DIY: Almond Milk

My blender recently bit the dust, which gave me a valid reason to finally upgrade to the Blendtec Total Blender.  I’ve been eyeing the more powerful blenders for some time now, but was quite hesitant to shell out so much for a blender.  My dilly dallying paid off as (1) I got full use out of my first blender until it finally broke and (2) the cost of the Blendtec blenders has significantly reduced since they first hit the market!

The blender includes a handy recipe book to give you plenty of ideas on how to use your Blendtec – smoothies, soups, dips, breads – you name it, this blender has you covered.  Having waited so long before upgrading, I have been eagerly testing out different recipes to see just how fab my new blender really is.  So far my testing has been focused on smoothies (the main use for our blender to date and it rocks!) until I stumbled across the home-made almond milk recipe.

Although I am huge consumer of dairy goods, I like to use almond milk in my smoothies to add variety to my diet and reap the health benefits almonds provide. 

I never realized how easy it is to make your own.  All it is, is water, almonds (soaked overnight), a little vanilla and kosher salt.  The recipe also called for agave nectar; however, I wanted to keep my almond milk sugar free, so I skipped the nectar altogether.  After soaking a cup of almonds overnight in water, I combined 4 cups of water with the soaked nuts and hit the “Whole Juice” setting and let the blender do its thing.  I then strained the liquid through cheesecloth to remove the almond skins and pulp, before rinsing the container and continuing to mix the remaining ingredients in with a few “Pulses”.  The almond milk is supposed to keep in the fridge for 3 days. 

Oh – be sure not to throw away the remaining solids, as it can be dehydrated to create de-fatted almond meal!  I'm currently in the process of testing that and will be sure to report back on how it turns out. 

I'm sure there are other blenders on the market that would do the trick, but thank you Blendtec for making my foray into nut milk making easy and enjoyable!

Enjoy!