Not too long ago I came into possession of a Vitamix. For months I went back and forth as to whether it was worth the expense or not, whether I would actually use it or not, or whether to bring it up to my Husband or not… haha I fully expected to get shot down by him immediately since after all, I was asking $500 for a mixer. So I waited until the night I gave birth to my son and then asked him hehe I’m not even kidding- I asked and ordered that sucker the very night I gave birth. Pretty calculating, huh? ha I mean he couldn’t really say no… he was in Afghanistan and I was alone in Germany laboring over the birth of his son. But that’s a whole different story.
Sadly, it took my Vitamix 2 months to get to me way over here across the Atlantic. But once it finally arrived at my doorsteps, I ripped it open, started it up, and it hasn’t had a day to rest since.
Best buy EVER.
I make smoothies every day and I feel great! It is the perfect way to quickly and easily counteract all that sugar and butter I also consume every day… but with my smoothies I always use my homemade almond milk as the base. I think smoothies made with water are gross, no matter how low cal they are. Yuck. So I go with almond milk and I make my own instead of purchasing it from the store because the store bought kind is made with various preservatives, thickeners, etc. that I simply don’t want in my belly. And to encourage all of you to do the same, I wanted to show you how very easy it is to make homemade almond milk:
Start with 4 cups water and 1 cup plain ol’, skin on, un-salted, un-roasted almonds. Got that? PLAIN. And you want to set and cover them in a bowl to sit overnight. This allows them to soften and make life easier for your blender. They break down better in your belly that way too. You can go so far as to sprout the almonds, but I just soak them overnight because of time constraints. Some people also rinse the nuts after soaking as well. I usually just throw all the liquid in there.
The next part of the process is very straight-forward: blend your almonds and water. The nuts won’t completely break down, there will be lots of leftover fiber in there. You will have to strain that out. Unless, of course, you want “pulp” with your almond milk. If that’s the case then more power to ya. I always strain mine though. I bought a cheap milk-nut bag off of Amazon. So cheap that it is actually ripping at the seam already… good thing it wasn’t a big investment.
If you want plain almond milk then you’re all set- the milk is done! But if you are like me and want to sweeten and flavor things up a bit, this is where you can add your honey, stevia, agave, etc. I also add some vanilla. I like a strong flavor so I go with 2 tsp, if you just want it to be a subtle flavor than go with 1 tsp.
Serves: makes about 5 cups
- 4 cups water
- 1 cup almonds
- 2 tablespoons honey (preferably raw)
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- Place water and almonds in a medium sized bowl; cover and let sit overnight.
- Blend almonds and water on high in blender, until well-processed. Pieces of fiber will remain throughout.
- Strain almond-mixture through nut-milk bag or cheesecloth, squeezing to extract as much juice as possible.
- Return almond milk to blender and add honey and vanilla. Blend on low to combine.
- Store in refrigerator. Best used within 4 days.
Tagged as:
almonds,
beverage,
drink,
healthy,
nuts