Super C Hydrating Fizzy Refresher

This is one of by favorite refreshing pick-em-up drinks. I drink it nearly every day and I really miss it when I don’t. This is one of my ‘happy foods’, combining red bush tea (also known as rooibos) and the fermented wonder-drink kombucha. Rooibos tea is high in minerals, loaded with antioxidants and very hydrating, making it a great isotonic sports drink.

Combine the hydrating properties of Red Bush tea, the vitamin C and antioxidant properties from superfoods camu camu and lemon, and the energizing zing of kombucha and what have you got? Why a Super C Fizzy Antioxidant Refresher of course! Okay, enough silliness. But seriously, this tasty beverage always lifts my spirit as well as my energy levels. It’s quick and easy to make, but so good for you. Give it a try, and let me know what you think.

Ingredients:

2 cups Red Bush tea (2 cups boiling water, 1 red bush tea bag, make the day before and store it in the fridge overnight and it will be ready to make a cool, refreshing drink for you the next day)

1 cup kombucha tea

1 lemon, juiced

2 tablespoon sweetener (raw unfiltered organic honey, raw agave syrup, or raw yacon syrup)

1/2 to 1 teaspoon camu camu powder

1/2 teaspoon MSM powder

powdered organic ginger to taste

dash of cayenne

Instructions:

I keep the red bush tea in the fridge, and make a new batch as soon as I use the tea from the previous day. This way my Super C Fizzy Antioxidant Refresher drink always comes out refreshingly cool right out of the blender.

Add all ingredients except the kombucha tea to the blender. Blend thoroughly until the sweetener is completely dissolved. Add the kombucha tea and pulse the blender briefly to just mix everything.

Serve and drink. Garnish with a sprig of fresh wild mint if you like.

Makes up to 3 servings, unless you love it as much as I do and drink it all!

Apple Cinnamon Chia Pudding

Chia seeds are an exceptional superfood, they are so full of goodness. I’ve had some around for a while and I’ve been using them in smoothies and just eating them dry. I also tried adding a tablespoon to a glass of water and drinking the resulting gel, which was wonderful and refreshing. But I really wanted to do something more with them, I wanted to use them in as a main ingredient in a dish. So I went searching online for recipes and came across a video called “Chiary Pudding” by Kate Magic.

Inspired by Kate’s recipe and all the great things she says about chia, I put my chia seeds on to soak the next morning and came up with my own chia creation that afternoon using ingredients I had at hand. Just before I was going to put the pudding mix into the mould, Suzi (a.k.a. The Constant Gardener) came in from the garden with a handful of the first strawberries of the season. Perfect timing! They really gave the chia pudding an extra lift. Here’s my recipe, along with the video that inspired it and the notes I took from the video.

Ingredients:
1 cup chia seeds
3 cups water
2 small, or one medium apple, peeled, cored and quartered
4 tablespoons water (or as needed, for the applesauce)
2 tablespoons honey or agave syrup
1 tablespoon mesquite
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon camu camu
pinch of Celtic or Himalayan salt
2 tablespoons bee pollen
fruit to garnish, such as berries, grapes, mandarin slices

Instructions:

1. Soak the chia seeds in 3 cups of water for 4-6 hours in a mixing bowl.
2. Blend apple, honey, cinnamon, camu camu, and salt together until it’s the texture of applesauce. Add a bit of water as needed to get the right consistency, I used 4 tablespoons of water, but depending on the apples and blender you use you might get by with less.
3. Add the applesauce mixture to the mixing bowl with the soaked chia seeds and mix together thoroughly. If you have enough fresh fruit you can mix it in as well.
   

   Mixing applesauce into soaked chia seeds

4. Turn the apple-chia mixture out into a silicon mould, or a glass pie plate
5. Sprinkle with bee pollen and garnish with fruit. I used slices of strawberry and grapes to garnish.
   

   Apple Cinnamon Chia Pudding ready to eat

6. Refrigerate or serve immediately.
   

   Apple Cinnamon Chia Pudding ready to eat

Here’s the video that inspired it all!

Recipe from the video:
1 cup chia seeds to 3 cups water (Soak for 4-8 hours and it becomes quite stiff)
1/2 cup mesquite
1 T camu camu
1 T tahini
1 T agave
1 teas suma
250 g strawberries (optional)
Bee Pollen

Mix all everything except the strawberries and bee pollen together. Add in the strawberries and mix them through.

Put into a mould (silicon moulds are good), sprinkle bee pollen on top, and put it into the fridge to set so you can cut it like a jelly, or you can eat it immediately.

Variations – add:

• Lucuma
• Cacao
• Berries

Makes a lovely, quick pudding that’s really sustaining, filling and energizing. Good source of essential fatty acids and good source of energy. Very uplifting and energizing.

A report from the Union of Concerned Scientists on the value of GMO (Genetically Modified Organism) crops is the first to evaluate in detail the overall yield effect of these crops after more than 20 years of research and 13 years of commercialization in the United States.

Based on all the information that’s been gathered during that time, the report concludes that these frankencrops have done little to increase overall crop yields.

While Big Agriculture has touted that GMO crops will save the world, the report says they are largely failing to do so. GE (Genetically Engineered) soybeans have not increased yields, and GE corn has only marginally increased yields. While corn and soybean yields have risen substantially over the last 15 years overall; that hasn’t been the result of GE traits, but due to traditional selective breeding or improvement of other agricultural practices.

The report says that organic and other methods that use reduced amounts of fertilizer and pesticides compared to typical industrial crop production generally produce yields comparable to those of conventional methods for growing corn or soybeans.

Non-transgenic soybeans in recent low-external-input experiments produced yields 13 percent higher than for GE soybeans.

So why does Big Agriculture continue to push the GMO envelope if this is the case? It’s all about control – these companies through their tinkering own the species they create - they are patented.

These frankencrops can then infect traditional crops (that they don’t own). When this happens, they in effect own that crop too. That is beyond frightening and if you think this view is rather paranoid, there are documented cases of this “infection” happening and then the farmer (who is the victim) is then sued for infringing on the company’s patent.

I mentioned a short while ago about the situation regarding our vanishing food crops. Companies pushing GE crops want to see this happen. Control the food, control the world. All the environmental issues aside, this alone is a good enough reason to ban GMO crops.

While that’s not likely to happen, we can do our bit to preserve traditional food crops by planting gardens with heritage and heirloom seeds.

You can read the entire Union of Concerned Scientists report “Failure To Yield” here (PDF).

Michael Bloch
Green Living Tips.com
Green Living Tips is an online resource powered by renewable energy offering a wide variety of earth friendly tips, green guides, advice and environment related news to help consumers and business reduce costs, consumption and environmental impact .

Kale Chip

Kale chips… the raw vegan alternative to potato chips. I’m addicted to them. I eat about a third of them before they even finish dehydrating. Even if I ate junk food, I’d choose kale chips over potato chips, or tortilla chips any day. Yes, they really are that good! And here’s the thing… kale is really, really good for you. Prepared this way it’s easy to eat a whole mixing bowl of kale in one sitting. My dogs adore them, I’m sure kids will too. They’re simple to make too, it’s easy to experiment, and it’s hard to go wrong with them. Here’s the most basic recipe for salted kale chips. So if you get the hankering for something salty, crunchy and oily instead of reaching for the potato chips, try some of these healthy, nutritious kale chips instead.

Ingredients:

2 bunches of kale, rinse and remove stem

3 tablespoon olive oil or hemp seed oil

1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar

Celtic or Himalyan sea salt to taste

Instructions:

1. Mix the oil, apple cider vinegar and salt in a large mixing bowl. It’s easy to add more salt later and adjust it to your taste.
2. Tear the kale leaves up into bite-sized pieces. Think potato chip size, they will shrink a bit once they are dehydrated. Toss the kale pieces into the bowl with the oil and vinegar.
3. Periodically mix the kale as you are adding it by tossing the kale in the oil and ACV mixture. Get your hands in there and massage the oil into the kale. You’re aiming to have the oil and ACV evenly coating all of the kale. It’s easier to do this if you add a bit of kale, toss and massage, add some more kale, toss and massage and repeat until you have used up all the kale.
   

   Making Kale Chips: Massaging the kale

4. Place a Teflex sheet on top of a dehydrator tray and drop a handful or two of the coated kale leaves onto it. Try to spread the kale around so it’s not all clumped together, but you don’t have to be too particular about placing each individual piece because it will shrink and separate a bit as it’s dehydrating.
   

   Kale chips spread on Teflex sheet

5. Dehydrate overnight at 105 degrees F.
6. In the morning, turn the kale onto a regular dehydrator tray to finish it off. Dehydrate for another 2-4 hours until crispy.
   

   Kale chips almost ready to eat

7. Eat fresh from the dehydrator or store in a tightly sealed glass jar to keep them crisp. I’m not sure how long they will keep because they never last for more than 2 days around me
   

   Store kale chips in a glass jar

Enjoy!

Variations:

I’ll be posting the recipes for more flavors soon, but once you get the idea from this basic recipe try experimenting with adding different spices.

• Want it a little hot and spicy? Try adding some cayenne.
• Craving a cheesy flavor? Just add some nutritional yeast or parmesan (if you eat dairy).

You get the idea. If you come up with some tasty variations be sure to share them in the comments.

Wild Borage Flower

Cutting grocery bills is a good way to save money. Most people think this means ‘buy less, buy not, buy in bulk or on sale and day-old bakery goods.’ Other ways are when in season, collecting natural foods. Thinking ahead, where will you be collecting these edible plants? If the lawn has been sprayed with pesticides or weed-killer, it’s no good. But some lawns and fields are excellent sources of collectible wild and natural foods.

Source of Boiled Dandelion Greens With Butter

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A natural lawn that produces decent-sized dandelion leaves is a valuable source of edible greens. Boiled dandelion greens are like spinach but have several times more vitamins and minerals. Add a little cider vinegar added to them while boiling to give it a zest and you’ve got a nice healthy side dish, served salted and with a pat of butter you’ve got something yummy.

Used in Asia and Europe for centuries as a therapeutic herb, the dandelion root is used as a stimulant for the internal organs like the liver and for cleansing the blood. Dandelion greens are very high in vitamin-A. The unopened buds of the flower are edible, too, in salads, and boiled along with the tender leaves. The yellow flowers can even be used to make wine! In case you are wondering; -no, the stems are not edible.

Viola, Sweet Violet

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Did you notice the purple flowers in the above image with the dandelion flowers and leaves? A two-fer! These are wild violets called “Viola” or “Sweet Violet” and are edible too, both the leaves and the purple flowers. The leaves can be used in salads or boiled with other greens for a hot steamy nutritious side dish. It used to be a turn-of-the-century confection; chocolate-covered or sugar-coated viola flowers as a gift for your sweetie.

Tiger Lillies, Buds, Flowers and Tubers

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Do you have tiger lilies growing in your yard or accessible nearby? The unopened buds are edible and have a delightful peppery flavor. These can be eaten raw in salads, or stir-fried with other vegetables. Even the flowers themselves are edible and are often used in raw Asian salads.

Digging the roots of the tiger lily provides you with little thumb-sized tubers that have a sweet nutty flavor. These can be eaten raw, boiled or baked just like potatoes.

Burdock Root

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As long as you are digging, the root of the common burdock is edible too. This very large root can be baked or boiled until tender and eaten like a parsnip. The burdock root is used in a Japanese appetizer called kinpira gob and this mightly root has nutritional benefits also as it contains calcium, potassium and amino acids.

Cattail Stalks, also known as “Cossack Asparagus”

and 

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I am quite fond of cattail stalks. Pulling on the green trunk of stems of a cattail plant close to where it sticks out of the water will cause the slender white stem to break-off and slide up. This reveals a slender, crisp and delicate white stalk. It snaps easily like young carrots. Snow white and with a taste that is hard to describe but perhaps a bit like cucumber. Again, raw chopped in salads is excellent. Pickled, they are excellent and steamed they taste a bit like boiled cabbage. The root of the cattail can be dug as well and baked, and even ground into a form of glutinous flour and can be dry-roasted for a coffee substitute but I have never tried this. Somehow, I draw the line there. Real coffee for me.

Fox Grapes for Wild Grape Juice

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Fox grapes grow everywhere here. Those wild grapes that are exceedingly bitter when eaten raw and thus, often overlooked when foraging for wild foods. A large pot of fox grapes when boiled with a few litres of water and mashed, strained and sweetened with sugar makes a shockingly delicious grape juice.

Wild Mushrooms

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There are mushrooms, of course, best avoided unless you know the safe varieties. Some of my favorites are oyster mushrooms which make a great stir-fry item and flavor for soups. Puffball mushrooms if you find them small enough and have not ‘gone to seed’ are great sautéed in butter. The largest puffball I ever found was nearly the size of a basketball but it was gone to seed at that point. The best puffball mushrooms are maybe around the size of a walnut or slightly larger. Know your mushrooms. Eating a poisonous fungus by mistake is not worth taking the risk when foraging for wild foods. Unless you are certain what you have found–do not eat it. I won’t spend much time going into mushroom lore, it is too easy to make a mistake. I avoid all but the exceedingly obvious edible types.

Purlsane, a succulent Weed that is Great in Salads

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Purlsane is an interesting succulent plant that is often available in oriental green markets, and it is a common weed as well. High in vitamin-C and omega-3 acids, it is an excellent ‘yard food’ to add to your foraging meal especially when steamed with a variety of other purloined yard edibles..

Milkweed Stalks When Boiled are as good as Asparagus

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We also have an abundance of milkweed where I grew up. The unopened pods can be sliced or whole stir-fried and the young shoots too when about as big as your pinkie finger and tall as a pencil. These ‘wild asparagus’ stalks as they as sometimes called make an excellent main dish item when boiled and served under butter. The small young leaves are edible too. Boiled in salt water with oil, salted and with butter they are delicious.

For a Nutty Treat, Roasted Ginko Nuts

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The female ginko tree produces a thumb-sized pear-shaped yellow fruit that is waxy, astringent and very bitter. Its flesh has a distinctly unpleasant pine-cleanser flavor and is mildly toxic. But the nut inside can be cleaned, roasted and eaten like pistaccios with a flavor that is indistinguishable from the pistaccio nut-proper. This is a labor-intensive chore to produce any usable quantity of these and deserving of a separate write-up so for now just know that they are on my menu of wild foods and leave it at that.

There are dozens upon dozens more wild and natural local food items out there. I could go on and on with this list of my favorites! Just be sure to positively identify anything that you gather as being edible, and that it comes from a pesticide-free location away from any industrial run-off or waste. Wash all the items thoroughly and enjoy the healthy meal on the cheap.

Original article: The Salad in Your Front Yard: Edible Plants You Didn’t Even Know About – written by thestickman on Factoidz

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Vanilla Beans

I adore vanilla, the smell as well as the taste. For quite a while now I’ve been wanting to search out a recipe for making my own vanilla extract. I was thinking it might be a bit expensive though, since vanilla beans are so expensive. Well, I’ve just come across a utterly simple, perfect vanilla extract recipe completely by chance… well, okay maybe it was serendipity at play The great thing is it doesn’t look like it’s going to be that expensive in the long run because this recipe makes heaps, and you can keep reusing the vanilla beans to make more.

This is actually my new favorite site, lots of excellent information and great stories here, so I encourage you to have a look around on the rest of the site too. But here’s what you’ve come here for…. the Homemade Vanilla Extract recipe. If you end up making some, be sure to come back here and comment to let me know how it turned out.

Did you know?

Vanilla beans come from a special variety of orchid?

Photo credit: mr.smashy flickr.com

Dogs pick up more toxins than we do

I was fortunate enough to find Dr Karen Becker, holistic wellness veterinarian who publishes so much great information about taking care of our pets in a natural, healthy way. I found her on Facebook and asked her what I could do to help my dogs avoid or neutralize these chemicals. She came back very quickly with an answer:

…if you haven’t watched my “how to avoid summer chemicals” video (or a title similar to that I’d recommend it. In a nutshell: rinse your dogs off ALOT, give milk thistle daily and also consider chlorella, if you think your water also affected. This is what I do for my pets. I live “green,” but I am surrounded by farms that spray and it all ends up in my pond…the lowest point in the community.

Here’s the video for everyone who’s interested. She makes the really good point that your animals can still be exposed to toxic chemicals even if you don’t use them. This is exactly what’s happened in our case, and it’s so important for animal guardians to realize because of course, these chemicals not visible and it’s not always obvious where they have been used.

If you have pets, and want to keep them healthy too I’d recommend connecting to Dr Karen Becker on Facebook, searching for her on the Mercola YouTube channel or following her on the Healthy Pets area of the Dr Mercola website.

Heirloom Purple Cauliflower

I’ve been meaning to write an article on this topic for a while now, but I’ve just come across an article on Dr Mercola’s site that does a great job of addressing the question, I’d like to share some of it with you, as well as some of my recent experiences with pesticides.

Here’s an excerpt from the article:

Pesticides and Your Health

According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), 90 percent of fungicides, 60 percent of herbicides and 30 percent of insecticides are known to cause cancer.

Lab studies also indicate pesticides can cause other serious health problems, including:

• Infertility
• Birth defects, miscarriages and stillbirths
• Learning disorders
• Aggressive behavior
• Nerve damage
• Cancer of the breast, prostate and lymphatic system

Aside from concern about how “safe” a government’s pesticide safety standards really are, the EPA also provides this disclaimer: “You and your family have a right to know under the law that in certain cases, such as economic loss to farmers, a pesticide not meeting the safety standard may be authorized.”

This means you can reasonably expect during your lifetime that you and your family will be exposed to unsafe levels of pesticides in your food, even by EPA standards.

Vegetables and fruits aren’t the only foods contaminated by pesticides. Factory farm animals eat feed full of pesticides, and these toxins accumulate in their flesh over the course of their lifetimes. When you eat factory-farmed meat, you’re ingesting not only the pesticides from the flesh, but also antibiotics and hormones.

This issue has recently had a serious impact in my own life. I live on a 2 acre small holding, in the middle of commercial sheep farming country. Even though we are growing our heirloom fruit and vegetables organically, and buying in organic dry goods, household products and other things we don’t yet produce ourselves, we’ve recently been hit hard by the fallout (known as spray drift) from neighbors who use pesticides such as roundup. Our newly planted heirloom fruit and nut trees have leaf and blossom burn and are dying, our dogs were throwing up all their meals for 2 days, we have been very sick for 10 days and recovering, but still feeling the effects.

The amazing thing is that the neighbors who have done all this damage, did similar last year, after we had nicely asked them to take care with their agri-chemicals to ensure that they come onto our land. We had major damage in our vegie garden (the orchard wasn’t yet planted) and the yard around our house, we were sick for days.

I watched from a window in disbelief as our neighbor, who had appeared to be showing some consideration while we were watching, came right up to the boundary fence to spray thistles (which we had volunteered to grub out by hand for him), with the wind was blowing our way, just minutes after he saw our truck leave. We normally go together, to share driving He didn’t realize that only one of us had left. When he looked up from his spraying and saw me standing in our yard he quickly sped back home on his ATV, not to be seen again that day.

This same neighbor sprays these toxic chemicals, wearing absolutely no protective gear, sometimes from a machine that sprays jets up into the air not more than a meter behind his head.

Having watched a lot of people spraying pesticides in the 4 years I’ve lived rurally and noticing only very few with any protective gear on, I’ve come to the conclusion that in general the people using these toxic chemicals don’t believe there is any hazard involved. Makes sense doesn’t it? If you knew the consequences, would you spray these poisons on a regular basis with no attempt at protecting yourself?

Based on my experiences, and what I’ve witnessed, I really don’t trust that most of the people who are using pesticides/herbicides are going to bother to keep the usage within ’safe’ limits. They have no concept of the dangers, how can safety even be a consideration?

The more I live in the rural community, the more shocked and disgusted I am at the state of conventional, commercial farming practices that produces the food we put into our bodies.

I’ve always been an advocate of fresh, local, organic food. But I too have fallen into the trap of thinking, “it’s so much more expensive, I can’t afford it”. When I think about it now, I can’t help but feel deep regret at the damage I’ve already caused in my body. I try to just let it go, and move forward, but with a new, much stronger commitment to eat the absolute healthiest diet I can. And I can tell you, the difference is amazing!

Eating a raw, vegan, organic diet of freshly picked (you don’t get any more local than your own kitchen garden) fruits and vegetables, along with nuts and seeds and homemade fermented foods, I am experiencing a level of health that makes me realize what an adverse impact these pesticides and herbicides have on my mental as well as physical health.

Having been so healthy through my own efforts, and then getting exposed to these toxic chemicals via spray drift I’m seeing all those old symptoms come back. From the list above I definitely experience aggressive behavior, learning disabilities in the form of inability to concentrate, impaired memory, and inability to focus on and understand what I’m reading. I am convinced that much (if not all) of the aggressiveness, violence and craziness that we see so often in the world today is caused by the pesticides and other toxins we humans have put into the food we eat.

We humans may have no natural predators, but we are our own worst enemy.

If you care at all about your health, or your family’s health, and since you’re here I’m assuming that you do, I highly recommend reading of the entire article:
Most Vegetables and Fruits Have ‘Unacceptable’ Levels of Pesticides. After you do, you’ll be better informed to decide for yourself if organic is really worth it.

Apple Cider Vinegar

Apple cider vinegar is said to be a natural remedy for many ailments. In 400 B.C.E Hippocrates (the father of modern medicine) knew about apple cider vinegar’s antibiotic properties and recommended it to his patients for its healing properties. Since then it’s been valued by many cultures right up to modern times.

Apple cider vinegar has anti-bacterial, anti-fungal and anti-viral properties. Among the ailments it’s said to cure are allergies, acne, high cholesterol, joint pain, weight loss, rheumatism, arthritis, gout, dandruff, chronic fatique, candida, sore throat, gum infection, sinus infection, flu, acid reflux, leg cramps and ear infections. It’s also used to help dissolve kidney stones, lower high blood pressure, and it’s also been shown to help with type 2 diabetes by improving insulin sensitivity.

Even though vinegar is acidic, when we take apple cider vinegar it has an alkaline effect in our bodies. The fact that apple cider vinegar causes our pH levels to become more alkaline could play a large part in it’s curative properties. It also reacts to some toxins in our bodies, converting them into less toxic substances. Our bodies need a slightly alkaline pH balance to be healthy. The typical Western diet creates an acidic pH in our bodies, and many health problems are attributed to this. Taking a tonic containing apple cider vinegar can help restore alkalinity, and therefore assist the body in getting rid of some of the health problems listed above.

In researching the health benefits of apple cider vinegar I’ve found a lot of anecdotal evidence – stories from people of the beneficial effects of taking apple cider vinegar. There isn’t scientific evidence to back up all of these claims, but of course unless the studies have been done there won’t be. Lack of scientific evidence doesn’t imply that it doesn’t work.

There was at least one study done on the effects of apple cider vinegar which used acetic acid – the acid component of vinegars. Now, I’d argue that apple cider vinegar is more than just acetic acid. In fact, apple cider vinegar consists of both malic acid and acetic acid. Being made from apples it would also contain pectin, as well as potassium, which promotes cell and tissue growth. Apple cider vinegar also contains almost all the minerals, vitamins and trace elements that our bodies need. Which leads me to suspect that some of the studies that are being done are fairly worthless exercises in determining the value of apple cider vinegar if they aren’t actually using apple cider vinegar in the study.

Because science allows us to break things down into their component parts in order to understand how things work, I think too often scientists only see things as their component parts, missing the whole concept of the synergy found in nature. Everything has the potential to be more than the sum of its parts.

The health benefits of apple cider vinegar will vary depending on the ingredients and process used in making it. Commercial production can use wood shavings, and other vinegars as the base (speeding fermentation), changing the makeup of the end product. You’ll get the greatest health benefits from apple cider vinegar that is made from organic apples, fermented using traditional methods, raw (unpasteurised) and unfiltered. If you can’t find good quality apple cider vinegar you could try making your own. This apple cider vinegar recipe has recipes for two methods of production. The one which uses whole apples will be of better quality for medicinal purposes, the one using scraps is quicker to make. You could make both so that you have something to use sooner while you wait for the whole apple batch to ferment.

Be sure to avoid taking apple cider vinegar neat (undiluted) as it eats away at tooth enamel and can cause burns to the sensitive tissues in your mouth and throat. There have also been reports of apple cider vinegar supplements (in capsule form) causing permanent tissue damage of the esophagus. So use apple cider vinegar in liquid form, diluted with water.

A simple tonic can be made from 1-2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar, 1 teaspoon honey in a cup of warm water.

Apple Cider Vinegar for Weight Loss and Good Health

Delicious Nut Milk

You can make a delicious, creamy non-dairy nut milk from raw cashews. They can be added directly to smoothies to make them creamier, or you can create this nut milk and use them in smoothies, on raw granola, or other dishes.

Cashews are quite soft and will blend well without soaking, but if you have problems digesting nuts you may want to pre-soak them for 6-12 hours and throw away the soak water before you proceed.

Ingredients:
1 cup raw cashews
3 cups water
1-2 T clear agave nectar, raw honey, yacon syrup or other sweetener
1 teas natural vanilla extract or 1/2 vanilla bean
2 pinches Celtic sea salt

Instructions:
Blend cashews, water, salt and sweetener on high until creamy.

If you don’t have a very powerful blender you might want to use soaked cashews and/or add only half the water to start, and when the cashews are well blended add the rest. If you have a powerful blender, like a Vita-mix it’s easy, just add all the ingredients and blend.

Depending on what you want to use the cashew milk for it may be fine as-is, but you can also strain it through a fine sieve or nut milk bag or piece of muslin to remove the fiber. Be sure to save the nut fiber to use in cookies and other recipes.

Cashew milk can be substituted where I have used almond or other nut milks in most of the recipes here.