MY BASIC ALMOND MILK RECIPE

When I was in the car on my way home to Stockholm from a weekend at my grandparents' this Sunday, I listened to the Interstellar soundtrack as we rode through pitch black forests. Somehow, the blackness and the overly dramatic music seeped into my sleep that night, and right before I fell asleep I had the most vidid waking sensation of watching the earth from a distance, silently floating around in a compact universe. Somehow this was strangely reassuring, and put all my worries literally in perspective. Some people might panic over the vastness of the universe. What happens to me is that I get this immense time anxiety of geological proportions. Fuck 30 year crisis - I want to experience the world in hundreds, thousands of years from now! My curiosity is killing me to know how nature and society will have developed by then. Will we even be here? Will the forests and mountains still look the same? There is something wildly fascinating about the continuance of the world; it induces a feeling of purpose, direction.On frosty, powdered white winter days like this, that silence, vastness and sense of purpose always comes to my mind. With the risk of sounding religious, I remember that there are bigger plans set into motion. The thought of that makes it a little bit easier rising up Monday morning and getting to work with the inhumane to-do-list I wrote during the weekend. What does it matter if I skip one or two tasks anyway?With this blasé attitude towards all "musts" and "haves" is how I want to enter 2015. Have you thought anything about changes you want to make or goals you want to achieve next year?Inspired by the frosty photos from Falun, Sweden, today's recipe has a chilled, white theme. What I really was after when making this almond milk was actually the leftover pulp. Keep your eyes open for the next recipe later this week!I don't make almond milk as often as I should want. I imagine it being difficult and messy. Whenever I do make it it astounds me how simple and quick it is, how could I possibly forget that? My favorite way to drink almond milk is to pour it over homemade granola, or make a hot, spiced drink from it. I mean yum!!! You can taste the almonds in a whole other way than with store bought almond milk. For simplicity's sake I've here shared with you my most basic almond milk recipe. If you want to, you can spice it with cinnamon, cardamom, nutmeg, ginger, cloves, berries, cocoa etc.My Basic Almond Milkmakes around 600 ml2 dl / 0,85 cup almonds + lukewarm soaking water2 dates6 dl / 2,5 cups cold waterpinch of saltdroplet of liquid vanilla extractNotes: If you're using a kitchen towel to strain your nut milk, it has to be one where the fibres are not too tight, in order to let the milk through. DirectionsPrepare by soaking almonds in room tempered water overnight. Make sure the nuts are covered in water. In the morning, discard soaking water and rinse almonds. Store almonds in the fridge if making nut milk later.Measure 3 dl or 1 + 1/4 cup fresh cold water (half of the total amount) and mix in a blender with almonds and dates until as smooth as possible. Then add the rest of the water (also 3 dl or 1 + 1/4 cup) and mix a little more. Preferably leave for 30-60 min to let the flavors develop (this step can be skipped). Strain the nut milk through a nut milk bag/lemonade bag/thin kitchen towel over a large bowl. This separates the milk from the pulp. See suggestions for taking care of nut pulp below.*Add a pinch of salt and a droplet of liquid vanilla extract to the bowl of almond milk. Pour the now ready almond milk into a glass bottle and store in the fridge for 3 days. Almond milk spoils quickly, so don't make more than you can drink.Shake before use. Serve with granola or oatmeal. Drink plain or make my Warming Turmeric Milk. Use in baking or as coffee creamer. The possibilities are endless!*Suggestions for using nut pulp: Store the pulp in a glass jar in the fridge or in the freezer and use for bread, cookies, or check in here later this week for an Almond "Meat"ball recipe that uses pulp from nut milking as its base :) xoAgnesPs. I created a Steller Story for the Lemon Saffron Kaleslaw, along with a couple of photos from my country house area I snapped a week and a half ago. Check it out! :)All photographs, recipes and content are Cashew Kitchen originals, unless otherwise indicated. Please link back to me when sharing.