Recipe for Almond Milk!

Here's a recipe for Almond Milk that I found from thekitchn.com   without all the additives! :)

How to Make Almond Milk at Home

Makes about 2 cups

What You Need

Ingredients
1 cup raw almonds, preferably organic
2 cups water, plus more for soaking
Sweeteners like honey, sugar, agave syrup, or maple syrup, to taste, optional
Equipment
Bowls
Strainer
Measuring cup
Blender or food processor
Fine-mesh nut bag or cheese cloth

Instructions

1. Soak the almonds overnight or up to 2 days. Place the almonds in a bowl and cover with about an inch of water. They will plump as they absorb water. Let stand, uncovered, overnight or up to 2 days. The longer the almonds soak, the creamier the almond milk.
2. Drain and rinse the almonds. Drain the almonds from their soaking water and rinse them thoroughly under cool running water. At this point, the almonds should feel a little squishy if you pinch them.
3. Combine the almonds and water in a blender. Place the almonds in the blender and cover with 2 cups of water. 
4. Blend at the highest speed for 2 minutes. Pulse the blender a few times to break up the almonds, then blend continuously for two minutes. The almonds should be broken down into a very fine meal and the water should be white and opaque. (If using a food processor, process for 4 minutes total, pausing to scrape down the sides halfway through.)
5. Strain the almonds. Line the strainer with either the opened nut bag or cheese cloth, and place over a measuring cup. Pour the almond mixture into the strainer. 
6. Press all the almond milk from the almond meal. Gather the nut bag or cheese cloth around the almond meal and twist close. Squeeze and press with clean hands to extract as much almond milk as possible. You should get about 2 cups. (See Recipe Note for what to do with the leftover almond meal.)
7. Sweeten to taste. Taste the almond milk, and if a sweeter drink is desired, add sweetener to taste.
8. Refrigerate almond milk. Store the almond milk in sealed containers in the fridge for up to two days.

Recipe Notes

• Using the Leftover Almond Meal: The leftover almond meal can be added to oatmeal, smoothies, and muffins as it is. You can also spread it out on a baking sheet and bake it in a low oven until completely dry (2-3 hours). Dry almond meal can be kept frozen for several months and used in baked goods.

Eating happy things!

My friend D.J. shared this article from Truth Out with me, and now I'm sharing it with you! Eat happy things!

Why is Non-Fat Milk Blue? WTF?

My mission here is to give you a bit of information, with some humor mixed in, to get you to think about what you're shoveling in your pie hole. Why? Because it's our right to know what we're eating! Because we must preserve our pie holes!!!  In an effort to make our lives easier, we've given up control of our food to factory farms (see previous post) and chemical companies. And you know what??? It's making us sick! Just like when your mom made you chicken soup to make you feel better, the wrong foods can make you ill. This may be immediate, such as a food borne illness or slowly over time, like cancer or MS. Sorry to get all gloom and doom on you, but hey, you're here and this some serious shiznat!
This brings us to today's topic, MILK! More specifically, non-fat milk. First off, milk is made for babies, not for adults! Humans are the only species to willingly and continuously drink milk into adulthood. And with the exception of an occasional dog suckling piglets (google it, you find more pictures than you might think), humans are the only species to consume milk from another species.

...BLECK...Fun facts; the richest milk comes from Weddell seals, with a 60% fat content whereas human milk has a fat content of about 3.8%. Hey, it's hard living out there on the ice and sea. Killer whales and leopard seals tryin' to eat ya! You gotta grow strong and smart fast! Weddell seals are weened in six weeks. Some humans stick around for 30 years or longer....We have no predators anymore, except each other, so we have time to grow. Truth is, the fat found in milk (hopefully when you're a baby and from your own species) is necessary for brain and nerve development as well as the production of hormones. FAT is YOUR FRIEND people! Well, good fats are! That includes saturated fats. Deemed by some as bad but in fact essential to a healthy gut, brain, and heart. Trans-fats or BAD FATS, are any fat that has had hydrogen added to it, hydrogenated!  Why do this to your food?? Because it makes it "pretty"! Because it adds shelf life to your food! Good thing? Think again! We've talked about this, beware of foods that don't spoil... Okay, back to the topic, William! So, the food industry had told you that fat is bad for you and either removed it from your food or added a substitute and told you it was healthy. I mean, what better way to market the waste from cream production than to label it fat free and healthy?
Now aside from being linked to prostate cancer, non fat milk provides very little nutritional value. That's because it's highly processed. Homogenization and pasteurization destroy most of milk's beneficial qualities (this is one reason many people are lactose intolerant, because the enzymes in milk that help you digest it, have been destroyed by pasteurization). And well, it's had it's fat removed. The great stuff that is found in milk like vitamins A, D, E, and K (which is only found in milk with fat) are all fat soluble. That seal didn't grow strong from fat free milk. Oh, and fat helps keep you skinny. YOU HEARD ME! Now I'm not saying go out and get a tub of lard or a bucket of ice cream and eat it (Mmmm). What I'm saying is consuming the right types of fats, such as those found in raw milk  (which is not pasteurized), and avocados  may keep you fuller longer by regulating your blood sugar levels. And if the cows that your milk came from aren't pasture raised, then chances are they came from the Meatrix, factory farms that feed their animals, you guessed it, GMOs.  Cows are meant to eat grass, not genetically modified corn and soy! BTW,  you're not meant to eat genetically modified corn and soy either....
So, if you're going to consume milk, don't buy non-fat milk (we never did find out why it's blue) and please try and avoid conventional milk! Support healthy cows and a healthy you by purchasing from farms you can trust, like Organic Valley and Organic Pastures (for raw milk). There are also dairy alternatives (in case you live on another planet and haven't heard) like almond milk,  and hazelnut milk.

Don't forget to support the Non-GMO project!

The Blue Pill or the Red Pill??

Have you heard of the Meatrix? These fun videos have been around for while and explain in an extremely creative way, where our meat comes from! These videos got me started (years ago) to question my food and read labels. Click on the Meatrix and enjoy!
Another post coming soon!!

Sodium Hexametawatdafukk??

Shall we have a little lesson in chemistry?? I'll try not to make this too boring... Chelating agents are chemicals that bind or trap heavy metal ions. Some heavy metals, such as copper and manganese are necessary for human health in small amounts. Others like lead and mercury are downright toxic. Snooze, I know...Stick with me here. So, these chelating agents can occur naturally and serve important biological purposes, like hemoglobin which has a compound in it that binds to iron. The iron in hemoglobin then binds to oxygen in your lungs and delivers that to your cells. Pretty cool, huh? Other chelating agents, such as sodium hexametaphosphate are used for industrial purposes, such as laundry detergent (remember these chemicals "bind" so they make good cleaners), metal plating, paper manufacturing and scale removal to name a few. Oh, it might also be in your pancake syrup...WTF!?! Yup, pancake syrup....

Crazy, right?? What's it doing in pancake syrup?? Oh, well because it binds to metal ions that bind to oxidizers (spoilers), it's used to make your GMO laden syrup last longer. Yes, your syrup also has our glow in the dark monkey friend GMO. High Fructose Corn Syrup is not only a sugar that's not found in nature, it's manufactured from corn, which is the second most genetically modified crop in the world! Mmmmmm, GMOs and preservatives that double as soap!!!! I can't wait to pour this all over my food!
How about we just try something, wait for it....wait for it......NATURAL ... Although, that word can be misleading. We'll save that for another post...What about something with one ingredient that comes from a trusted plant, the Maple Tree. Mother Nature's sweet nectar, maple syrup! Picked up this awesome sauce at Trader Joe's

Notice it doesn't say "ingredients". That's because there is only ONE, MAPLE SYRUP. The sap from the Maple tree. What a concept... Why do they have to fuck with things? Oh, I know why. Because they're chemical companies that need to sell their chemical and find multiple uses for nasty toxic shit. Multipurpose = more $$$!!! Think about it... But don't think too hard, just buy maple syrup. And don't be a glutton. Sometimes, less is more. Yes, maple syrup costs a bit more than than the chemicals and GMOs. However, not only is it ONE ingredient and better for you, it tastes better! TRUST ME!

What's a GMO?

GMO stands for Genetically Modified Organism. This organism has had its genetic material altered in some way to give it a unique characteristic it wouldn't normally have. Like say, a monkey or a cat that glows in the dark or corn that's resistant to pests. Sounds awesome, right!?! I mean who wouldn't want a cat that glows in the dark or corn that the bugs wont eat? Soon we might have the arctic apple that wont turn brown. Let's hope not.....
Genetic modification has been around since, well, forever. Evolution is natures genetic modification. The real life story of how a few amino acids started hanging out and over time grew up to be sweet smelling corps flowers, friendly wasps,  handsome great white sharks, cuddly lions and even hairless apes ( if you think evolution is still a theory, you've got some problems). Once we humans started to understand what was going on, we decided to get in on the action. Some 14 to 30 thousand years ago, we befriended some lonely wolves. Noticing that they passed on certain characteristics to their offspring, we decided to take advantage of that through inbreeding. Over time, we've ended up with the modern mutants we call dogs. We've also done it with plants. Those pretty roses you buy for your loved one on Valentine's Day more than likely didn't exist a few hundred years ago.
GMOs sound great, right??? So what's the big deal? Well other than the fact that monkeys and cats aren't supposed to glow in the dark (otherwise they would in the wild), apples are supposed to turn brown (be wary of food that doesn't spoil), and if a an insect's stomach explodes from eating corn, what's to say that it's safe for you to eat??

Monsanto, the chemical company and main player in GMO crops, makes the herbicide/pesticide Roundup. In order to sell more of their chemical, Monsanto began genetically modifying crops like tomatoes, corn and soy to become resistant to their chemical and more toxic to pests. Then they began selling their genetically modified crops to farmers, promising better yields when used with their chemical, there by selling more chemical. They also have a patent on their GMO seeds. They "created" it you see, so they "own" it. Because they "own" it, farmers are not allowed to keep seeds for next year's crop. In fact they have to buy more seeds from Monsanto in order to stay in business...More seeds, more chemical...Doesn't this seem a little um, asshole-ish?
                    Below is a picture of a person spraying their crops with Roundup:

Looks totally safe, right?? Oh, and just because it blows up the stomachs of insects, it's safe for you to eat! Hmmm.... Truth is, this isn't Nature's manipulation, it's mans (ask anyone who owns a German Shepherd about the problems they face when they get older). And there have not been ANY significant studies to suggest that GMOs are safe!!! ANY!!! Sounds a little cray cray that our government would allow such a thing to happen, right??? Hmmm.... Well that's all I have for now. More to come on how GMOs are totally safe (NOT) and other lovely things that are found in your food. Like what's Sodium hexametaphosphate?
Follow the NON GMO Project !!!