Nut milks

A few weeks ago I went on a yoga retreat at Mesa Del Sol with Kelly Blaser. What a lovely spot for a retreat, the yoga outside was a delight.

Kelly co-teaches the retreat I attend twice a year with my teacher, Laurie Burr,  at Mount Madonna. 
When I signed up I didn't realize that this retreat was also lead by Tayla and had a portion that was about Ayurvedic nutrition. Tayla prepared all our food, which was delicious.

What does all this have to do with nut milks ?? I have never really been a fan of the commercial nut milks. While I don't have a problem with dairy, I don't drink cow's milk either and soy milk is so passe ;-)
While on the retreat Talya offered us homemade nut milk, it was quite tasty both cold and heated up with spices and honey. Almond milk is good for you with lots of vitamin E, B vitamins and low in carbs and calories if that matters to you.

When I got home I looked up a few recipes and was astonished at how easy it was to make. Since then every few days I make a batch usually with almonds but the current batch has cashews and sunflower seeds.

All you need are the nuts and seeds, a blender and either a mesh bag or cheesecloth.

Easy nut milk

Ingredients

1 cup nuts: almonds, cashews, sunflowerseeds, pumpkin seeds
2-4 cups water

1) Soak the nuts/seeds overnight or for at least four hours.
2) Pour off the soaking water.

3) Place the nuts and 1-2 cups water in a blender. Blend on low, then on high for several minutes.

4) Add more water, up to 4 cups and blend some more. I like my milk rather thick so I use only about 2 1/2 cups of water.

5) You will need a mesh bag or a large square of cheesecloth and a large strainer. I found this reusable  produce bag which worked perfectly. The nice thing about the bag is that I can use it over and over again.

6) Pour the liquid into your bag or strainer lined with cheesecloth and squeeze over a bowl or large measuring cup. Try to get as much liquid out as you can.

7) Place the milk in a jar and refrigerate. Some recipes mention flavoring or sweetening them. Do that if you like.
I love heating it up with some cardamom and honey.
Use it just like you would soy milk or even cow's milk, on hot or cold cereal, in tea or coffee.

Don't throw out that lovely pulp. I have found lots of uses for it and am excited to explore more of them.
So far I used a cup in my bread recipe. In my fruit tart recipe I used 3/4 cup almond pulp and 3/4 cup flour to make the crust.

My fruit crisp recipe was the best ever with this topping:
1 cup almond pulp
2/3 oats
2/3 cups brown sugar
1/4 cup butter

I have seen recipes for spreads and nut flours using the pulp. I will post more as I find them.
If you don't plan to use the pulp right away stick it in the freezer.