Recipe: chocolate bean milk and pumpkin rice cake

As I mentioned last time, I don’t buy almond breeze anymore because I can make it at home at cheaper cost and more nutritious. A reader requested a tutorial so here it comes.

I use assorted beans, soy bean, black beans, aduki beans and mung beans. I think what makes the end product thick and emulsionated is the black bean, without it, the milk is very watery. So, if you want to use lecithin to make it emulsionated, use black beans.

soak 1/3 cup with plenty of water for at least 12 hours

it will double in volume

then I add it to the soy milk maker. If you don’t have it, you can use a blender adding enough water. Usually 3 parts of water for 1 part of the hydrated beans.

after 2o min, the milk is ready. If you are using a blender, after blending it you have to boil the milk for 10 min.

then use a strainer

end product

To make the chocolate milk. Heat the milk first

add one tbsp of cocoa power

and mix

Note: only make as much as you plan to drink because if you save it for later, the milk and cocoa powder separate.

I have a bag of brown rice flour in the fridge for a while, I didn’t know what to do with it. And then I thought why not make a cake with it and my fav ingredient pumpkin? so Pumpkin Rice Cake was born 😉

Ingredients for 2 mini loafs

• 2/3 cup brown rice flour
• 1/3 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/2 tbsp baking powder
• 1 egg
• 2/3 cup pumpkin puree
• 1/4 cup stevia baking blend
• 2/3 cup chia gel (2 tbsp of chia in 1/2 cup of water hydrated for 20 min)
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ginger powder
• 1/4 tsp pumpkin spice

mix wet ingredients and dry ingredients in two separate bowls, and then mix them.

bake at 350F for 45 min.

Serve with homemade almond butter

My latest afternoon tea combo 😆

the cake is moist and soft, and the taste is like pumpkin pie! Love it!

Q: Do you have any addiction? I’m addicted to coffee, chocolate, kabocha, corns and SHOES!!! 😯

Recipe: pound cake, chocolate “milk” and more

Last Friday, before Star came back I baked two mini pound cake for him. What a great wife I am! 😀

Ingredients:

• 100g butter (room temperature)
• 100g flour
• 70g sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 50g banana chips + almonds

Beat sugar+butter+eggs until very puffy

Soaked the banana chips with some warm milk, get rid of the milk and blend

Pour the batter to two mini moldes

bake at 350F for 35 min

isn’t it pretty?

I made again the black chicken soup. Something that I want to comment about soup. In chinese culture, soup is not just food, but also a “medicine”. There is actually a word for that, 药膳，medicine food. It usually combines different ingredients that have medicinal values with everyday ingredients. The idea is heal or get healthier with daily food.

For this soup, I added these: 黄芪 (radix astragali) to invigorate Qi, 当归 (Dongui) and red dates to build blood and dry shiitake.

Stir-fry continued to be a staple for me. This one has broccoli, mushrooms, bamboo, green peppers and eggplant.

Bok choy with smoked pork belly

Star was working while I cooked and it was funny to see where he choice to do the conference call. 😉

oh… that’s Charlotte from Sex and the City! Yes, I’m watching it for the 1000000 times!

Another stir-fry: chinese mustard greens, red peppers, chinese yam and bean curd stick

Yam noodles with chinese cabbage, black fungus, shiitake, dry shrimp and a poached egg.

For breakfast I’ve been having these two combos:

#1 oatmeal cooked with chia gel and pumpkin puree

I made some almond butter

#2 pumpkin bread with AB

with homemade chocolate milk.

I love Almond Breeze Chocolate but I don’t buy it anymore. Why? Because although I love how it tastes, it’s not very nutritious. So I make my own bean milk (soy bean, black bean, aduki and mung bean) and add 1-2 tbsp of unsweetened cocoa powder. Voila…. a nutritious bean milk!

Q: What’s your favorite cloth and shoe store/brand?

I got sick! :(

I haven’t been sick for years and it was about the time…. I just spent 6 hours between doctor’s office and hospital, went through an uncomfortable study 😦 Fortunately it was nothing and I have no fever anymore. 😦 Not fun being sick. Glad that Star lives close by now. He took the day off and came to take care of me 😉

Let’s rewind a little bit. I did bake new batch of bread. Hearty-chia bread

baking in oven is easy but I really want to try baking in a dutch oven. Many bread makers use it, it seems to capture better the moisture and make the crust extra crunchy. CSN stores have a large collection of dutch ovens. I like this and this.

Hearty-chia bread adapted from bittersweetblog

• 3/4 Cup Warm Water
• 1/4 cup chia seed
• 3 cup white whole wheat flour
• 1 cup bread flour
• 1/2 wheat germ
• 1 tbsp yeast
• 2 tbsp sugar
• 1 1/4 cup water
• 1/4 cup apple cider

Method

1. Combine the chia seeds and warm water, and allow them to sit for at least 15 minutes, giving the mixture a good sir after the first 5.

2. Add all the ingredients from liquid to solid to the bread machine and choose dough cycle.

3. Put the dough in a floured surface and let it rise 1-2 hours more covered with a towel

4. Bake at 375F for 35 min

warm bread + butter = perfection! 😀

Yesterday I got a big shipment of tea that I ordered for my BFF Mara

She’s obsessed with Bigalow’s green tea with lemon, truly believing that it’s a great source of antioxidants! 😀

4 pounds of tea!!!

when I came back from the post office I began to feel cold and tired. So I took this

It didn’t work because I got fever later, not too high, about 100F. This morning I woke up terrible, with a sharp pain in my tummy, I could barely move. I didn’t want to go to doctor, just sleep until I feel better. But Star wouldn’t agree. He took to the doctor and the doctor suspected appendicitis. Oh.. no!! that means surgery.. means days spent in hospital, means no 10k, means no time to finish my dissertation… so many unwanted consequences. 😦 After a scan study, the doctor told me that it was just bloating, no appendicitis.  Such a relieve!!! I hope I feel better tomorrow so I won’t miss the apple-picking that we had planned.

Here’s me at the doctor office, devastated 😦