First of all, I'm really disappointed to see how few wanted to know about my delicious pea puree. Seriously, people, I had more traffic on my site to read about scientific studies debating saturated fat! Vegetables are good for you. And it's way better to eat them in a fashion that is delicious, like the pea puree, than to choke them down out of mere necessity. I guess I should have learned my lesson after the low readership numbers on this post and this one. Apparently, I'm a slow learner. :)
Anyway, no veggies today. As you probably can tell from my blog, I'm a huge proponent of whole, real foods. As I've said numerous times, in probably a variety of ways, artificial is for toys, not food. In general, I believe in eating real, traditional foods. Traditional foods are foods that our grandmother, great grandmother, great-great-great-etc grandmother ate or had available to eat. This means fruits, vegetables, whole grains, grass-fed/pasture-roaming meat and poultry, free-swimming fish, nuts, seeds, and raw, full fat dairy. Now, I know some people argue whether we, as human beings, are supposed to actually consume the milk of another animal. I will leave that discussion for another time. But, if you choose, for whatever reason, not to consume dairy, I still want you to have a healthy, natural, real, whole-food option. Instead, the typical dairy-free milk has a paragraph's worth of ingredients, often complete with soy, color additives, and sugar. One of the common options is almond milk. A quick google search left me with this lovely list of ingredients for a popular brand:
Filtered Water, Almonds, Cane Sugar, Calcium Carbonate, Sea Salt, Natural Flavor, Locust Bean Gum, Sunflower Lecithin, Gellan Gum, Vitamin E Acetate, Zinc Gluconate, Vitamin A Palmitate, Riboflavin, Vitamin B12, Vitamin D2
Oh, Gellan Gum and Locust Bean Gum, yum! I pick those up at my local supermarket weekly! Yea, not so much. And the Zinc, Vitamin E, B12, Vitamin D, and Vitamin A? Well, if you drank whole milk, you'd be getting those naturally…so that's just a means of adding the nutrients that are missing from the faux-milk. Also, sugar as the THIRD ingredient?! Awesome. But, if you've ever tried to make this stuff yourself, I'm willing to bet it was crazy-expensive. You end up using a cup or more of almonds to get 3-4 cups of milk. That's pretty pricey.
So, in an effort to provide you with a great, natural, whole-food milk alternative, I did some experimenting and finally came up with a recipe I like (it was tested by a friend who is lactose-intolerant and has consumed her fair-share of non-dairy milk and given her seal of approval!). It will give you about 3 cups of milk using a mere 1/4 cup of almonds. Yep, that's right. AND, I'm even going to give you something to do with that left-over almond pulp. Without further ado, homemade Almond Milk.
Almond Milk
makes about 3 cups
As a head's up, this recipe will require a cheese cloth or mesh bag with a very fine weave. A big piece of plain linen or other non-fluffy/shedding fabric would also probably suffice)
1/4 cup raw almonds
3 - 3 and 1/4 cups water (filtered is best)
1-3 tsp honey or maple syrup (optional; taste first and decide if you want it sweeter)
salt
2 tsp ground flax seeds
1/4-1/2 tsp vanilla (optional; I often like mine with a little vanilla loveliness)
1-2 egg yolks (also optional, but will add some B12, Vitamin D, and Vitamin A, among other things)
Bring your 3+ cups of water to boil and then remove from heat to cool just a bit. Using a coffee/spice grinder or food processor, grind the almonds into a very fine flour, just on the verge of starting to turn into a thick nut butter ( a blender may also work here, but I have never tried it; if you do, please leave a comment and let me know how it went!). In a blender, combine about 1/4-1/2 cup of your hot water, the ground flax, a sprinkling of salt, and the finely ground almonds. Blend until well combined and slightly thick. Because your mixture is hot, it will want to "explode" up in your blender. If you remove the little plastic circle thingy from your blender lid and cover the opening with a folded paper towel, it should help prevent a mess. Be sure to hold the paper towel over the opening or hold the lid down tight.
Once your thickened almond mixture is formed, add all but the last 1/4 cup or so of the hot water, the maple syrup/honey if you're using it, as well as the egg yolk/s and vanilla, if you've chosen to use them. Blend again until very well mixed. Place your cheese cloth/mesh bag in a large bowl. Pour the hot almond milk though the mesh bag, into the bowl. Carefully squeeze the pulpy almond mixture until you've gotten all the liquid out that you can. It will be hot, so please be cautious! Set the pulp aside. Pour the almond milk into a mason jar or other air-tight container. Allow to cool slightly, then put a lid on and refrigerate. Enjoy! Your almond milk should be good for about 5 days if well sealed and refrigerated.
*The almond milk is likely to separate a bit in the refrigerator. No worries! Just shake it gently before drinking. Without getting too technical, the fat/oil of the milk separates from the more watery part because there isn't an emulsifier (what all those additives are doing in store-bought versions!). The egg yolks are natural emulsifiers and should help prevent the separation a bit, but are not essential - just shake it up and you'll be fine!
**ALMOND PULP…so, you are certainly welcome to just toss your left-over almond pulp, but if you'd like to make use of it instead of just wasting what remains, spread it out into a single layer on a foil-lined baking sheet. Bake at about 200*F until dry (probably about 10 minutes, but keep any eye on it so it doesn't burn). Allow to cool and then crumble with your hands into an air-tight container. Homemade almond flour - ta da!
Filtered Water, Almonds, Cane Sugar, Calcium Carbonate, Sea Salt, Natural Flavor, Locust Bean Gum, Sunflower Lecithin, Gellan Gum, Vitamin E Acetate, Zinc Gluconate, Vitamin A Palmitate, Riboflavin, Vitamin B12, Vitamin D2
Oh, Gellan Gum and Locust Bean Gum, yum! I pick those up at my local supermarket weekly! Yea, not so much. And the Zinc, Vitamin E, B12, Vitamin D, and Vitamin A? Well, if you drank whole milk, you'd be getting those naturally…so that's just a means of adding the nutrients that are missing from the faux-milk. Also, sugar as the THIRD ingredient?! Awesome. But, if you've ever tried to make this stuff yourself, I'm willing to bet it was crazy-expensive. You end up using a cup or more of almonds to get 3-4 cups of milk. That's pretty pricey.
So, in an effort to provide you with a great, natural, whole-food milk alternative, I did some experimenting and finally came up with a recipe I like (it was tested by a friend who is lactose-intolerant and has consumed her fair-share of non-dairy milk and given her seal of approval!). It will give you about 3 cups of milk using a mere 1/4 cup of almonds. Yep, that's right. AND, I'm even going to give you something to do with that left-over almond pulp. Without further ado, homemade Almond Milk.
Almond Milk
makes about 3 cups
As a head's up, this recipe will require a cheese cloth or mesh bag with a very fine weave. A big piece of plain linen or other non-fluffy/shedding fabric would also probably suffice)
1/4 cup raw almonds
3 - 3 and 1/4 cups water (filtered is best)
1-3 tsp honey or maple syrup (optional; taste first and decide if you want it sweeter)
salt
2 tsp ground flax seeds
1/4-1/2 tsp vanilla (optional; I often like mine with a little vanilla loveliness)
1-2 egg yolks (also optional, but will add some B12, Vitamin D, and Vitamin A, among other things)
Bring your 3+ cups of water to boil and then remove from heat to cool just a bit. Using a coffee/spice grinder or food processor, grind the almonds into a very fine flour, just on the verge of starting to turn into a thick nut butter ( a blender may also work here, but I have never tried it; if you do, please leave a comment and let me know how it went!). In a blender, combine about 1/4-1/2 cup of your hot water, the ground flax, a sprinkling of salt, and the finely ground almonds. Blend until well combined and slightly thick. Because your mixture is hot, it will want to "explode" up in your blender. If you remove the little plastic circle thingy from your blender lid and cover the opening with a folded paper towel, it should help prevent a mess. Be sure to hold the paper towel over the opening or hold the lid down tight.
Once your thickened almond mixture is formed, add all but the last 1/4 cup or so of the hot water, the maple syrup/honey if you're using it, as well as the egg yolk/s and vanilla, if you've chosen to use them. Blend again until very well mixed. Place your cheese cloth/mesh bag in a large bowl. Pour the hot almond milk though the mesh bag, into the bowl. Carefully squeeze the pulpy almond mixture until you've gotten all the liquid out that you can. It will be hot, so please be cautious! Set the pulp aside. Pour the almond milk into a mason jar or other air-tight container. Allow to cool slightly, then put a lid on and refrigerate. Enjoy! Your almond milk should be good for about 5 days if well sealed and refrigerated.
*The almond milk is likely to separate a bit in the refrigerator. No worries! Just shake it gently before drinking. Without getting too technical, the fat/oil of the milk separates from the more watery part because there isn't an emulsifier (what all those additives are doing in store-bought versions!). The egg yolks are natural emulsifiers and should help prevent the separation a bit, but are not essential - just shake it up and you'll be fine!
**ALMOND PULP…so, you are certainly welcome to just toss your left-over almond pulp, but if you'd like to make use of it instead of just wasting what remains, spread it out into a single layer on a foil-lined baking sheet. Bake at about 200*F until dry (probably about 10 minutes, but keep any eye on it so it doesn't burn). Allow to cool and then crumble with your hands into an air-tight container. Homemade almond flour - ta da!