Homemade Almond Milk and Almond Flour

There was a time when describing someone as ‘crunchy’ was not a positive thing, in my mind. Our daughter loves being considered crunchy, and some of her ideas have rubbed off on me. We have been using Almond Milk in our smoothies daily for more than two years now, finding the brand that we prefer, but never really thinking much about the ingredients. Miss Crunchy took a look at the label and did some research and has convinced me that buying raw, organic almonds and converting them into milk is simple, less expensive and healthier, and you get almond flour (which is ab0ut $10 per pound) in the process! We tried it one morning last week, and it was a big success! I used the resource at http://ohsheglows.com for the recipe, you will need an Almond Nut Bag (also called a sprouting bag) to do this.

Homemade Almond Milk

1 c almonds, soaked in water for at least 4 hours (12 hours is ideal)

31/2 c water

1 t vanilla

1 t honey (if you like sweetened almond milk)

1 pinch sea salt

Place soaked almonds and water into a blender, blend on high for a full minute. Pour the mixture slowly through the nut bag into a bowl, gently squeezing the almond remains for 2-3 minutes. Set aside the remains, which will be your Almond Flour. Rinse the blender and pour milk back in, adding the vanilla, honey and salt. Blend on low for 20 seconds, and smell how delicious almond milk is! Pour into a glass jar and refrigerate, use within 5 days, shaking well before serving.

Almond Flour

Pour the remains from the sprouting bag onto a cookie sheet, heat the oven to 170 degrees and allow to dry out the flour for 3 hours on this setting. Pour the flour into a food processor and process for just a few seconds. Store in a cool, dry place. 1 c of almonds should produce approximately 2/3c almond flour.