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Our goal is to make affordable, delicious, healthy food that nourishes our souls as well as our bodies. We love new flavors as well as old favorites. It's important, for us, not to place too many restrictions and be as free and simple as we can when it comes to our food. We have no fancy equipment or expensive gadgets (although when we're wrestling with our dinosaur blender/smoothie maker we have both thought how nice it'd be to have a functioning one.. lol). We love each other more than anything and making food together is rewarding on every level.

Sunday 21 September 2014

Make your own Almond Milk

Almond Milk


I tried something adventurous last week.  I actually didn't even know it was possible (sometimes, if something is daunting or I have no clue how it's done, I just think it's not possible...lol)  Well, I was thinking about almond milk and how it's made--I had no clue.  I am a pinterest fiend, like I am sure a lot of people are, and I found a lovely recipe for making my own almond milk, which is a lot simpler and fun than you might expect!

You can't be afraid of getting messy though, which I am usually, but I was so pleased with the results I'm not put off by the clean up afterward :)  And sadly, it isn't something you can make straightaway, since you need to allow for the almonds to soak for 1-2 days (the longer you allow them to soak, the creamier your milk will be).

Just make sure the almonds you get are raw and haven't been roasted or salted or anything like that.  Also, make sure you only make what you can consume in 2 days, there are obviously no preservatives in this milk so it won't keep longer than that.  

Also, you'll be left with some lovely almond meal that you can use for making something else (I used mine in some chocolate nut bark which was YUMMY!).

Almond Milk



Equipment:

Blender or food processor
Fine-mesh nut bag or cheese cloth

1 cup raw almonds
2 cups water

**Optional, after soaking, you can blend a few dates with the almonds for sweetness, or even scrape a vanilla pod or cacao into them.

Method:

1)  Put the almonds into a container and cover them with the water.  Keep in mind they will plump up while soaking so allow for room.  I then put a lid on the container and let them sit for 1-2 days.

2)  After they have soaked, put the almonds along with the soaking water into a blender or food processor.  (The first time I made this I peeled all the skins off, but the second time I didn't because I was lazy and the milk was just as beautiful the second time as the first!  So I won't bother peeling them again, way too fiddly for me.. lol)

3)Add the dates or whatever you've decided to add at this stage, you don't have to add anything and it will still be nice.

4) Blend at medium speed until all the almonds are ground well and the mix looks creamy.


5)  Messy part!  You need to slowly pour the almond mixture into a big bowl over the cheesecloth to strain the bits of almond out.  The first time I did this it was more difficult but you'll get the hang of it.


6)  The almond meal you have in the cheesecloth can be spread on a baking sheet and roasted for 8-10 min, sealed in a bag, and frozen for use in a future recipe.



I hope you all enjoy this recipe as much as I did!  

Original Recipe found at:  http://www.thekitchn.com/how-to-make-almond-milk-at-home-cooking-lessons-from-the-kitchn-189996