Garnish with whipped cream substitute (recipe) and sprinkle with a bit of powdered cocoa.

Copyright (c) 2008 New View Group, LLC

Recipe: A Very Berry Smoothie

Here's a good way to use your canned and dried fruit:

Ingredients:
1 15-ounce can blueberries or blackberries in light syrup, drained slightly
1 cup dried cranberries
1 cup dried strawberries
2 cups apple juice
1/2 cup powdered milk (soy, rice, goat or cow)

Directions:
Open the can of berries, slightly drain, and freeze. Add cranberries and strawberries to apple juice and set in refrigerator to rehydrate and get cold. When berries are frozen, blend all ingredients until smooth. Add more juice to thin if necessary. Serve immediately or refrigerate until ready.

Copyright (c) 2008 New View Group, LLC

Recipe: Tropical Fruit Smoothie

Here's a good way to use your canned and dried fruit:

Ingredients:
1 20-ounce can crushed pineapple in juice (don't drain)
1 banana, peeled
1 cup coconut milk
1 cup dried mango

Directions:
Open the can of pineapple, peel the banana and set both in freezer to freeze (or outside in very cold weather). Refrigerate the coconut milk. When pineapple and banana are frozen, blend all ingredients until smooth. Add water or orange juice to thin if necessary. Serve immediately or refrigerate until ready.

Copyright (c) 2008 New View Group, LLC

Recipe: Cranberry Whip Drink

We were trying to decide what to eat for dinner tonight, and realized we have all the ingredients for the following recipe. The oranges are already frozen, as are the cranberries. And we just bought a case of soy milk as Sam's club.

CAN BE lactose-free if you use soy milk, rice milk, or nut milk

Cranberry Whip Drink:

1 cup frozen cranberries
1 small can mandarin oranges/opened/frozen
½ cup powdered goat OR cow OR soy OR rice OR nut milk
1 cup water

Directions: After mandarin oranges are frozen, add to blender with frozen cranberries, powdered milk, and water. Blend well to liquify. May turn slightly frothy. Add honey to taste.

Copyright (c) 2008 New View Group, LLC

Now... what ARE we going to eat for dinner tonight?!