Today, it was all about Almond Milk. It's what I decided to do when I told my husband not to buy more from Costco because I could save money and know exactly what's in it. Why not? I'd been reading about how easy it was to make and after watching a bunch of youtube videos, I came up with my recipe. I also knew that I had to come up with something to do with the leftover pulp because I hate wasting food. Good food is a blessing that we shouldn't take for granted and throwing away good food is like throwing money in the trash can and I don't have, nor want, that "luxury."
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| Angela's Almond Milk 1 cup of raw almonds soaked overnight 3 cups of water 1 tsp of Pure Vanilla Extract (more or less to your personal taste)* 1 dash of cinnamon* 1 Tbsp of Agave Nectar* Once the raw almonds have soaked overnight you should be able to easily "squeeze" the skin off the almonds and be left with a beautiful white almonds. Take 3 cups of filtered water and add to blender along with drained almonds. Now pulverize those baby! I used my Nutribullet and did it batches because the Nutribullet is a beast when it comes to pulverizing nuts and seeds. Now pour your mixture into a nut milk bag (available at Whole Foods or online), or into a cheesecloth and strain the liquid out. I put a mesh strainer over a bowl, added cheesecloth inside and once the liquid dripped through, I squeezed the rest of the goodness out of the bag and into the bowl. Now add your vanilla, cinnamon and Agave Nectar or sweetener of your choice, pour into your container of choice, refrigerate and enjoy! *Optional Ingredients |
Now that the milk was done I needed to find something to do with the almond pulp and after a quick search online, I decided on Almond Meal. I dusted off my dehydrator and spread the pulp on a tray with the fruit leather insert and about 5 hours later it was almost done. I put the almond 'pebbles' in my Nutribullet with the milling blade and turned it into a powder/flour/meal and then returned it to the dehydrator for one more hour. The picture above in the mason jar shows the finished product that I will use to make some cookies, pancakes or something yummy. I will post the results.
The almond milk turned out great and has a very clean and pure taste. It has the consistency of skim milk and that's a change from what I'm used to. If you want a thicker, creamier consistency you can use 2 cups of water instead of three and modify the optional ingredients to your liking. I will try that with my next batch and decide which I like better. My daughter is already looking forward to eating it in her morning cereal so I'm guessing that it's not going to last very long.
Added benefit: I've pulled out the dehydrator and I am going to be making fruit leather and beef jerky tomorrow. I have a feeling I'll be spending a lot of time with my Nesco Dehydrator over the next few weeks or even months. I'll be ready with tons of dehydrated food while everyone else is fighting in line at Giant Foods. Now stop wasting time and go make some milk.
