So it was one of those robot-like mom moments where you scan the kitchen and totally MacGyver up some good shit to save the world and stuff. All at once, we were out of almond milk, the mangos were all wrinkly and about to go off, and breakfast needed to be made.
What happened next took us into the better part of the day and it was the best kind of blessing after a very long week fully of long tired nights. The almonds were pureed and strained and bottled into milk for the next few days. Then I used the blender that held the last bits of the almond puree as the base for our morning smoothie which included kale and mangos a banana and 2 dates. The strained almond pulp sat on the counter for a little while as we changed a diaper, checked an email, and wiped a few noses. It was then decided that cookies would be the best use for the almond mush so we made two batches, I thought rosemary would be fun, and Sevi of course chose basil. The basil ones were the winners. The other day, I had thought it would be fun to dry the mango seeds and see if I could make something with them. In my googling I had found that you could grow indoor houseplants with the mango pits, so we planted some.
So in spite of the exhaustion, it was a blessed beautiful morning. Where creativity and a wrinkly old mango sort of set the tone. It doesn't always happen this way. But, for me, this day was like a little jewel of a prize after tending to a houseful of sickies.
Okay recipe time. As always, proceed with caution in regards to my measurements and massive amounts of play.
Raw-ish Almond Basil Cookies
Soak 1 lb raw almonds overnight. Drain. Blend in power blender with 4 c water.
Strain through paint bag. Add a healthy spill of homemade vanilla extract (1 tb?) to milk. Store in fridge.
For cookies: mix two pancake pours (maybe 2 tb?) of maple syrup, a fist full of fresh basil chopped small, a pinch of salt, a spill of vanilla (couple of tsp) with your hands into the remaining meal -- it should be dry but not totally unmoist. Grab in small bits and shape into balls then flatten. Dehydrate for freaking ever until they are crispy. Like little nilla wafers. I also made some with rosemary instead of basil. Both delish, but the basil are the winners. The smaller and flatter the quicker they will be done. we made some teeny ones that were done in a few hours, other thicker, bigger ones took all night.
Enjoy!
Love and Besos, Latisha
