Homemade Vanilla Almond Milk

There is nothing quite like having fresh, raw almond milk. The pure essence of nutty, nutritious raw almonds with absolutely no additives and no processing is utterly divine. 

It’s even better when you have personally made it–a very rewarding and primal feeling emerges and you could swear the milk tastes even better then if you ordered it.

How did I make it?
With this batch, I got a bulk of raw organic almonds and soaked them overnight in filtered water. 

In the morning I dumped out the water and refilled it with more filtered water. I then poured the almonds + filtered water into my Vitamix and added a little pure vanilla extract. I didn’t go overboard, I just wanted a hint. This is where your “quality control” comes in. You can add as much or as little as you’d like. You can get as creative as you want (oats, cashews, hemp, macadamia, etc) or as simple as you want. The choice is up to you and only you!
From there I blended my mixture. 

After the almond milk was blended I had the option to strain (using a cheesecloth) the pulp from the milk making the texture smooth. I chose to keep my pulp in this batch so I can play with the texture. It was part milky, part pulpy. 

I used it make my breakfast-vanilla almond pulp milk with blueberries, goji berries and coconut shreds. 

It was delicious!!

It hit all the notes needed; texture, protein, antioxidants, a little sweet and completely filling!
Afterwards I decided to strain the pulp from the milk, BUT instead of tossing it like most do, I saved it. There are a ton of options you can re-purpose your almond pulp for; cereal, savory “meatballs”, almond feta, energy balls, casseroles, crackers, smoothies and cookies!

After this batch I had the urge to go for a cacao version. Nuff’ said.