Vanilla Bean Almond Milk Vegan Rawfood

                           
Bonjour mes loverlies!

This is such a delight, I don't ever want to go back to store bought nut milk again. I finally found a very reasonably priced nutmilk bag ($4.95) & decided to give this a whirl. I also wanted a better consistency for my recipe for Chia Pudding that I will be posting soon,soon, soon. Here's a picture to drool over. 
                       
Here's the recipe and I give you 2 different ways to prepare it, the smaller amount is the one needed for the Chia Pudding recipe, which I will link here once it's up & vice versa. There is no substitute for vanilla beans in this recipe because the flavour truly shines with the real deal. Plus if you are on an autoimmune protocol, the alcohol in vanilla essence is not recommended. Details are below with pictures as always.

Vanilla Bean Almond Milk:

Ingredients:

1 Cup raw almonds soaked overnight and rinsed
1/4 Scrape of fresh vanilla bean (no substitute) 
Small pinch of pink sea salt
3 1/2 Cups Filtered water
1 Tbsp Dark maple syrup 


*1 1/2 Cups Filtered Water for the Chia Pudding recipe, so not 3 1/2 Cups, only the 1 1/2 cup for Pudding recipe only!!!!All other ingredients remain the same.

Method:

-Place nuts and water in blender, add all other ingredients. There is a picture down below to show you how to split & scrape a vanilla bean. Then blend for 45 seconds at high speed. No chunks remaining.
-Place nutmilk bag over large non-reactive bowl, carefully pour blender contents into nutmilk bag. 
-Now squeeze and strain until no more liquid comes out. 
-You will notice that there are black flecks, this is normal. It is the little flavour pods from the vanilla beans, leave them in there.
-Carefully transfer milk & be sure store in glass jars.

Makes almost 4 cups
Keeps for about 5-7 days in fridge. I always use it up within 3-4 days though because it tastes so good.

*For the chia pudding, all steps are the same excepts you use the smaller quantity of water. The reason is that you need a richer, creamier milk to get the consistency right for the chia cherry vanilla bean pudding recipe. Trust me, it makes a difference.



Take a fresh vanilla bean, it must be soft still. Lie it flat and use a knife to carefully split down the center but not all the way through. Now using the same knife, run it flat, down the inside where you split it. The pods of glorious flavour will come out. They are sticky & fragrant, your hands will smell divine. Don't waste them or the empty pods. The empty pods can be placed in sugar to make vanilla sugar. The remaining vanilla seeds can be added to smoothies, baking, whipping cream, another kind of nut milk, ice-cream. DO IT!!!!!! lol







The pulp is great for rawfood nut crackers, check out my best apple pie cracker recipes in previous posts! 
So don't chuck it out, you can freeze if you need to.
Leave your comments and triumphs down below, I really like hearing all about your kitchen adventures!