Posted on November 16, 2015July 20, 2017 by Kelly Gibson — Leave a comment

Homemade Almond Milk and Almond Crackers

almond-meal-crackers-plant-based-nutrition-and-fitness-blog

Finally, A Two-In-One Recipe for Homemade Almond Milk with no wasted leftovers! No second guessing.

Homemade Almond Milk Ingredients:

1 cup raw almonds, soaked for 8 hours
3 1/2 cups water, filtered
4 raw dates, pitted
1/2 tsp almond extract + 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 pinch of salt

ninja and nut bag — You’ll need a nut bag and food processor, something like this.

Instructions: After preparing the above ingredients, all you need to do is mix the ingredients on high-speed for at least 1 minute in a food processor until smoothe. (Then, convert to a blender if you want to extract more homemade almond milk.) Use a nut bag to strain your homemade almond milk mixture into a medium sized bowl, as pictured below.

homemade almond milk — Homemade Almond Milk, strained into a bowl. It smells and tastes wonderful!

Squeeze any remaining liquid from the nut bag until most of the milk is strained into the bowl. Pour milk from the bowl, into a sealed tight bottle (like below) and store in the refrigerater for up to 5 days.

homemade almond milk bottle — Here is what this mixture looks like in a gallon jug. All you need is a a 32oz bottle! If you want more homemade almond milk, double or triple this recipe.

Once you store your homemade almond milk in the fridge, immediately move onto the following recipe.

Use your Remaining Almond Meal for these Delicious Crackers!

almond meal crackers — The most delicious cracker recipe in the entire southwest ;)

Sweet and Salty Almond Cracker Recipe:

Leftover Almond Meal from the above Homemade Almond Milk recipe
1-1/2 T Sesame Oil
1 tsp basil (for basil lovers like myself ;) )
1/2 tsp Italian Seasoning
1/2 tsp sage
1/4 tsp thyme

Instructions: It doesn’t get any easier than this! Preheat your oven the 375, then mix all of the ingredients together with a spatula. Place parchment paper onto a baking sheet, and use the spatula to flatten out your cracker mix into a 1/4″ thick paste across the sheet (careful to keep the corners and edges 1/4″ thick as well). Form the paste into a nicely shaped rectangle. Once you complete this, carefully use a sharp knife to press down into the paste to create square crackers! (If you slide the knife too quickly, the almond meal may crumble!) Now they are ready to be baked for 8-10 minutes. Keep an eye on it to make sure to pull out the dough once the edges start to brown.

homemade almond meal crackers — sweet and salty almond meal, sliced into square crackers onto a baking sheet

There you have it! A homemade almond milk recipe with no leftover waste! Complete with sweet and salty almond crackers for the win! And trust me they’re so good you won’t want to leave any behind ;)

almond meal cracker crumbs — The Crumbs are All that is Leftover From this Recipe!

There’s no better way to make Homemade Almond Milk and Almond Meal Crackers :)

Created by Kelly Gibson from Kelly Athletics LLC.

Contact Me for More Dairy-Free Recipes or Info about Plant-Based Nutrition Coaching:

Kelly is a Vegan Personal Trainer and Plant-Based Nutrition Coach, with over 4 years of experience creating plant-based recipes.

These recipes are inspired by:

1. YumUniverse
2. OhSheGlows

Posted on March 28, 2014July 20, 2017 by Kelly Gibson — Leave a comment

Can I Get Too Much Calcium?

Can I Get Too Much Calcium or Should I drink more Milk?

We are all taught to drink milk for calcium. We hear it on the radio, at school, from our parents, and all of the milk advertisements. After years of hearing the same thing over and over again, you’d think we get the hint right? But the latest research raises the question Can I get too much calcium or do I need more?

It turns out, cow’s milk isn’t all that great for us after all. Tons of people have stopped buying milk and are now getting almond milk, coconut milk, rice milk, and other dairy-free alternatives. You may have noticed this trend the past few years is that more and more people are going dairy-free. I’ve written about how drinking cows milk weakens bones, and consuming more than 600mg of Calcium has NO benefit to bone health. Even more interesting, dairy products don’t seem to improve bone health in children, prevent stress fractures in adolescents or women. Osteoporosis is, in fact, best prevented by reducing sodium intake and consuming more plant-based sources of calcium like leafy greens, beans, fruits, and vegetables (NOT milk). So by asking the question can I get too much calcium, the answer is yes.

Unfortunately, milk is in many of our processed foods, put in our meals at restaurants, and even slipped into some of our multi-vitamins and protein shakes. How will we ever manage to go completely dairy-free? Luckily I am a fully committed vegan who knows about all the cool vegan options! Just contact me below if you need more ideas or guidance on your journey to a plant-based or dairy-free lifestyle.

Here are 3 dairy-free alternatives to standard cow’s milk products:

Tofutti: Cream Cheese

Follow your Heart: Vegan Gourmet Sour Cream

Earth Balance: Organic Whipped Buttery Spread

For more dairy-free or plant-based ideas, Contact Me:

Written by Kelly Gibson on 3/8/2017

Posted on April 3, 2013July 20, 2017 by Kelly Gibson — Leave a comment

Do Physicians Recommend a Plant-Based Diet

If you’re Concerned about how your diet impacts your health…

You might be wondering, Do Physicians Recommend a Plant-Based Diet?

According to Kaiser Permanente, a well-known company that publishes medical journals to physicians, has encouraged medical doctors over the past year to reconsider the types of diets they recommend to their patients. Specifically, this article discusses proper diet MD should recommend for diabetes, obesity, and cardiovascular disease. They say “Healthy eating may be best achieved with a plant-based diet, which we define as a regimen that encourages whole, plant-based foods and discourages meat, dairy products, and eggs as well as all refined and processed foods.” The article discusses the positive effects of eating a plant-based diet to reduce cholesterol, BMI, high blood pressure, and glycated haemoglobin (a protein with red blood cells that carries oxygen throughout the body.) The vegan diets used in this study included nutrient dense plant-based foods, encouraging lots of vegetables, fruits, nuts, lentils, peas, seeds, and soybeans, among other beans. It was amazing to read through the results found in a 16-week study, showing that plant-based diets improved ALL of these medical issues better than a combination of medication and exercise. So, do physicians recommend a plant-based diet or are they neglecting to stay up to date on current nutritional research? Turns out, there are quite a few MDs recommending a plant-based diet including the President of the American College of Cardiology! Here is a list of other plant-based doctors.

In this article by The Permanente Journal, I concur with their conclusion that those on a vegan diet need to focus on planning, reading labels, and discipline. As a Vegan Personal Trainer & Nutrition Coach in Phoenix area, I am sometimes overwhelmed (in a good way) with the abundance of new vegan options at restaurants and health food stores. But then, I become stumped at the majority of restaurants and grocery chains who still offer 98% animal-based products. I just took my first trip to Winco Foods in Gilbert AZ today, hoping to find yummy vegan grub, but I left with none other than avocados, green tea, oil-free frozen hash browns, gluten-free cupcake mix for Halloween, and Gardein vegan chicken for my husband to try. I read every ingredient on the labels and leave behind anything containing animal products (this definitely takes discipline.) No worries though, we are fortunate to live in Chandler where there are loads of great vegan options at health food stores, and nearby vegan restaurants in Tempe & Phoenix. As always, we have the world wide web to find a plethora of homemade plant-based recipes to try.

Written by Kelly Gibson, October 12 2014

Considering a plant-based diet? Contact Me for More Info on my Plant-Based Nutrition programs:

Source: http://www.thepermanentejournal.org/issues/2013/spring/5117-nutrition.html, photo from www.natural-health-cafe.org

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