Vegan MoFo - Pumpkin Spice Almond Milk

If you're like me, you go crazy for the Silk Pumpkin Spice beverage that is available this time of year. I love it in my coffee even though I normally don't put anything in my morning caffeinated beverage.

Well, guess what? You can make it at home! The original is made with soy, but you can easily whip up a batch using nuts in your own kitchen. Watch and learn.

Pumpkin Spice Almond Milk

• 1 cup raw almonds (or other raw nut of your choice)
• 6 cups water, divided
• 2 tablespoons pumpkin puree
• 1 tablespoon Spice Blend or store bought pumpkin pie spice

Remember that time when I made nut milk? Same idea here. Start with the almonds and 2 cups of water in the blender. Blend for a good 5 minutes, until you have a pretty creamy consistency. Strain through a fine mesh strainer, reserving the milk. (A cheesecloth would probably come in handy here so you could squeeze it, but I never have one on hand.) Add the pulp to the blender and blend with 2 more cups of water. Repeat straining & blending once more with additional 2 cups water. You'll do this a total of 3 times. Reserve your pulp, covered, in the fridge (I have plans for that later).  At this point you should have 4 cups of almond milk. Reserve 2 cups of it, and store it, covered, in the fridge. Rinse your blender and strainer well. Pour your remaining 2 cups of almond milk back into the blender and blend well, strain. Now to your blender add your milk, spices and pureed pumpkin. Blend & strain, again. I know it's a pain to keep blending and straining, but look at that! You're all finished! Store your pumpkin spice beverage in a covered container in the fridge.

Definitely try it out in your coffee, it make a standard cup of coffee rich and creamy. Add sweetener of your choice, if you prefer. I promise, this will be the new star of your coffee station at your weekend autumn brunch!

Homemade Nut Milk!

And we're back! My hand is healing nicely, so it's time to get back to all this food.
I'd like to take this time to talk about something I'd like to make more often. I should make more often. I will make more often. Homemade nut milk. I know technically it isn't "milk" per say. More like blended nut water, but that doesn't sound as good. If you utilize the bulk bins in your local health food or grocery store, this can be a very inexpensive way to keep your fridge stocked with a variety of tasty non-dairy milks.

As much as I love my store bought non-dairy milks, it is so easy to make nut milk at home that it's asinine. Here's what you do.

Take 1/2 cup of your favorite nut and blend with 1-2 cups of water, (start with 1 and add as needed, you'll know if you need more by the thickness as your blending)  Give it a good long blend for a few minutes. Place a fine mesh strainer over a large bowl or pitcher and pour your milk into the container through the strainer. Use a spoon to swish around the pulp that collects in the strainer as the milk strains through.

Once you've finished, take the remaining pulp, place it back in the blender with 1 cup of water and blend again. You are going to strain the milk again, like before be sure to push around the pulp in the strainer. Repeat this process until you have a very small amount of pulp left, reserve it in a covered container and store in the fridge. I usually blend a total of 4 times.
Next, rinse out your blender and pour your milk back into it. Give it another really good blend for a minute or two. Pour it through the strainer one last time.

And voila, you have homemade milk. I've done this with almonds, brazil nuts and even sesame seeds (though, sesame seeds go through a slightly different process. First you blend them dry into a powder then blend with water.) I plan to make hazelnut milk in the near future and I'm going to try my hand at oat milk as well.