Since I stopped drinking milk years ago, I have always bought soy milk and almond milk from the grocery store to use as a milk replacement. Not anymore! I recently learned how to make my own nut milks at home. Well, I guess I have read about making them myself for a while, but I finally decided to try it out not too long ago. And now I am obsessed with it! It is really easy and inexpensive and you don't need anything super special - just a blender and a "nut milk bag." What is a nut milk bag, you may wonder? It is nothing other than a
paint strainer bag that you can get from the hardware store for about $1. Beautiful.
Also, you can use any RAW nuts or seeds that you want. My favorites are almonds, hazelnuts, sesame seeds, and pumpkin seeds. But you could also use cashews, sunflower seeds, brazil nuts, hemp seeds, etc. You can buy nuts/seeds pretty inexpensively from the bulk bins at grocery stores and natural foods stores. Trader Joe's also has really great prices on raw nuts/seeds.
I have read a bunch of recipes and used trial and error to figure out what works for me, so here it goes.
Ingredients:
1/2 cup nuts/seeds
3-4 cups water (depending on how rich you want it to be)
3-5 dates or a few teaspoons of agave syrup or a pinch of stevia (optional)
Add your nuts and water to the blender. Then add your sweetener if desired. Blend until nuts stop rattling. Strain liquid through a nut milk bag. Store in a recycled glass jar in the fridge. Use within 5 days or so.
See? It takes 5 minutes and it is wonderfully amazing. It is so delicious that you can drink it plain, top cereal with it, make chocolate milk, use it as the base for smoothies, put it in tea/coffee, make a maple mate latte. ANYTHING!
