Almond Milk and Cream Cheese On The Quick

Lately I have been making home made almond milk for Jackson. It's great for making cereal and french toast with. It can be used to replace milk in any baking or cooking you may do. It's cheap to make too and you get the "cream cheese" to use after you strain the milk so it's a total two-fer...LOL. I posted these recipes before but the milk recipe was a bit different and that one focused on using the milk to make yogurt and fermenting the cream cheese. These two will be focused on what I have been doing with these recipes lately.. which is just a quick milk and cheese that is making my life easier and my son's tummy happy. Here they are, enjoy!
Almond Milk

Combine 1 1/2 cups of almonds (unsalted) into a blender with 4 cups of water and 1 tsp. of vanilla and a tablespoon of honey(optional) to sweeten it up. Blend at highest setting for 8 minutes (or less if you have a kick ass blender) then strain through a layer of muslin or very fine cheese cloth and it's ready to serve.

**I'll work on making chocolate milk and post it when I get the recipe down. Haven't tried it yet so we'll see.

I use the strained out pulp to make "Cream Cheese" that's used for dips and all kinds of other things at our house. I mix it with salsa for a dip with corn chips, I use it as a sauce base for pizza, it can be stirred into pasta for a creamy dish, or it can be put on toast, or fruit, or veggies!


Cream Cheese

Take the strained out almond pulp and dump it into a bowl with about a tablespoon of olive oil and a teaspoon of garlic powder (McCormicks is guaranteed GFCFSF) and a teaspoon of dried basil (optional), 1/2 teaspoon salt and pepper to taste. Mix and use any way you would like.

This is good for a least two weeks in the fridge if well covered. If your kids don't do garlic then try adding your own blend of seasonings like taco flavored (cumin, chili powder, paprika, onion powder) or something you think will be more to their liking like a sweet version with honey and cinnamon. This really is a base for all kinds of easy foods and I love that it is so cheap and easy and healthy.