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from:  http://paleoparents.com/featured/guest-post-spunky-coconut-making-cashew-milk/

I read the Spunky Coconut when I can because I really enjoy her recipes:

If you haven’t yet heard, Wednesdays are our Guest Blogger Series day! It’s a day where Stacy and I get a bit of a mid-week break while getting to share with you some of our favorite online bloggers.  And for their hard work, they get the benefit of your readership – we encourage you to please show all of them your support by visiting their blog and social media links!

This week we are happy to hear from our friend Kelly of The Spunky Coconut, author of The Spunky Coconut Cookbook, The Spunky Coconut Grain-Free Baked Goods and Desserts, The Spunky Coconut Dairy-Free Ice Cream Cookbook (which we love and reviewed here) and the upcoming The Paleo Chocolate Lovers Cookbook! Kelly was one of the very first bloggers Stacy followed when we went Paleo (back then, there weren’t very many family-friendly real food bloggers and now we’re thrilled there’s so many!). Even though not all of her recipes are Paleo, most are easily adaptable (see our example of her Bagels). Bonus for those with allergies, many of her recipes are egg-free! It’s surreal to now have podcasted together, reviewed oneanothers’ books and be “buddies”.

Since this is Blendtec week, even our guest post will be a recipe ideal for use with our wonderful new kitchen appliance! Don’t have a high speed blender and want one? Enter to win your own Blendtec Designer Series with Twister Jar on Monday’s post. Even if you don’t acquire one, we hope this post is still helpful for you! Today Kelly’s going to teach you how to make cashew milk and a recipe for her Yummy Yogurt Drink

♥♥♥

I talk a lot about my kids on The Spunky Coconut, especially my daughter, Ashley. I owe everything to the kids, because my husband and I would not be who we are today if it wasn’t for them. Our children led us to discover how food was making us sick.

But today I’m not going to talk about our girls. I’m going to tell you a little bit about my own health issues, and how I overcame them.

From the time I was a little girl I struggled with my weight, with constipation and bloating, and with depression. When I hit puberty I developed endometriosis, a long-standing tradition among the women in my family. In fact, I am the only woman in my family with a uterus and ovaries. On top of the endometriosis I was also covered in pimples throughout high school and into college.

Battling weight, bloating, depression, endometriosis and pimples makes for one miserable teenaged experience. Unfortunately, it didn’t end there. It carried on into college and well into my twenties. Oy vey.

But like I said, it wasn’t until my children were born that I discovered the power to change my life. I was seeing a family friend named Cheryl (who is a nutritionist and naturopath) for help with the girls. She asked about my own health, and I told her. After finally being tested and finding out I was Celiac I began to recover. However, the gluten-free diet wasn’t enough. All of my problems were better, but they were far from over.

Then one day Cheryl said something that really got through to me. “Organic milk [products] still contain natural hormones, Kelly. All milk contains hormones.” And that’s when it hit me. Human milk, cow milk, all milk—of course it does—it all contains natural hormones. Adults aren’t meant to have milk. No species nurses for life, and no species other than human beings drinks the milk of another kind of species.

So I went dairy-free. I really didn’t want to at first. I was so bummed. But cutting out the dairy got rid of my endometriosis, depression, and pimples. It was so worth it. I still struggled with my weight and bloating, until a few years ago when I cut out gluten-free grains. And now my weight is no longer an issue either.

Over time I’ve even managed to recreate my favorite dairy foods without dairy. One of the best ways to do this is by making cashew milk. Cashew milk tastes amazingly similar to cream when you use it in sauces. You can make it as thick or as thin as you like depending on how you plan to use it. For cashew cream use less water, and for thinner milk use more water.

Whenever we have extended family or company over and I make something with cashew cream/milk no one can tell the difference. I use it in soup, sauces, and salad dressings, just to name a few. You can see my video for how easy it is to make cashew milk below.

One of our favorite ways to use cashew milk is to make yogurt. I like to combine it with coconut milk for extra richness (I was never a fan of low-fat food). You can find recipes for dairy-free frozen yogurt in The Spunky Coconut Dairy-Free Ice Cream Book, or you can use our Yummy Yogurt Drink by itself and in smoothies.

Here is the recipe for my Yummy Yogurt Drink, which is taken directly from my book:

Note from Matt & Stacy, these are the brands we recommend:

Full Fat Canned Coconut Milk
Blonde Coconut Palm Sugar
Vanilla Liquid Stevia
Dairy-Free Probiotic Capsules, although refrigerated from your local health food store would be ideal

Thanks so much to Stacy and Matt for having me here!

♥, Kelly

Kelly V. Brozyna, began to study nutrition in 2004 when her girls were very young. Her daughter, Ashley, was a baby and Zoe was a toddler at that time. Both girls were not well. Her naturopathic doctor worked with them to radically change their diet by removing gluten, casein, and sugar. Kelly and her husband soon realized that their own health problems could be resolved as well. It was very eye-opening to see how many kinds of issues could be treated with the diet. So, after years of research and experimentation, Kelly now creates food so similar to conventional wheat/dairy/sugar recipes so that no one feels deprived. Together, through diet and biomedical treatments, their family is overcoming Celiac disease, gluten-intolerance, ADD, and autism with great success. Kelly lives in Boulder County, Colorado with her husband and three daughters. Follow her on Twitter or like her page on Facebook!