I use mainly a non-dairy alternative, almond milk, but I'm not a fan of the fillers used in commercial almond milk, even the organic brands.
Making homemade almond milk is easy and in my opinion yummier. It just requires planning ahead, but doesn't anything delicious take a little extra time?
Homemade Almond Milk
Ingredients
Instructions
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Place the almonds, water, dates and salt in a large glass container. Let it sit at room temperature until warm or cool, then refrigerate overnight or 8 hours.
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Place the ingredients in a high powered blender and add the vanilla extract.
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Blend on high speed until the mixture has a very fine texture, like a smoothie.
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Place a nut bag inside a container, then pour the almond mixture into the nut bag and let the milk drain into the container. Squeeze the remaining almond milk from the nut meal with clean hands.
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Almond milk is ready to enjoy. It will last 3 days in the refrigerator.
Note
- Nut bags: a reusable one works well; a triple layer of fine meshed cheese cloth and a strainer also works.
- To fortify it, add powdered calcium citrate and magnesium. I add 2 opened calcium/magnesium capsules per 1 cup serving.
- To use the almond meal in baking, dehydrate it: spread on a parchment-lined baking sheet in a 225 F oven for a couple of hours, until dried out. Keep in a zip lock bag in the refrigerator or freezer; it keeps about a month frozen and can go rancid quickly.
