08/14

Get Nutty with Almonds

If you haven’t made your own almond milk you seriously need to.  This the easiest recipe ever, and it tastes better than any store bought you could ever buy. This is not a tall tale or an over zealous blog claim, I promise you!!  It is that delicious.

One of my dearest friends for over 100 years, Aimee Early, recently stayed with me (and part of her brood) at my house in the Hamptons.  I’m telling you it was a multi-kid fun time jamboree.  Brooks had a blast!!  I have SO many pictures and recipes to share from our time in the Hamptons.  Posts coming soon I promise.

When Aimee was visiting, she hipped me to this almond milk recipe as she makes it every couple of days for her 1 year old. It’s ridiculously simple and truly the best almond milk you have ever tasted. (Thank you, Aimee!!)

• Soak 1 cup of raw almonds overnight in cool water or for at least 8 hours. Don’t refrigerate. **Very important that almonds are raw.  Cooked or roasted won’t work.
• Drain and rinse almonds.
• Place almonds into blender along with 3 ½ cups of water, 2 pitted dates, 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract and a pinch of salt.
• Blend until quiet. (About 1 minute)

• Strain liquid by pouring through cheesecloth or nut bag.
• Squeeze all excess liquid from the cheesecloth/nut bag.

If you want to be super DIY chic you can get this nut milk making kit for under $30 over at William Sonoma. Would be a perfect gift for any boho hippie chick or Paleo pal.

The nut pulp left over in the cheesecloth has many nutritious and yummy uses too! If you keep as is, it will stay fresh for a few days.  Add it to your smoothies or oatmeal. Or your other option is to dry it out and make almond flour.

Almond Meal

• Set your oven to 200 degrees.
• Spread your almond nut pulp onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.
• Bake until completely dry 2-3 hours.
• If you desire the meal to be finer toss into the food processor for a quick whirl.

Did you know that macarons are made from almond flour??  Just sayin’…

Almond meal is great for low carb, gluten free and paleo eating alike.  I just like it because it tastes so darn good.

Now that you’ve made it, what do you do with your nutty leche besides drinking it all up?  I found a gaggle of beyond yummy for your tummy almond milk based recipes over at the Huffington Post, which includes an article discussing the slightly contentious almond milk debate. Where words like “ignorant hipsters” are thrown around. Definitely worth the read and for the recipes.

For me, almonds have always been a great source of protein.  I have a large jar of them in my office for snacking.  With anything, you just have to be mindful of portion control.  A SUPER important fact that I have failed to mention is how incredibly inexpensive it is to make almond milk compared to buying it in the store.  You can make it for pennies compared to over $3 per quart for the organic store bought versions and you also get almond meal out of the deal, which can go for almost $10 per pound! Now that is some penny pinching logic I can get behind.