Hola Mi Gente,

As we’ve been working through this round of Whole 30, one of the things I’ve been doing in my meal-prepping, has been making our own nut milks. Generally, it can be a little hard (and expensive) to buy nut milks that are Whole 30 compliant and are free of heavy preservatives like Caregeenan. When I have found them at the grocery store, a half gallon will cost me anywhere between 5-7$, money that I’d rather go towards meat or fruit.

When we’re not on Whole 30, my favorite milk alternative is coconut-almond flavored, so I decided to try my hand at making my own! There are a few reasons I love this combination:

• It creates for a thick, creamy milk that is incredible as a creamer. To be honest I don’t drink a lot of milk on its own anyways, mostly I just enjoy a little splash in my matcha, and Ben in his coffee. This milk is PERFECTLY foamy when you heat it up, and deliciously creamy if you just pour it in chilled.
• The coconut gives it a delicious flavor profile. Almonds in and of themselves are kind of bland as a milk. Flavoring this milk with coconut gives you a mildly sweet flavor that totally enhances it.
• If you’re not doing a super strict Whole 30, you can add a few dates to the milk to just take it over the top, and make it your one-stop-shop for adding flavor to your hot drinks. I personally don’t mind doing this on Whole 30, because I see it less as a way to treat myself, and more as a way to encourage myself to choose this alternative over sugar-heavy, store-bought creamer once we’re off Whole 30.

A Couple Important Notes

1. You always want to use unroasted and unsalted nuts. The roasting process actually brings out the bitterness in the nuts, and you definitely don’t want that.
2. You want to soak your almonds for at least 12 hours before blending into a milk. This does a couple of things: it helps them absorb the water to make them easier to blend, AND because of the higher water content, it makes your milk creamier. I always leave my almonds soaking in water on Sunday nights, and make my milk Sunday Morning.
3. You don’t have to peel your nuts: I repeat, you don’t have to peel them! This is good news because the first two weeks I totally did, and it took SO long. The skins actually have a lot of nutrition in them, and as long as you use a Nut Milk Bag (seriously they’re super cheap and really helpful!) that will get all the pulp strained out!
4. Speaking of the pulp, DON’T throw it away! The leftover almond + date pulp is incredible in smoothies and in energy balls (I’ll be adding my recipe next week!). You can save it in ice cube trays in the freezer to pop into smoothies, or in a little air-tight container in the fridge.
5. Almond milk only lasts about 5 days in the fridge, in the interest of full disclosure I feel like that’s something you need to know! This amount of milk lasts us through the week days and is the perfect amount for our coffee and matcha. I know it can be discouraging to make something that doesn’t last a long time, but our bodies absorb the most nutrients from fresh food! Once you make this milk once, you can just add this little 20 minute routine into your meal prepping for the week.

And that’s it, amores! If you’re curious about using this in matchas, you can get some of my favorite matcha recipes here.

Love, love, love,

Coconut Almond Milk

A delicious homemade milk that incorporates full fat coconut milk to render a creamy, rich milk alternative!

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Cook Time 20 minutes mins

Total Time 12 hours hrs 20 minutes mins

Servings 10

Ingredients

  

• 2 C Unsalted + Unroasted Almonds Soaked Overnight
• 1 Can Whole Fat Coconut Milk
• 6.5 C Water
• Pinch Salt
• 1 C Pitted Dates

Instructions

 

• After soaking your almonds, add to blender with all other ingredients and blend together for about 2 minutes. Strain using your nut milk bag, and store in the fridge! Perfect steamed or chilled, and will keep for about 5 days in a very cold fridge.

Mary-Beth Johnson

Mary-Beth is a creative, food-obsessed, Georgia transplant living Chicago. She is proudly and fiercely Latina, and more specifically Chapina. In her day to day she is a food educator to students around Chicagoland aged 3 to 80+, both virtually and in-person. She is passionate about cultivating the truth that every person has an understanding of food that deserves being brought to the table, and that time in the kitchen can be sacred, passionate, and an act of love for self and others. Outside the kitchen you can find her at the intersections of infertility, chronic illness, and a deep love for the dignity of all humans. She hopes to create a space that is holistic about the role of food in the social, political, relational, and physiological dynamics of our world.