Kitchen Curious: Out of milk? Here’s how to make your own

Editor’s note: As part of the adjustments the AJC is making to Food and Dining content during the coronavirus pandemic, the Kitchen Curious column is undergoing changes. Recipes take a more frugal approach to cooking to help readers be more resourceful at a time when food supplies may be low and shelter-in-place orders in effect. In addition, Kitchen Curious is now published weekly instead of biweekly. Do you have feedback about the column? Do you have a recipe to share or one you want us to develop? We want to hear from you. Send your comments to ligaya.figueras@ajc.com.

Credit for this recipe goes to my son Anton. With college classes happening remotely now, he's holed up at our house. When we ran out of milk, we added that to the shopping list for when we make our next grocery trip, but didn't make an emergency trip to the supermarket. To make do, Anton searched online and found a recipe for Vegan Mexican Horchata on the Simple Vegan Blog.

The original recipe calls for white rice, unsalted almonds, a cinnamon stick, dates and a vanilla bean. Anton adapted to what we have on hand — and to the level of energy (low) he felt like putting into the project. He used brown rice instead of white rice, raw old-fashioned oats instead of almonds, ground cinnamon instead of a stick and vanilla extract instead of half a vanilla bean. The only ingredient not changed: dates. His use of raw oats, in particular, was a smart decision; oats don’t offer the same nutty flavor as almonds, but it is present nonetheless.