Banana Milk

Have you ever made banana milk? It's really good! There are many variations as to how to make it. With water, with milk, with a plant based milk. I've always made mine with cold water from the refrigerator. 

You can drink the banana milk as is or pour over cereal and or oatmeal. You could also add other frozen fruits and or nuts.

Ingredients:

1 frozen banana
1 cup of water -  or liquid of your choice
dates - optional
fresh or frozen fruit - optional
vanilla - optional 
cocoa or cacao for a chocolate milk 

Add ingredients to a blender, blend until smooth.
 
For the photo above, I added one peeled, sliced, frozen banana, 1/2 cup of peeled, chopped, frozen mango and a handful of fresh blueberries, you could use frozen if you prefer, to my mixer. I added about 1/2 cold water and blended until thick, smooth and creamy. I like the little specs the blueberries created in this one. Yum!  

For this one I added 1/2 cup each of frozen blueberries, frozen mulberries, pineapple and one chopped, frozen banana. I added just enough pineapple juice and water so the mixer could blend to a thick consistency.
Delicious!

Oat Milk

Have you tried making oat milk? I just love how easy it is
to make this tasty, dairy free, milk alternative. I've been experimenting with different ingredients. So far my favorites are blueberry, chocolate and vanilla. Yum. 

There are several online places that state to soak the oats for several minutes before blending, then some sites that say that soaking will make your milk slimy. I have tried both ways and do find the soaked oats to be a little slimy, so I chose to not soak. 

After trying different ways of straining, I have found that using a clean dishcloth works the best. I do however use a strainer for that first straining as that gets the biggest amount of blended oatmeal out making the next 2 strainings easier.


Ingredients: 

1 cup of old fashioned oats
4 cups of water
dish cloth
high speed blender
fine mesh strainer
small bowl
dates for sweetener - optional
vanilla - optional
fresh fruit - optional
spices - optional
cacao or cocoa - optional
 
Add 1 cup of old fashioned oats, 4 cups of water and any other  
ingredients to your blender and blend for 30 to 45 seconds, strain 
through a fine mesh strainer. 

oats, frozen blueberries, cacao

Next, wet the dishcloth with water, squeeze as much water out as you can. Lay the cloth across the top of a small bowl. Slowly pour the oat milk into the enter of the cloth, gather the ends and squeeze out the liquid into the bowl. Repeat until all the milk has been strained. Rinse the cloth good and repeat the straining one more time.

Refrigerate until chilled then enjoy. Drink it plain, pour over cereal, add to your coffee. I use it for making chia pudding. Yum. So many possibilities. 


The milk does separate as it sits in the refrigerator. That doesn't change the flavor at all. Just give it a good shake and you're good to go. Should be used within 3 days.

cacao, blueberry, cinnamon vanilla, oat milks

Infusions with Nourishing Herbs

Infusions are made in the same manner as you would make a cup of tea, with a few exceptions.

With a cup of tea you add your dried herb/herbs to hot water and allow to steep for 5-10 minutes, strain, find a comfy chair and enjoy those medicinal benefits right away.
 
With an infusion you are using a larger amount of your herb/herbs and the steeping time is anywhere from 2 to 10 hours. The purpose of drinking an herbal infusion is for the abundant amount of vitamins and minerals. (think of it as a liquid vitamin) 💪
 
Making an infusion is very easy. Place 1 ounce, by weight, of dried herb/herbs in a glass quart jar. Fill to the top with boiling water, cover and allow to steep at room temperature for 2-10 hours. Strain and drink by the cupful, warm or cold, throughout the day. Be sure to keep the remainder in the refrigerator and to use up within 36 hours. 

 
If you find the taste to be too strong you can try using 1/2 ounce of your herb and slowly increase up to that 1 ounce. You can add a touch of honey or maybe a slice of lemon. 

You can create a different infusion per week. You can use a single herb or add several together. I always recommend to become familiar with the different vitamin/mineral profile of each herb/herbs before deciding on what herbs to use to create your own infusion, based on;

your daily diet
how is your current health? What vitamins and minerals is your body telling you it needs?
any possible herb / drug interactions

Below is a list of some of my favorite nourishing herbs to use. There are of course more one could add to this. Be sure to keep in mind that pungent herbs are not as suitable for long infusions as the taste would be very strong and unpleasant. 

As with using any herbal, be sure to check for drug interactions and or cautions for pregnant and or nursing mothers.

chickweed - Stellaria media
dandelion leaves - Taraxacum officinale
hawthorn berries, leaves and flowers 
hibiscus
mullein - Verbascum thapsus
nettle leaf- Urtica dioica
oat straw
raspberry leaf 
red clover flowers -Trifolium pratense 
rose petal
rose of sharon - Hibiscus syriacus
violet leaves - Viola sororia