Homemade Almond Milk

So as you have probably read, milk has been all the craze around our house for the past few months. As I've continued on my "making things from scratch" journey, I've made yogurt, strained the yogurt to make Greek yogurt and made butter from our raw milk. 

Our little friend that comes over during the week, Cannon, has to drink almond milk. I've been buying it for him and we like it too. I saw a pin on Pinterest a few weeks back about making it. You know I HAD to try it! 

These are the ingredients. Pretty simple, huh?

No pick for this (not too exciting)...I soaked the almonds in an airtight container for 12 hours. 

Here the almonds are in the blender in the water.

The blender is doing it's magic. :) Crazy how just some water, almonds and spices make the milk!

This was my contraption to strain the milk. I used a stainless steel bowl, a cheese cloth (very cheap at Kroger) and a rubber band. (I'll get that famous nut bag for my next batch:)

Here's the leftovers. After the milk drains through the cheese cloth, this is what's left over. I would call it the almond pulp. It's still a bit moist. I have it in the fridge right now. I've read that it can be added to smoothies, oatmeal and muffins! I'll definitely be using it! 

The finished product! Ain't it a beauty? I have it chilling in the fridge and can't wait to taste it!

Let me know if you make some for yourself!

Ingredients:

** I doubled everything to get this jar full. In my opinion, for all the work/time involved, it was worth it to double it!

• 1 cup raw almonds, soaked in water
• 3.5 cups filtered water
• 2-4 pitted Medjool dates, to taste (I omitted this because I didn't have any)
• 1 whole vanilla bean, choppped (or 1/2-1 tsp vanilla extract--this is what I used because it's what I had on hand. I'll try using the vanilla bean next time!)
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon
• small pinch of fine grain sea salt, to enhance the flavor

1. Place almonds in a bowl and cover with water. It’s preferred to soak them overnight (for 8-12 hours) in the water, but you can get away with soaking for 1-2 hours in a pinch.

2. Rinse and drain the almonds and place into a blender along with filtered water, pitted dates, and chopped vanilla bean.

3. Blend on highest speed for 1 minute or so.

4. Place a nut milk bag over a large bowl and slowly pour the almond milk mixture into the bag. Gently squeeze the bottom of the bag to release the milk. This took me about 3-5 minutes to get all the milk out.

5. Rinse out blender and pour the milk back in. Add the cinnamon and pinch of sea salt and blend on low to combine.

6. Pour into a glass jar to store in the fridge for up to 3-5 days. Shake jar very well before using as the mixture separates when sitting.  This milk is also lovely with cereal.

Notes: If your dates or vanilla bean are dry/stiff, soak in water to soften before use. You can also use another sweetener of your choice like maple syrup. Same goes for vanilla – feel free to use vanilla extract for a more subtle vanilla flavour.

These instructions are from: Oh She Glows