Confessions from the Pouch

How to Make Homemade Almond Milk

Posted on April 05, 2017 by Amanda Holliday | 112 Comments

Did you know almond milk is super easy to make? While there is nothing wrong with store-bought almond milk, we want to share how simple real food truly is. Plus, when you try homemade almond milk, you may never buy it from the store again—it is so yummy. You can use this recipe in any of our recipes that call for almond milk.

Homemade Almond Milk

Recipe adapted from TheKitchn

2 cups organic raw almonds
4 cups water

Optional
Vanilla, honey, agave syrup for flavoring and sweeteners

Instructions

Cover almonds with 1 inch of water, cover and soak for 12-24 hours (or up to two days).
Rinse and drain almonds
Add almonds and water to blender or VitaMix
Blend on high for 2 minutes after pulsing a few times to break the almonds up. The water should be white and the almonds should have the consistency of a fine meal.
Line a strainer with cheesecloth or a nut bag, place strainer over a large bowl and strain the almond mixture.
Squeeze the cheesecloth or nut bag to ensure all milk is strained from almond mixture. There are a ton of recipes available for using the leftover almond meal.
If desired, sweeten to taste. However, we prefer the stuff straight.
Refrigerate in a sealed container in the fridge for up to two days

Makes about 4 cups almond milk.

almond milk

Posted in Almond Milk, Pureed Contents, Recipes

What We Learned from the 100 Days of Real Food Challenge

Posted on March 11, 2014 by Amanda Holliday | 1 Comment

Has it really been 100 days already? Time flies when you’re having fun, I guess. Living and breathing Real Food these past 100 days has made us realize a lot of things. We thought we’d take a minute to share our thoughts on the challenge and hope you will share your experience as well. We are so far from experts, but here are 10 things we learned during the last 100 days (we thought 100 would be overkill).

1. We already prepared a lot of real food, without even thinking about it. “I credit this to my mother, grandmother and extended family who always make everything homemade,” - Magge

2. The transition to Real Food was easier than we thought. “To make my homemade macaroni and cheese Real Food macaroni and cheese, I just subbed white flour out for some white whole wheat (that King Arthur’s stuff is awesome), and the regular noodles for whole wheat ones. Done. And awesome, BTW.” - Maggie

3. Reading labels is important. Not only does this help extend that precious alone time at the grocery store (when did grocery shopping alone become such a luxury, BTW?), it also changed what we buy. The staples like bread, bagels and yogurt we used to buy without thinking twice have now been swapped out for Real Food versions. It’s the little things that make a big impact. Here's how to read food labels.

4. Eating Real Food is expensive. There just isn’t any way around this one, but we did find a lot of tips to make it more affordable. We know the cost is a big challenge, preventing a lot of people from eating Real Food. We are hopeful healthy, organic, whole foods will become more and more accessible to everyone in the coming years.

5. Rethink fast food. We don’t eat fast food, but what kid (or adult) doesn’t love chicken nuggets. Have you ever thought about making homemade chicken nuggets? They are so good and there is no mystery meat. Here is a recipe we used for inspiration. You probably won’t be able to make them look like dinosaurs, but the kids will get over that once they taste them.

6. Getting the kids involved is so fun. Stirring, pounding, mixing and pressing out tortillas was a highlight for Maggie and her boys.

7. Having a plan is key. This not only saved our sanity, but made it easy for everyone to be on board. “It’s easy for the nanny, my husband or my mom to look at the meal plan on the fridge and make Parker something to eat when I am away from home. It takes the guesswork out of cooking and makes feeding her healthy so easy.” - Melissa

8. Leftovers are the best. In addition to prepping and planning ahead, making a little extra of whatever we were having for dinner, meant we could turn it into lunch the next day.

9. The right tools make a big difference. “I would cook and puree a lot of fruits and vegetables for Parker on Sundays. But without a bunch of trays to freeze the purees in, I would have a bunch of pureed food that has to sit in the fridge while I wait for the trays to be available again. More trays would make it easier, but at $25 each, I just couldn’t spend the money for that convenience.” - Melissa. On the other hand, Maggie has already gotten her money’s worth of her newly acquired tortilla press.

10. We discovered new favorite foods. Farro, homemade ricotta, homemade almond milk are just a few of our new favorite things. We also learned to not fear fat.