Almond Milk

It's been really hard getting my family to switch from cow's milk to plant based milk. It's not because they don't understand the health benefits of switching, nor is it their lack of understanding where their milk comes from, it just was a habit that was difficult to break. But with persistence, constant re-education, and patience, the switch has been made. At first they weened down to soy milk, and with more patience and time, they eventually kicked the soy (thank goodness) and moved to almond milk. Now instead of buying almond milk (that tastes more like cardboard than anything), I'm making it. It's so delicious it's seriously like dessert in a cup. The coolest thing about making your own almond milk is there is no waste. The end byproduct, almond pulp, can easily be turned into almond flour, which is great for baking!

Vanilla Almond Milk
1 cup raw almonds, soaked for a minimum of 1 hour, ideally overnight
3 cups water
3 dates, pitted (sounds strange, trust me on this one)
1/2 vanilla bean
1/2-1 teaspoon ground cinnamon (depending on taste)

Chocolate Almond Milk
1 cup raw almonds, soaked for a minimum of 1 hour, ideally overnight
3 cups water
3 dates, pitted
1-2 teaspoons unsweetened cocoa powder

Rinse the almonds, add them to the blender with the remaining ingredients, blend for one minute. Pour mixture into a nut bag, or a fine mesh strainer. Collect the milk and store in an air tight jar for up to a week in the fridge.

*If the dates or vanilla bean are hard/dried out, soak them along with the almonds.

Almond Flour
If you have a dehydrator, I recommend setting it to 115º F and leaving the pulp overnight to dry, making sure to spread it in a thin layer. You can also set your oven to the lowest setting, place pulp in a thin layer on a parchment lined baking sheet and bake for 3-5 hours, or until dry. Once dried put it in the food processor for a minute until it turns into a fine powder. Store the almond flour in an air tight jar until needed. You can make awesome cookies, like these cookies, or even power bars using almond flour.