Jan. 4, Day 4: Making Almond Milk

A few weeks ago I started making my own almond milk on a regular basis. It is about as easy as making coffee. Just as my homebrewed coffee tastes much better to me than the stuff I buy at the 7-11, so too does the almond milk I make taste much better than store-bought.

If you want to try it, here's what you need:

• some kind of a blender
• some kind of strainer (like a fine mesh colander, mesh [not paper] coffee filter, paint strainer, cheesecloth or nut bag)
• 1 cup raw (read: unroasted, unsalted) almonds. I prefer to use the blanched ones, but it works just fine to use ordinary almonds with their skins on. The skins just add a little bit of bitterness to the flavor of the finished product.
• 2 cups of water for soaking 
• 4 cups of water to blend with the almonds (less if you like your milk thick and creamy)
• 2 medjool dates (to sweeten it--optional)
• pinch of salt (optional)

Begin by soaking your almonds in 2 cups of water 6-8 hours. I do it overnight and make my milk in the morning. Then drain them and rinse them.

Draining almonds.

For this process, I use my hand blender, since that's all I've got. It works fine, though I am thinking of saving my pennies to purchase a Vitamix. I ashed my husband the other day, "how long do I have to desire a Vitamix blender before I can buy one?" He didn't answer.

Into your blender, put: the almonds, about 2 cups of water, and the dates and salt if you want them. 

Blend like mad. For like a whole minute, maybe longer. You want those almonds as pulverized as possible.

I only stopped blending like mad long enough to take this picture.

 Once you've got your almonds in tiny bits, add 2 more cups of water, or less if you like your milk thick. Blend that in too. Now comes the fun part.

I poured my nut and water mixture into an old-fashioned milk jug
just to look pretty in this picture.

Strain the nut solids out of the milk, using whatever method you like best. I personally found that using this old "gold filter" (from a Cuisanart coffee maker that broke years ago) works really great! I have also used the cheesecloth method--rubberbanding several layers of cheescloth to the top of a container and then pouring the nut/water mix through. I even used a coffee press a couple times, and that worked okay, but not as good as this wire mesh filter.

You may need to stir the nut/water mix and press it a bit to get it to go through your filter. You also may need to scoop some nut solids out of the filter periodically, to make room for more.

What comes through the filter is lovely, delicious fresh almond milk! I use it for smoothies and drink small glasses of it as a treat. It will keep in the fridge for only 2-3 days, so use it quickly. It doesn't have preservatives in it like the supermarket stuff does.

I have read on the interweb that it is possible to transform the leftover nut solids into almond flour, but I haven't tried that. Google it if you're interested, and be sure to tell me about it if you manage to make some.

Okay! Now onto the boring part of this blog.

What I ate:

• 7:45 AM: 1 c cooked quinoa + a few raisins + 2 tbsp toasted flax seeds + 1/2 c almond milk (that I made when I took all those pictures above!!!)
• 11 AM: pre-WOD: 1 small banana + 2 tsp raw almond butter
• 1 PM: post-WOD:  protein shake (1/2 avocado, 2 dates, handful of blueberries, 1/4 c protein powder, 6 oz almond milk)
• 3:30 PM: big salad of greens, sprouts, olives, about 8 baby carrots, 1 hardboiled egg, raw sprouted hummus and olive oil. I was still hungry, so I also ate a Larabar, the peanutbutter chocolate variety...yum.
• 6:30 PM: arrive home from work completely famished and grumpy. Craving COOKED food. Ate 1.5 c butternut squash soup (leftover from the other day, totally delicious), 1 slice whole wheat bread + 1/2 avocado, and 1/2 cup cottage cheese.  Ahhhhh.....comfort food.

I was feeling pretty busted today, like I should take a rest day. I thought I would go to Crossfit Clifton Park and do some active recovery, some stretching, and maybe hit "Fran" if I felt like it. When the time came, I didn't really feel like it, but I did it anyway. So, what I exercised:

• CF warmup x 2
• Row 500 meters (2:20--slow and steady)
• "Fran"
  21-15-9
  65# thrusters (scaled to 55#)
  pullups (scaled to ring-rows)
  7:20

As usual, Fran turned me into an asthmatic puddle on the floor. Can puddles be asthmatic? I surely thought so today.  7:20 is an abysmal time. I probably should have used 45# or even lighter, especially given how I was feeling, but sometimes it's good to push myself. I guess. I'll look on the bright side: I am certain to beat 7:20 when I hit Fran again in 3 months!