Almond Milk and Almond Meal

 Almond Milk

Ahhhhhh Almond milk. So easy to make and so delicious. 

If you are the kind of person that uses a lot of nuts in your daily cooking (like me) and you buy your nuts in bulk, this is definitely the way to get your milk fix. One cup of almonds makes over 4 cups of milk so again, if you're buying nuts in bulk, that comes out to be cheaper than buying the watery tasting almond milk you see on the grocery store shelves. PLUS there's the convenience factor. There's a lot to be said for the peace of mind you feel when you've run out of milk and need a splash in your coffee or a 1/2 cup for the soup you're making right now! ...you just grab your soaking nuts and blend them up and PRESTO! milk!

That brings me to another motto we have in our kitchen: Always be Soaking. 

Our kitchen counter constantly looks like we're conducting multiple middle school science projects at once. Between the cashews that are soaking for a quick velvety sauce, the sprouting lentils, the soaking beans and the almonds....there is a constant rotation of questionable looking mason jars on the counter.

RECIPE:

Sweetened Almond Milk:

1 cup almonds

2 plump dates (if your pitted dates are leathery, soak in hot water for an hour to re-plump)
1/4 t vanilla (more if you really like vanilla milk. I only like a hint of vanilla)
Small pinch cinnamon (a little goes a long way in this recipe)
Pinch of salt

you'll also need something to strain with: nut milk bag like this one or cheese cloth work best.

Unsweetened Almond Milk:

1 cup almonds

pinch of salt

Soak almonds in a bowl of water overnight. If you don't have that much time, I've made almond milk after soaking 4 hours and it still tasted great. After soak, drain almonds and add to blender with 4.5 cups water and the rest of the ingredients. (If you don't have a high powered blender like a Vitamix, use 3.5-4 cups water. A lower powered blender doesn't quite pulverize the nuts like a high powered.) 

Blend it on high for a couple minutes. You'll see the change from water to milk pretty quickly and it'll foam up a bit. Pour milk through strainer into large container and squeeze out all the liquid. Keep in refrigerator for a week to a week and a half in an airtight container. 

I usually do a batch of both sweet and unsweetened every couple weeks because I like them for different reasons....I like sweet in my coffee and oatmeal, unsweetened in recipes....and my 1 year old son likes them both equally for a special "milk juice" snack! The almond flavor when your make your own just doesn't compare to the store bought milks.

BUT WHAT DO I DO WITH ALL THIS ALMOND MEAL??

haha. 

You jump for joy because you are saving even more money!!

I use almond meal in pancakes, crumbles, cookies....I substitute about 25-50% almond meal in place of regular flour in these items.  I also bake it into our weekly loaves of sandwich bread by using the almond meal in place of the quinoa or oat flour in this recipe. The bread comes out dense and nutty. delicious!

RECIPE:

Almond Meal

spread out the almond meal you have leftover in your nut milk strainer onto a cookie sheet. bake in the oven at 200* for two hours. this will dry it out into the larger clumps you see in the picture above. then whiz it through a food processor to create the fine flour texture. store in an airtight container in pantry or in fridge.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:

Almonds do contain a good amount of Calcium, like you would expect to have in a glass of milk. The milks you buy in stores are fortified to contain vitamin D and added Calcium among other things....so obviously the milk you're making at home does not have those additives. The fact is, human beings do not need milk on a daily basis in order to maintain proper levels of Calcium and vitamin D. We eat Calcium in all types of food throughout the day (collard greens, broccoli, sesame seeds...) and do not need to rely on milk for our main calcium source. There are certain ages in your life during different developmental stages that your body requires more calcium and vitamin D (like children under age 2, teens ages 14-18) so it's important to do a check every now and again to make sure needs are being met. Plant sources of Calcium are more easily absorbed into the body than animal sources.