Life-saving Almond Milk

Good morning everyone!
Last night was a rough night for me. Hypothyroidism slows the metabolism, which usually makes you really tired along with a bunch of other symptoms that varies from person to person. Some people though despite being exhausted also get insomnia. I am one of the lucky ones and only get this every now and then. Last night was a sleep fight night, despite my best efforts (I am very competitive) I think hypo won 9 hours of laying very still to 3 hours of actual sleep.

I am very thankful for my pre-homemade almond milk though, which was sitting in the fridge calling my name from 4am this morning. I resisted temptation and have waited til now to get out of the bed and make some delicious life-saving coffee. Although I'm not sure if waiting this long was out of pure stubbornness to at least try to get 6 hours of sleep. For those who know me, know quite well of my stubbornness. I could win a competition of "what is the most stubborn?" versus most things... that wine stain on your favourite rug, the calcium residue on the glass pane in your shower, your cat meowing in the early hours of the morning for food or you dogs insistence when they hear the word "walk". I could beat all of those and still have some stubbornness left over.

Today I will share my recipe for this life saving almond milk with you all. It is so simple and yet so delicious and has none of the chemically after taste that the store bought ones do. After making this for the first time I declared to my husband that I would never drink store bought again! And so far I have kept that promise. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

Almond Milk

Ingredients

·         2 cups almonds

·         pinch salt + water to cover

·         4 cups filtered water

·         2 dates, pitted

Method

1.    Add salt to almonds and dates and cover with water.

2.    Soak 8-12 hours or overnight at room temperature.

3.    Drain almonds and rinse.

4.    Take off almond skin by rubbing it between 2 fingers. (should come out pretty easy, careful with how hard you rub though, otherwise your almond may fly across the room! And if your house is anything like my house, it will be a race between you and the dogs as to who gets to it first!)

5.    Add almonds to KitchenAid cook processor with 3 cups of filtered water and dates.

6.    Blend until smooth, using pulse for 20 seconds, scrape down sides if needed and pulse again.

7.    Line a bowl with cheese cloth/nut bag. Pour off most of liquid in bowl.

8.    Leave what is left in the CookPro, add another cup of filtered water and pulse again for 20 seconds.

9.    Strain through nut milk bag, squeezing pulp thoroughly to extract as much almond milk as possible.

10. Store in the fridge for up to 4 days.

11. The left over almonds from the bag can be made into almond meal by placing on a baking tray in an oven pre-heated to 120 degrees Celsius for 15-20 min. Make sure the meal is spread in a thin layer and is left on the bench to coll for at least 1 hour or more before storing in an airtight container.

Thank you all for visiting, and I hope to see you again. Feel free to leave me a comment below, and please let me know if you try the recipe. If you do not have a cook pro, don't fear! A good processor or blender should work out fine, you might just need to pulse for longer or play around with the speeds a little.

Signing off!

Love Mandy M xo