Make your own Almond Milk (-Kim-)

When Eric found out that he was allergic to dairy, it took a long while to find a different source of non-dairy goodness for his cereal and other things.  He finally came to the conclusion that Vanilla Almond Milk was his favorite.  He's been drinking that for about 6 months now.

I came across a recipe of sorts to make your own almond milk.  I had to try it.  I mean, seriously?  How awesome is that!?

Here's what you need:
Raw Almonds
5 cups of water
A cheesecloth

That's. It.

No, seriously.  Other than adding a teaspoon of vanilla to it, per Eric's request, that's all you need!

We bought a bag of almonds at Kroger.  They were near the produce section.

Measure out a cup of the almonds and put them in a covered dish of water.  Let them soak over night.  We left ours soak for almost 24 hours.  Oops, time slipped away from me!

 After their nice soak, drain them and rinse them off.

 Now, add 5 cups of filtered water to your blender and then add the nuts.  I noticed there was a floating nut AFTER I took the picture.  That bad boy was fished out though.

 Turn on your blender.  I put it on medium speed for about a minute and a half.  It got a little frothy at that speed.  So watch yours.  Once it starts to froth, stop blending.

 After you are done blending, place the cheesecloth over a jar.  We used a quart small mouth mason jar.

 Waiting....waiting...waiting....

Screw it! We switched over to a measuring bowl.  I didn't have the patience to wait for a small amount of liquid to drain through a small space.  After a few times of pouring, the almond meal started collecting.  Eric had to start squeezing all of the milk out of it.  I've heard that you should save the meal for like, bran muffins...or other baking possibilities.  But honestly, I don't think I would have ever used it.  It would probably sit in my cupboard for months.  So, we tossed it.

All in all, the bag of almonds we bought had about 3 cups in it.  Which will make a lot of almond milk.  IF Eric can keep his hands off of them.  The one cup of almonds and 5 cups of water filled a quart jar and a pint jar.  So there was a lot to be made from such a small amount of nuts!

The verdict:
I'll let you know.  Eric tried it, and didn't have an opinion on it.  It was still warm, and he doesn't like warm milk.  So tomorrow, after he uses it with his cereal, I'll update!