They say that “necessity is the mother of invention.” I would add that it is also the mother of recipes.

When my Darling Daughter left to go back for her last semester in college (yes, DD is graduating in May) she left a half carton of almond milk behind. Because she was stopping to visit friends and relatives on the way back to school, she didn’t know if she could keep it cold. Besides, she was coming back home at the end of January – long before the expiration date.

I used a little of the almond milk making my Honorable Husband some soup, so I didn’t know if there was enough left for DD’s trip home. When I was shopping for her January visit, I bought another carton. I told her to take all of the almond milk with her, but in the flurry of activity to pack her car, we both forgot.

I managed to use what was left in the open carton before it expired. But last week I realized I had a half gallon of almond milk that was about to go to waste. The first thing I thought of was custard. My mother’s family loved boiled custard. It was a tradition at family gatherings. But HH does not like it. However he does like coconut custard pie.

Coconut is one of the few foods that is avoid for all Blood types and toxic for all GenoTypes. That puts it in the same category with pork. This is unfortunate because HH dearly loves coconut. Though it is avoid, I bake a coconut cake for him every year on his birthday. I had coconut left over from his birthday.

I decided to make each of us a treat with the almond milk.

All of the custard pie recipes in my cookbooks were basically the same. I prepared the custard, stirred in the leftover coconut, and poured it into a glass baking dish instead of a pie crust.. I used half the sugar that the recipe called for because of the blood sugar issues HH dealt with before he got serious about the BTD. I baked it according to the pie instructions. He loves it!

I made boiled custard with the rest of the almond milk. The first sip took my taste buds back to my grandmother’s kitchen. The eggs are good for me and the almond milk is neutral. Next time I will reduce the sugar a little. I don’t know if I am used to less sugar, or if the almond milk is sweeter than regular milk, but the only thing that keeps this custard from being perfect is that it is a tad too sweet.

This summer when blueberries, strawberries and nectarines are in season, I’m going to make a custard pie without coconut and top it with fresh fruit. My mouth is watering already.

All of these healthy desserts because of the necessity of using almond milk before it expired.