Chocolate Macadamia Milk

March 27, 2015March 27, 2015 / ktbuchs87

Who doesn’t like chocolate milk? It’s chocolate that you can drink! When I was younger, we had a glass of milk with every meal but chocolate milk was a special treat. We didn’t buy it often and when my mom did let us have it she would mix it with regular milk to make it last longer and cut down on the amount of sugar we were consuming. Pretty sneaky mom!

I haven’t had regular chocolate milk in years due to my lactose intolerance and the fact that there really is a lot of sugar in those drinks. But I had a hankering the other day and I decided to try my hand at making a nut milk version. Now I will say that I don’t have a fancy high powered blender like the Vitamix or Blendtec but I was still able to make a decent nut milk with my old Ninja blender. So those of you who are lucky enough to possess those amazing blenders this will be a breeze for you and to those of you like me it will just take a little extra time.

You will have to soak the nuts for at least 6 hours so make sure that you plan ahead a little. Otherwise this recipe comes together fairly quickly and will last for about a week if kept in the fridge. Let’s get to that chocolate milk!

Chocolate Macadamia Milk

1 cup raw macadamia nuts
3 1/2 cups water
2-3 tbsp honey or maple syrup (could also use 5-6 dates)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp salt
4 oz dark chocolate (at least 70% or darker)
cheese cloth or nut milk bag

1. Soak the nuts for at least 6 hours. Drain them and place into blender and pulse a few times to break up the nuts.

2. Add in water, sweetener of choice, vanilla, and salt. Blend everything until it is smooth and creamy. High powered blenders will take less time, regular blenders will take a bit longer.

3. Place cheesecloth/nut milk bag over a large bowl and pour nut milk into the bowl. Carefully squeeze out all of the liquid until you just have pulp left in the cloth or bag. (Save the pulp to use in baking/cracker/smoothies/or as bread crumbs) Pour the milk into a medium saucepan.

4. Turn heat to medium low and add the dark chocolate to your milk. Constantly stirring the milk, melt the chocolate completely. It may look like the chocolate isn’t going to incorporate into the milk, but don’t worry. Just make sure there are no huge chunks left.

5. Once everything is melted, using either an immersion blender or blender, blend until the chocolate is fully combined. Your milk should turn brown like regular chocolate milk and there shouldn’t be any pieces left.

6. Pour your milk into a container and let it cool completely. Store in the fridge and it should keep for up to 5 days.

I love how thick and creamy this milk turned out and it really hit the spot. You could use this to dunk cookies or pour over cereal for an extra treat. You can also play with the amount of sweetener you use to fit your taste. I used the lower end because I didn’t want it super sweet but you can use more if you wanted.

I hope you have a great weekend and I will see you back on Monday!

Fusilli N’ Cheeze

March 20, 2015March 20, 2015 / ktbuchs87

Part of my palate is still a small child and one of my favorite comfort foods is mac and cheese. I used to love eating that wonderful blue box delicacy, just like most kids in America. I can’t remember the last time that I had “regular” mac and cheese and given the recent recall on top of the fact that there isn’t any real cheese in there, I don’t think I will be indulging any time soon.

There are plenty of dairy free versions of mac and cheese out there, I actually have two of my own versions on the blog. I like those versions, but I was missing the smooth and creamy texture of the boxed variety. Many versions use cashews in the sauce and because I don’t have a fancy schmancy high powered blender, I usually end up with a slightly grainy texture. It tastes like mac and cheese but it doesn’t feel like mac and cheese. So I set out to make a “cheese” sauce that didn’t use cashews for those of us who have to suffer without a Vitamix or Blendtec.

While this does have a cheesy taste to me, don’t expect it to be an exact replica of Kraft or any other regular boxed version. It will have that nice and creamy texture though and that is enough for me!

Fusilli N’ Cheeze

1 package of brown rice fusilli (I get mine from Trader Joes. It’s awesome!)
1 cup non-dairy milk (I have used coconut and almond milk with great results)
1 1/4 cup water
3/4 cup nutritional yeast (this is your cheese flavor so if you want a cheesier taste, use up to 1 cup)
3 tbsp tapioca starch (you can also use corn starch)
1 tbsp lemon juice
2 tbsp tahini (you can also use sunflower seed butter)
1 tsp miso (I used red but you can use white or whatever you have on hand. if you don’t have miso, use extra salt)
1 tsp brown mustard
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp smoked paprika
1/4 tsp turmeric

1. Cook the pasta according to the directions on the package. While that is cooking, prepare the sauce.

2. Ready for this? Put all of the ingredients into a blender and blend until everything is combined. It will seem really watery but don’t worry, it’s going to thicken.

3. Put the pasta back into the pot you used to cook it in and pour the sauce over the noodles. Stir everything to coat the pasta and turn the heat on to medium high heat. Keep stirring and as the sauce heats up it will begin to thicken. Cook for about 5 to 10 minutes.

The other awesome thing about this? It takes less than 30 minutes to make. So when you have the urge for some good old comfort food you can whip it up just as fast as the box kind. This version though won’t have fake chemicals or pieces of metal in it.

Happy first day of Spring (even if it doesn’t feel like it) and have a great Friday!

Craving Conundrum

August 5, 2014 / ktbuchs87

The word craving can take on a positive or negative meaning. It all depends on your view. Many times it takes on a negative connotation. It’s something that needs to be controlled, fought, and denied every minute of every day. You have to have willpower to deal with cravings and you have to be strong to fight them off when they arise. This is how I used to view cravings.

I have had a complicated relationship with food. I have had many food “demons” to deal with along the way and I have had to have an incredible amount of willpower when it came to changing my eating habits. Because of my past experience with this, cravings were always something that were bad. I felt that a craving was a moment of weakness that had to be fought and avoided at any cost. To cave would mean I was weak and I would beat myself up. It was a vicious cycle of feeling out of control and not feeling strong enough to deny my food urges. Clearly it wasn’t working out for me.

I know many of you might feel that way too. Maybe you have had a rough time with food and you have come to view a craving as a bad thing. While I don’t like to place the blame on too many outside sources, the media does have a part in the way we view cravings. So many fitness and health websites or magazines put out articles with tips and tricks to fight your worst craving. They tell you if you have enough willpower you can fight off the evil craving and stick to your healthy ways. I gobbled those articles up and tried all their tricks like counting to a hundred and waiting for the craving to pass or drinking a glass of water when I got a craving. Sometimes they worked and sometimes they didn’t. Everytime they didn’t I felt like there was something wrong with me. Why could I not control myself? What was wrong with me?

Nothing was wrong with me. I’m human. It isn’t weak to have a craving for ice cream or pizza, that doesn’t somehow make me a failure. Once I realized this, I started to work on changing my idea of craving. I read more scientific articles and journals about cravings rather than relying on the grocery stand magazines. Turns out that researchers are finding that craving certain foods might be your bodies way of telling you that you are deficient in a certain nutrient. Nobody goes around saying, “Man, I’m really craving a big bowl of brussels sprouts!” They do say that they could really go for some chocolate or potato chips or pizza. Well, a craving for chocolate might mean that you are low on magnesium and should eat some nuts. A craving for potato chips could be a sign that you need some calcium and should fill up on dark, leafy greens. Our bodies are amazingly complex and for the most part are able to tell us exactly what they need. Our job is to learn how to listen and interpret those signals properly, then act accordingly. Cravings are one of the bodies signals that it needs something. The problem occurs when we misinterpret that signal and think that because we crave chocolate ice cream we need to eat that chocolate ice cream. In reality, we need to learn what our body is really saying when it craves chocolate ice cream.

You are not less of a person because you crave “bad” things. You are not a failure if you resolve your craving for a cookie by eating a cookie and you are not doomed to be a slave to your cravings forever. Start to look past the initial craving and see what it is that you really need. If you are constantly craving one certain thing, meet with your doctor or other health professional to see if you are nutrient deficient. Then find the healthier alternative to your craving. Once you start learning what you really need and making the right choices, it will be easier to interpret your cravings and get the things that your body really needs. It will be tough at first to not eat the potato chip and do the work to find out what you’re actually craving. But the more and more you do it, the easier it becomes. If you slip up, don’t beat yourself up. Remember you are a human being and no one is expecting you to be perfect. Being healthier is all a learning process, one that lasts a lifetime. It’s ok to make mistakes and fall. How you react and what you do to change after those mistakes says more about you than the actual mistake. Pick yourself back up and get right back to it!

What do you crave?

October 15, 2012October 15, 2012 / ktbuchs87

Cravings. We all get them at one point or another. Some of us are better at controlling them, and then some of us give in and indulge in whatever it is we want. When trying to eat a healthy diet it seems that cravings are what crush our resolve and pull us back to our old habits. Why do we crave certain things? What is going on in our brain/body that we just HAVE to have that piece of chocolate or those BBQ potato chips? Is there any way to break free from cravings?

There are a few reasons that we experience cravings. First, it is important to distinguish cravings from overeating. When you have a craving, you have a taste for a specific type of food. You want something salty like pretzels or something sweet like a candy bar. Overeating is eating mass amounts of food no matter what type. So why do we get cravings? One of the biggest reasons is emotion. When you eat something that you love, like your favorite home-cooked meal, the pleasure centers in your brain light up. Your brain makes that connection that this food not only tastes good it gives you a good feeling. When you are stressed, or sad, or anxious, your brain likes to remind you that there is a quick way to feel better. It wants you to eat that slice of apple pie because that will release those good feeling hormones that will lift your mood. Unfortunately, eating that apple pie will not help your healthy eating habits and then you feel guilty for indulging. If only you could explain this paradox to your brain….

Another reason that we get cravings is a restrictive diet. People who follow certain diets such as low carb or low fat tend to have very intense cravings. That is because your body is missing something that it needs, and when your body needs something it WILL let you know. In the case of food, that means a big ol’ craving. With this type of craving your body is trying to let you know it really needs some certain mineral or vitamin and you need to find some source of it pronto. This often means grabbing some junk food, mostly because it is quick. In reality there are other easy ways to get what your body craves if you know how to interpret your craving. This is a really nice chart that shows what craving “bad” food really means.

How are we suppose to deal with these cravings? As anyone who has experienced a craving knows, it is hard to fight it when you are caught up in it. Well this is the first way that you can fight a craving, don’t let yourself get to the point of craving food. Thanks Captain Obvious, I’ll make sure I try that next time. But seriously, take steps to make sure you aren’t getting to that desperate moment of craving when your willpower is at its weakest. Make sure you’re eating a balanced diet. Include a variety of foods so that you know you are getting all the vitamins and minerals your body needs. Eating the exact same thing everyday might be easy and convenient, but this can sometimes become problematic because you limit the amount of nutrients your body is receiving. Mix it up, try a few new recipes and add variety to your eating. Learn to listen to your body. If you feel a craving coming on, stop and first make sure that you aren’t just thirsty (dehydration feels a lot like hunger) and then determine what it is you are craving. Use that chart and see what the healthy version of your craving is and have that instead of the huge slice of cake. Have a list of other activities that will distract you and your brain from your craving. Go for a walk or maybe call a friend and chat for awhile (hard to eat chips while you’re talking on the phone). Anything to get your brain focused on something else other than your craving. Find healthy alternatives to your junk food. Yes, it would be nice if we could all have the willpower to say no to a chocolate bar and choose a handful of raw almonds. But sometimes you really need that bar of chocolate. There are tons of blogs/recipes out there that have healthy versions of your favorite junk food. One of my favorites is The Gracious Pantry. There are tons of recipes for any craving you have. Healthy chocolate bars, caramel popcorn, potato chips and a ton more. Do a little research, find a recipe, and give it a shot. Will it taste exactly the same? Maybe not, but a lot of them are just as good or better and won’t leave you feeling guilty or depressed.

The biggest thing to know about cravings is to try to remain calm when dealing with them. Take a deep breath and think about what it is you really want. If you are trying to lose weight, focus on how much progress you have made and how giving into your craving will set you back. If you are just trying to maintain a healthy lifestyle, think to how you feel after eating junk compared to how you feel after you eat a healthy balanced meal. Will you be perfect every time and resist? No. We are human and sometimes we falter. But you can learn something from those weak times and use it to make your resolve stronger for next time. You are in control of your body and you CAN overcome any obstacle!