If somebody told me a year ago I would be regularly making almond milk at home, I would say no way, why!? But that’s how life is, we never know what will happen and how things are going to develop and which turn our life will take… I always thought that I am eating healthy and that there is absolutely nothing wrong with the food that I eat. When thinking about that, mostly I was comparing myself with those people whose diet consists of fried food, fast food, sugary drinks and candy bars. Sure compared to that my diet seemed really healthy because I’ve always loved and ate fish and other seafood, fruit and vegetables, olive oil and cereals… I also always loved desserts, chocolate, bread, cheese and butter!
My health struggle and food as medicine…
About 10 months ago my body warned me (and believe me in a way that I couldn’t ignore!!) that there is something wrong with my digestive system and that I need to do something about it. After being on strong medicines and very, very limited and strict diet, I managed to relatively heal my gut and most of the bad symptoms I had were gone. Since I lost 11 kg in the process and felt weak and without energy, I had to seriously think about what I eat, which natural supplements I need to take and how can I continue to heal my body but without too much deprivation of all the amazing food I love to eat.
That’s how after research and testing, I came to this how I eat today. With introducing and increasing the intake of healthy fats like salmon, avocado, extra virgin olive oil, coconut oil, nuts and nut butters, seeds, fresh fruit & vegetables juices and smoothies etc I managed to (in combination with vitamins, minerals and other natural supplements) return my energy levels, few kilos which I needed and generally feeling better and stronger.
There are still quite a few things I don’t eat but the most important things that I cut out is dairy (except hard cheeses because those I can tolerate and I absolutely cannot give up on cheese as I LOVE it so much and homemade kefir that I have been making with “real” milk), refined sugar and white flour. I want to be honest and say that I still taste and have a little quantity of something from the “forbidden” list as I believe that nothing drastic is good for you and that it’s important to find a balance and still enjoy the food that makes you happy!
In this process, rather than focusing on the negative and feeling sorry for myself that I cannot eat some of the things I always loved, I focused on the positive and discovered the whole new world of food that is amazing, delicious and good for you!
That’s how we come to today’s post about homemade Almond milk! It’s something I’ve never even tried before and now I love, so good and creamy and I eat it with oats, granola, put it in desserts, smoothies… It’s also so much better if you make it yourself as the one you buy is normally too sweet as there is sugar added and also other unnecessary stuff. Homemade one also taste much, much better!
- 1 cup raw almonds soaked in water
- 3 cups filtered water
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- Note : Ingredients for a bit less than 1 L.
- Place almonds in a bowl, cover with water (3 cups) and leave in the fridge soaking overnight (at least 8-12 hours).
- Rinse and drain the almonds and put them in your blender with 3 cups of filtered water and vanilla extract. You could also add a little bit of cinnamon if you wish. Blend on high speed for about a minute.
- Place a nut milk bag or any thin cloth (like the one I used) over a large bowl and pour slowly the almond mixture into the cloth. Leave it for about an hour and then squeeze the nut bag/cloth to release the remaining of the almond milk.
- Pour the milk into glass jar and store in the fridge for about 3-4 days. Always mix the milk with a spoon before using as it separates in two layers. There is nothing better than having a chocolate cookie with a glass of cold almond milk, yum! 🙂
Ja obožavam mlijeko od badema. Također sam čula da se ostaci od badema mogu iskoristiti za izradu namaza od badema na kruhu. Navodno da je jako dobar i ujedno možeš sve sastojke iskoristiti. 🙂
Njam, to moram isprobati! A vec sam radila par puta super kuglice s tim ostacima badema (evo i sada sam ih napravila roditeljima tu u Dubrovniku i sve smo smazali!) i to ce bit sljedece na blogu za koji dan! 🙂
Love your website lili! I will definitely have to try the almond milk recipe
Thank you so much dear Emma! Let me know if you try it! 🙂