Almond Milk ~ Fast, Easy, Delicious!!

Willie's pension fund newsletter for February, 2009, includes the following interesting information about almonds.

    "Shelling out for a bag of almonds might not be a bad idea if you need to lower your cholesterol. Almonds are recognized as a cholesterol-lowering food: studies also show that they can reduce the risk of heart disease.
    "One ounce of almonds ~ about 25 nuts ~ contains 164 calories and 1.10 grams of saturated fat. That same ounce is also a good source of protein, potassium, vitamin E, and magnesium ~ and has no cholesterol.
    "Almonds were key to the world's first "to-go" snack. Ancient desert nomads combined almonds with chopped dates, bits of pistachios, sesame oil, and breadcrumbs, and rolled them into balls. The concoctions traveled well.
    "King Tut apparently knew the nutritional value of almonds. Several handfuls of them accompanied him into the tomb, perhaps to nourish him on his post-life journey."

My wonderful nutrition-minded doc told me about a patient who had really high cholesterol, refused medication, and the only thing he did different was add a handful of almonds a day. Three months later, cholesterol was normal!!

Note: This recipe won't work with a regular blender. You will need a VitaMix or higher (like Blendtec) to do this. Montel's machine might work ~ I haven't tried it.

Soak overnight 3/4 cup of raw almonds in plenty of pure water. They will expand to about a cup. The reason for soaking, other than softening them up for the next step, is to neutralize the enzyme inhibitors contained in almonds.

Rinse the soaked almonds. If you want to take the skins off, pour boiling water over them, let cool and slip the skins. It gets tedious after a while, but I find leaving the skins makes the milk irritating to my throat. I take them off.

Place the rinsed almonds in the VitaMix container and add pure water up to the 3-cup mark. At this point I also add 1 teaspoon of vanilla and 3 Tablespoons of Xylitol or honey.

Process on HIGH for 4 1/2 minutes. Pour into a quart jar and chill, if there's any left after you try it..... LOL. Keeps 2-3 days in the frig. Great for smoothies or just enjoy as is. Let it sit a bit and you'll see a thin layer of "cream". Yum!!

This milk will not need to be filtered. It will tend to separate a bit ~ just stir it up before use.

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Page revised 7-10-2010