Make your own Almond Milk

Now we've finally invested in a Vitamix one of the first things I was eager to try was making our own almond milk. It really is crazy simple!

Ingredients

• 1 cup raw almonds
• 5 cups filtered water

...yep, that's it! (of course you can sweeten it if you need to with a little stevia or honey, and you can add some vanilla essence if that's your thang, but we just like it plain so we can add to smoothies where's there's already plenty of flavour and natural sweeteners!)

Directions

1. Soak the almonds overnight in 2 cups of water
2. Rinse and drain
3. Add to your high speed blender along with 5 cups fresh filtered water
4. Blend on high speed for 2-3 minutes
5. Sieve through a nut bag or fine mesh cheesecloth - however if I'm just making my almond milk to use in a smoothie or to add to oatmeal for example, I don't sieve it at all. That way I get all the benefits of the nuts in one go!
6. And Voila! You have your almond milk. Store in airtight containers in the fridge for up to 3 days

If you do decide to sieve your mix, don't throw the 'residue' away - spread that out thinly on a baking tray and pop it in a 180 degree oven for 3-4 hours to dry out. Once dry, put it in a food processor to smooth out all the lumps and you have yourself some almond meal!