Strawberry Nutshakes

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This morning we had a raw-style milkshake for breakfast, there was just no 'milk' in it.  I thought I'd take some photos along the way and post them up along with telling you how to make this for yourself. 

The first reactions a lot of people have when they hear about raw food diets is that it must be very complicated or boring (do you live on salad?), socially isolating (where do you go to eat out?) and they feel that there would be a lot of sacrifices to be made.  There are several blog posts wating to be written based on that last sentence alone but that is not what I am here to write about now.  What I want to say now is that increasing raw foods in your diet can be as easy as adding a raw-style milkshake, it doesn't need to be complicated. Raw foods don't have to be all or nothing.  There is a lot of benefit in adding just a little extra raw food here and there where you can fit it in.  It all helps.

♥  A freshly blended Strawberry Nutshake ♥

This is one of my favourite drink recipes because I love strawberries.  It's really easy too.  Growing up I always loved milkshakes (especially strawberry) but never really liked the after taste of the milk so much.  The milk made me feel sluggish and looking back I now suspect I had a problem with lactose.  When I became vegan I would have a lot of soy milk, but it's now known that too much processed soy isn't good for you and soy milk is a highly processed food.  In the year leading up to my transition to a raw food lifestyle I discovered raw nut milks.  I was in heaven making raw shakes and smoothies with fresh, raw homemade almond milk.

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How to make Almond Milk
To make the almond milk you need to soak 1 cup of almonds overnight.  Just put it all into a container or a covered bowl in the refrigerator.  You need to allow lots of extra space in the container/bowl because as the almonds soak they will expand.

Soaking the almonds not only makes them easier to break down and blend but it also activates the enzymes in the nuts.

Yum!

In the morning strain the almonds, discarding all of the soak water and then rinse the almonds thoroughly under fresh running water.

Put the almonds into the blender along with three cups of water and blend till the almonds have broken down.  Now, using a nut-milk bag (or a piece of muslin cloth), strain the milk into a bowl, squeezing all of the fluid out of the nut pulp.   I reserve the nut pulp for making other recipes.  It can be frozen or dehydrated for use later.

The shelf life of almond milk is 1-2 days in the refrigerator so take care to only make what you need. Almond milk is also excellent on cereal if you're wanting to find a healthy milk substitute. 

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The Nut-Shake
To make the strawberry nutshake photographed here, return the nut milk to your blender (I suggest you rinse your blender first) and add 2-300g of fresh strawberries, 2 bananas and 1 Tablespoon of raw honey (optional) and blend till smooth.

A nut-shake has no syrups, dairy products or additives. No preservatives or E-numbers.  Just whole raw foods bursting with nutrients and vitamins.


As well as being a great breakfast drink, it's also really great to have it in the refrigerator for when the kids come home from school or to have as a mid-morning or afternoon snack.   

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