Reading Time: 3 minutesIt’s great to learn how to cook a delicious recipe. One dish that will just wow the pants off of anyone. I’ve found that during the Challenge, what’s really useful is to learn how to make simple things that you can use everywhere. And there are some things that sometimes get taken for granted until you can’t use them anymore.
Milk. It’s there. It sits in the fridge waiting to be added to coffee, cereal, baking recipes, even a tall cold glass to go alongside some WLC compliant fudge. But here, you can’t have milk (Wanna know why? You can read an informative post here, at Mark’s Daily Apple). But I digress. We’re talking about what to do when you’re accustomed to drinking it and suddenly its pleasures are yanked away from you.
There are a few replacement “milks” out there (almond, hemp, soy), but many of them have icky ingredients and soy isn’t allowed here either. So what’s a Whole Life Challenge soul to do? How about make your own?!
Making your own almond milk is both easy and satisfying. It’s delicious and you know exactly what’s in it. Today, I am sharing with you a recipe for delicious homemade almond milk from one of your fellow Whole Life Challengers, Alexa Joy Sherman of Clean for a Day (same place I got that tempting fudge recipe above).
All it takes is the nuts, water, vanilla, dates, and salt. One thing I must mention: don’t skip the soaking. It’s really important and you’ll get a pretty unsatisfying result if you do. For a link to Alexa’s original post, click here.
Homemade Almond Milk
Making your own almond milk is both easy and satisfying. It’s delicious and you know exactly what’s in it.
Ingredients
- 4 cups raw almonds
- 8 cups filtered water
- 1-2 vanilla beans optional; they can be pricey so I like to buy them in bulk
- 2-4 pitted dates optional
- 1-2 teaspoons pink Himalayan salt
- Additional water for soaking almonds
Instructions
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Place almonds in a large (32oz) container and cover completely with filtered water.
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Place vanilla beans and dates (if using) in the separate 8 cups (64oz) of filtered water.
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Soak everything overnight, or for at least 6 hours.
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Drain and rinse the almonds and place in a high-powered blender.
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Add 5-6 cups of the vanilla-date water, along with the vanilla beans and dates (if using) and the salt, to the almonds.
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Blend at a ludicrous speed until all solids are pureed.
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Place a nut milk bag (or a very fine mesh sieve) over a large bowl, and pour in contents of blender. Make sure to squeeze (or press) the mulch in order to strain off every last delicious drop.
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Set aside the almond mulch. (You can toss it or store it in a container for use in other recipes.)
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Pour the milk into a large (at least 64oz) container, and add the remaining vanilla-date water to it (pour water through a sieve if there are any solids left in it) and gently stir.
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Store milk in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. Note that you will need to shake it thoroughly each time you serve it.
He graduated from UCLA with a BA in philosophy as well as a degree from the Southern California School of Culinary Arts, and feels food is one of the most important parts of a life - it can nourish, heal, and bring people together.
Michael believes health and well-being are as much a state of mind as they are a state of the body, and when it comes to fitness, food, and life in general, he thinks slow is much better than fast (most of the time). Stopping regularly to examine things is the surest way to put down roots and grow.
He knows he will never be done with his own work, and believes the best thing you can do for your well-being starts with loving and working from what you’ve got right now.
