Milks Alive: 140 Delicious and Nutritions Recipes for Fresh Nut and Seed Milks
The world of plant milks and vegan foods came to me unexpectedly, impacting my health and charting a new career path. Being a professional dancer requires energy, stamina and a finely tuned sense of the body. The physically demanding schedule and training of a professional dancer lead to my interest in how I was fueling my body. I wanted to feel the best that I could feel and went on to study and explore many philosophies around food and eating, including a macrobiotic diet, a vegetarian lifestyle and vegan and raw vegan cuisine. Many years ago while visiting a friend on the Big Sur coast of California, I was introduced to freshly prepared almond milk, vegan and raw foods. During that warm weekend we spent many hours in the kitchen experimenting making milks from different nuts with a variety of flavorings and sweeteners. My biggest surprise was when chronic sinus and digestive issues that I had for most of my adult life began to subside and completely disappeared in two weeks after removing dairy from my diet. I became consumed with perfecting almond milk recipes! One thing led to another and I began to sell almond milk out of my kitchen to friends and neighbors who were thrilled to get fresh almond milk. More and more people began calling... In 2006, I started MilksAlive, selling fresh pressed plant milks, specializing in almond blends, artisan coconut milks, and dairy-free desserts at local farmers markets in Santa Cruz and Monterey counties.