Homemade Almond Milk

I've previously ranted about almond milk and my dislike of the misleading advertising comparing almond milk with cow's milk. Personally I dislike the flavour of the UHT almond milk, however I decided to have a go making fresh milk to see if there was a difference.

Making almond milk is really simple. Soak 1 cup of raw almonds in water overnight then drain. Place in a Thermomix or high-powered blender with 3 cups water, 2 medjool dates and a splash of vanilla extract and blend for at least a minute or until smooth.

Pour into muslin or a chux (or something called a nut bag? Sounds rude) to strain out all the fibre. Squeeze out as much milk as possible and voila! Almond milk!

Almond pulp

This was a bit of a lightbulb moment - fresh almond milk tastes AMAZING! It's nutty and creamy and has a great mouthfeel. Now I understand what people are raving about. Don't be duped however, this is no cow's milk alternative as it doesn't contain the calcium or protein that cow's milk does but nonetheless it tastes great! The other bonus is that the leftover almond pulp can be used in baking, muesli and smoothies as it is almond meal. If you are going to use it as almond meal, you'll need to dry it out in a slow oven. If not using immediately, pop it in the freezer so it doesn't go rancid.



 Sarah xx

Refreshing Green Smoothie

Everything tastes better with an umbrella straw!

I've jumped on the green smoothie bandwagon. I already eat plenty of vegetables but if I can sneak another serve or two in at breakfast all the better! I much prefer smoothies over juice as they are more filling and more nutritious due to the added fibre content. Juice has much too much sugar for my liking!

Due to Melbourne's excessive heat lately, I've been having smoothies post workout because I find them to be a more nourishing and satisfying breakfast especially with a some protein powder added. I've lately been using Sunwarrior which not only tastes delicious, but isn't so gritty. The best thing with this one is that it serves two, so you've got breakfast already prepared for the following day!

Almond Milk - a rant

I didn't start a blog to whinge and rant about things however there has been some advertising lately that i find very misleading and i want to get the correct nutritional message out there! It is in regards to So Good's almond milk.

I hear ad after ad claiming that it has only 1/3 the calories of regular milk. Yes that may be true but it has a similar amount to skim milk or fat free soy milk. The thing that really annoys me is the ingredients label.

First the ingredients: This 'milk' contains only 2% almonds with water and cane sugar making up the rest of the mixture. Now i'm sorry but almond flavoured sugar water is hardly a good milk substitute. Furthermore this almond milk is not fortified with calcium, only vitamin E at a measly 10% RDI per glass. Additionally it contains only 1.3g protein per glass (compared to about 9g in skim milk or 8g in soy.)

Now i'm all for milk substitutes, but from a nutrition perspective they should at least have added calcium and be equivalent in protein. Low calorie food isn't everything, we need nutrients to survive.

Rant over.

Sarah xx