Homemade Almond Milk Recipe

Blend, Strain, Squeeze, Pour, and Dump! Henry Ford would be proud! :)

My husband is sensitive to lactose. Whenever he has cow's milk he is stuffed up and is a total mess. So, I started to do some digging around at what some healthy alternatives are and I tried them all:

Soymilk - We started to drink this but it just didn't taste right and soy is not good to eat in excess.

Rice Milk - It is ok. Not my favorite compared to Almond Milk but it tastes good. It is a little bit more watery than almond milk.

Almond Milk - This was a GREAT alternative! It tastes great and has an awesome consistency. I tried all three flavors (unsweetened: 30 calories per cup Original: 60 calories per cup Vanilla: TOO MUCH FOR ME! :)). The unsweetened was good and the original was the best. The vanilla was gross to me (personally). It was really sweet and didn't taste like milk.

After drinking the milk for quite a few months I decided I wanted to save some money and preservatives and make it myself! There are many different ways to do it. I will give you two.

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Recipe #1: Raw Method (More Simple)


Ingredients:
1 cup almonds (raw not toasted)
4 cups filtered water
Sprouting Bag or 4-5 Cheese Cloths
(Honey, maple syrup, dates, or stevia if you want to sweeten it - only use about 1 teaspoon to start and then taste as you add more to your liking. You can pretty much add anything you want to flavor you can have it like me -- PLAIN! :))

Step 1: Give your almonds a bath!

Put 1 cup of almonds in a bowl of water and let it soak 12 - 24 hours. (This gets rid of the phylic acid in them, which is not good for you!)

Step 2: Blend!

Rinse the almonds the you soaked. Add them to the blender with 2 cups of water on a lower setting then add the rest of the water and blend on the highest setting. Slowly add the rest of the water and blend as long as you can stand it! (Yes, skins and all!)

Step 3: (Last Step) Strain!

Using the sprouting bag or cheese cloths strain the mixture into a bowl, pitcher (whatever you would like to use to store the almond milk) and squeeze the liquid out of the remaining meal. Put the meal into a separate bowl (You can use it in cookies, bread, smoothies, crackers, etc.).

Continue Step 4 until you have strained all of the almond milk.

optional: After blending add in the sweetener to your preference by blending it one more time in the blender just until mixed. 

ENJOY!

Recipe #2 (Blanched Method):

This is a little bit more work but you don't have to worry about those pesky almond skins that are kind of bitter.

Ingredients:

1 cup almonds (raw not toasted)
4 cups filtered water
Sprouting Bag or 4-5 Cheese Cloths
(Honey, maple syrup, dates, or stevia if you want to sweeten it - only use about 1 teaspoon to start and then taste as you add more to your liking. You can pretty much add anything you want to flavor you can have it like me -- PLAIN! :))

Step 1: Blanch the Almonds

Get 1 large pot and fill it with water (you want about double the amount of water for the amount of almonds that you have).

Bring the water to a boil.

Add the almonds for 3 minutes to boiling water. (I always set a timer so I'm not staring at the clock for what seems like HOURS!)

Pull the almonds out with a slotted spoon, use a colander, etc. into a bowl.

When the almonds are cool enough squeeze one end of the almond like you are pinching it and the white part of the almond will fly out, so get ready to catch it! I have flung MANY almonds across the room!

Continue until the skins are off all of the almonds.

**This isn't a hard process. It takes time but it isn't hard.

Step 2: (optional) Give the Almonds a Bath!

Put the almonds in a bowl with water for a soak. Soak for 12-24 hours (overnight). This helps to soften the almond meal and help it to blend better (and gets rid of the phylic acid).

Step 3: Blend!

Add all of the almonds to the blender with the 2 cups of water on a lower setting then add the rest of the water and blend on high. Slowly add the rest of the water and blend for as long as you want. The longer you blend, the more the almond meal that will be in the water.

Step 4: (Last Step) Strain.

Using the sprouting bag or cheese cloths strain the mixture into a bowl, pitcher (whatever you would like to use to store the almond milk) and squeeze the liquid out of the remaining meal. Put the meal into a separate bowl (You can use it in cookies, bread, smoothies, crackers, etc.).

Continue Step 4 until you have strained all of the almond milk.

optional: After blending add in the sweetener to your preference by blending it one more time in the blender just until mixed.

ENJOY!

Pour half the water and 1 cup of almond into the blender.

Start blending on low speed for 1-2 minutes.

Finish blending on high speed for as long as you please but at least a minute. (I usually do it for 2-3 minutes)

Using a strainer (I use a nut bag, cheese cloth works too!), put the meal into the bag and squeeze the meal so all of the liquid drains into a bowl.

Add the milk from the bowl to a canning jar for easy storage in your fridge.

Almond Meal - this can be saved to use in crackers, bread - anything that uses flour.

The finished product!