DIY Almond Milk and the Importance of Determination {Effort}

I’ve been pretty boring in the kitchen lately—and when I’ve tried to get creative, all I end up with is a big mess.

Since I decided to be “grain-free,” I’ve been using almond and coconut flours when I make things requiring flour (like waffles and….um, waffles).  Almond and coconut flour are both pretty expensive, so I thought I’d try my hand at making my own almond flour.

Kimberly Snyder posted this recipe for almond milk, so I thought I’d just make that and see if I could turn the pulp into flour (even though this is not how the Internet told me to make almond flour).

 

 

 

 

 

I spread the pulp out on a teflex lined dehydrator tray, and it is currently drying out. It’s pretty clumpy so I’m not sure if it will work, but if it does, it should be a very fine “flour.” I’ll keep you posted. If it works, you can come over and we’ll have waffles 🙂

Update: the almond flour turned out amazingly well! I’ve used it for all of my regular almond flour recipes, and it is so nice and silky and fine.

Social Change

I’m pretty busy changing the world lately—I mean, I’m pretty busy teaching nutrition. As I mentioned before, I didn’t accept a few face-to-face class offers for the spring. I’m slightly sad about it—not about missing out on the additional work and time constraints that face-to-face classes entail. Not about missing out on having to go to work at 6pm, or about driving to satellite schools in three different towns… I’m going to miss connecting that way though. I had 30 face-to-face students last semester, and three sent me emails telling me how much they appreciated what they learned in my class. I can’t help but think that not only did they learn useful food information for themselves, but they’ll tell people in their lives about it too.

Then before I know it….people, in general, will be healthier. 

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Determination

This weekend, I’m totally solo—Joe is running the Houston half marathon, my mom is in Florida (normally, I wouldn’t name my mom as part of this equation, but she lives across the street from me so when she’s not here, I notice. I have to check her mail and stuff, and our weekend coffee dates don’t happen). I have big plans this weekend—I’m telling you, BIG. I’m about to close out two classes and add four more (total: 8). I want to re-record my welcome to class messages, set up my online classrooms, and try to make things…new and improved. I have my yoga teacher training final exam to do (which I have not started). I’d also like to clean out my closets to find the socks and shirt I am missing.

I thought I’d have more time now with the extra non-teaching time in my schedule, but it’s possible I need to do a better job at organizing and scheduling my time in general so I can make use of it.

It’s all part of this thing I need to re-focus on—-determination. I forget about this concept sometimes. I still want things to fall easily into my lap, but I tend to overemphasize that at times, and I underestimate that I have to be determined (above and beyond wanting something).

Sometimes, my mantra has been, “Effortless Ease.”

Last week, in yoga, the instructor was talking about the balance of “Effort and Ease,” and this hit me pretty hard. Maybe instead of passive acceptance of all my wishes being granted in life, I need to be determined and focused and put in some effort. Hmmm. I probably also need to get off the fence about things, and invest fully in something. My mom helped me figure that one out:

“You HAVE to jump in with both feet no matter what you do …You can’t have the joy without the risk. And really, {if you didn’t} that {wouldn’t be} living the life WE want to live” (edited to remove the parts that are too personal)

I also thought the following quote was a funny snap back to reality (or about the ridiculousness of trying to control reality or the future):

“Every day we all have one foot in a fairy tale and the other in the abyss” – Paulo Coelho

 

 

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Have you ever made almond milk?

Almond flour?

Are you good at identifying what you want and working for it? Do you ever feel wishy washy or in limbo? 

What are the most recent words of wisdom you’ve heard that impacted how you feel?