Tag: almonds

Creamy Carrot Soup – Made with Nut Milk

Chef V’s Tips: Many raw food recipes call for soaking nuts. Why? Soaking nuts (from 2 hours to overnight) improves the flavor and nutritional value of the nuts by releasing dust, residue and tannin into the water, leaving the nuts with a softer, buttery texture and increasing their digestibility. Never use the soak water – always discard it.

A healthy variation on this soup adds fresh ginger and fresh turmeric.

carrot soup

Ingredients

  • 1 to 2 teaspoons coconut oil or cold-pressed olive oil
  • 3 cloves garlic, minced or pressed
  • 2 cups sweet onion, diced
  • 1 1/2 pounds (about 5 cups) carrots, peeled and chopped
  • 5 cups vegetable broth
  • 2 to 3 tablespoons grated fresh ginger
  • 3/4 cup cashews, soaked and drained
  • 1/2 cup Chef V's Raw Nut Milk or coconut milk
  • Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

OPTIONAL TOPPINGS

fresh chives, flat leaf parsley, raw cashews

For a healthy variation to this recipe, add 1 tbsp fresh ginger and 1 tsp fresh turmeric.

Directions

Heat the oil in a large stockpot over medium heat. Add the garlic and onion and sauté for 3 to 5 minutes, or until the onion is translucent. Add the carrots, vegetable broth, and 2 to 3 tablespoons of grated ginger. Bring to a boil.

Reduce the heat and simmer for about 20 minutes, or until the carrots are tender. Turn off the heat and allow the soup to cool for 10 minutes. Drain and rinse the cashews well.

Add the cashews and nut or coconut milk to the soup. Transfer to a Vitamix in batches, if necessary, and process until smooth. Taste the soup and season with salt and pepper, if desired. To serve, ladle the soup into bowls and garnish as desired.

Chef V’s Raw Almond Butter recipe

Raw Almond Butter is delicious, but not all commercial almond butters are healthy. Almonds are definitely one food that you want to purchase organic. When comparing how a crop is cultivated organically and conventionally, oftentimes, the methods are very similar. But not so with almonds. In fact, conventionally-grown almonds, the way they are processed, may pose serious hazards to your health.

In light of this, I always buy organic almonds. And if I’m at a farmer’s market that offers steam-pasteurized organic raw almonds, I go for those, even if it’s expensive. Steam-pasteurization preserves the nutritional integrity of the raw almond butter. Plus, they’re free of chemicals and pesticides.

Once you’ve tried this almond butter recipe you’ll never want to buy commercial again.  – Veronica

grinding almonds

grinding almonds

TOTAL TIME: 25 min
SERVINGS: 5

Ingredients

  • 3 cups organic raw almonds
  • High power blender (I prefer Vitamix)
  • Patience – it takes up to 20 minutes to process

Directions

Process the nuts in a Vitamix for 10-20 minutes at high speed. This is easy, but it takes patience.

After about 5 minutes, the nuts will look like almond flour. Then, after another 5-10 minutes, the oils will start seeping out of the mixture, forming a paste.

Soon after, the raw almond butter magically appears! Store it in a sealed mason jar. Your raw almond butter will keep in the refrigerator for up to a month.

That’s the simple way to make raw almond butter at home.

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