Week 8 : Double Date Shake
I hold my mother responsible for my indecent sense of humor. Anyone who’s spent more than a few hours with me has been witness to my ability to find a double (often risque) meaning at every opportunity; (see Week 6: Popeye’s Balls as a demonstration). Seriously, it’s not that I’m immature (maybe I am), or inappropriate (okay I definitely am), or that I lack the ability to participate in serious discussion (I do that far too often); it’s that my mother taught me about Double Entendre, at what some would say was “too young” an age and, I was off to the races!
dou·ble en·ten·dre
ˌdo͞obl änˈtändrə,ˌdəbl änˈtändrə/
noun
a word or phrase open to two interpretations, one of which is usually risqué or indecent.
synonyms: ambiguity, double meaning, innuendo, play on words”much of the comedy is derived from racy double entendres”
humor using double entendres.
Suzanne Devine McKendall (my Mom) placed great deal of value on both the spoken and written word. For her, double entendre was a way to play with words and illustrate that in word usage, tone and inflection should be clear. Admittedly, I’m pretty sure she’d be less than thrilled that I’ve taken this interest in double meaning to the sophomoric level of saying, “That’s what she said!” as often as I do. Sorry Mom 😉 She also had a grand sense of humor, a robust laugh and was not one to shy away from discussion of carnal matters.
What does this have to do with cooking and this week’s recipe, you may wonder?
The key ingredient in this recipe is delicious, healthy homemade Almond Milk, which I find wildly entertaining to write about making. I find the directions for making nut milk gets unintentionally inappropriate very quickly…so imagine my grin as you read. ~ Enjoy!
Date Shake Recipe
A quick (and far too sweet) dessert
Process…
This was easy!
I’m leaving town this week to visit family and needed a recipe that didn’t require a ton of thought and time to translate into a healthier alternative. Diving into the index files in the beverage category I settled on this three ingredient, high calorie, sugar-filled recipe.
Notice the crazy amount of ice cream required for “one serving”. Maybe that’s to be expected for the average milkshake, but I think it’s too much. Ice cream prepared naturally isn’t horribly unhealthy, as long as it’s just the basic ingredients with no added carrageenan or other artificial additives. When I get a craving for ice cream, I make my own with maple syrup or honey.
I decided to give it a try with no dairy or added processed sweeteners.
I chose dates, frozen bananas and almond milk as the foundation; and to create a more complex flavor profile, I added cardamom and cinnamon.
The result was really delicious… Probably not as sweet as my mother’s original recipe, but with more nutritional value and fewer calories ( I think…not sure with the bananas) One cup of ice cream has 150 cal., while 1 cup of almond milk has about 70. From researching online, it looks like you also get about half the amount of fat grams by using almond milk.
There’s a large brand variety of packaged almond milk, but I’ve yet to find one that I enjoy. Using a basic recipe, I make my own “nut milk” with almonds, walnuts, brazil nut and cashews. Once you make your own, you won’t ever go back to packaged…
You’ll need:
- One cup of raw almonds (not roasted)
- About 3 cups of water
- Blender, Vita mix, or Magic bullet
- A cloth “nut bag” or cheese cloth — or then you could say, “nut sack”
Directions:
- First. “soak your nuts“ (tee-hee) for eight hours or overnight.
- Drain and rinse the “soaked nuts”
- The ratio for making the milk is about 1 : 2 nuts to water
- Place one cup of nuts in the blender with 2 cups of water
- Mix at high-speed until creamy
- Pour the “nut juice/milk” through the “nut bag” into a pitcher, jar or bowl
Squeeze and squeeze and squeeze the “nut bag” to get as much of the “nut milk” out as possible. It’s actually like milking a cow. - Freeze and save the nutmeat for later use. Add it to muffins, bread or pancakes or bake it at a low temp and grind for flour.
Nut Milk Notes:
- I usually add dates to sweeten almond milk, but because this recipe includes dates, there was no need.
- In my experience, homemade almond milk only last three or four days because it doesn’t have any preservatives.
You can freeze some in ice cube trays. this recipe calls for a few cubes. - Cashew “nut cream” creates a wonderfully creamy ice cream and does not require any special tools, just a blender. Simply soak the nuts for 4-6 hours. Blend at a high speed and you’re done. you can add maple and vanilla for a super yummy treat.
Banana Date Shake
- 1 Cup almond milk
- A few frozen almond milk cubes
- 3 Tablespoons chilled or frozen dates
- 1/2 Frozen medium banana
- Cinnamon to taste
- Cardamon pods or ground to taste – I didn’t have pods
- 1 Teaspoon vanilla
The Result
Really, really good!
One more recipe this week…
Week 8 Recipe Pick
Kryle’s Dinner
I’m with my sister Kyle and Kristin This week so I thought it was appropriate to adapt one of their favorite comfort foods together.
