I am on a almond kick at the moment. Almonds in my smoothies, ground almonds in sauces, plans for a version of almond butter and I will have a Almond Cake recipe for you guys after this.

Once you have a metal sieve and a strong blender or food processor you are all set for making Almond Milk. I was in Sicily for my holidays recently, we stopped in a small town near Mt.Etna and when getting our necessary espressos the gentleman in the bar gave us a taste of his almond milk. It was made from locally grown almonds, was crazily sweet and had a just a hint of lemon in it. Delicious! So I was inspired to add a little lemon juice! The organic unwaxed lemon I got is Italian – so I have decided it was a Sicilian one!

Warning extremely addictive!

Almond Milk

• A generous cup of whole organic almonds- soaked overnight
• Two big dessertspoons of desiccated/ shredded coconut
• Less than an eighth of a teaspoon of himalayan pink salt
• Half a teaspoon of vanilla powder/ insides of a pod
• Two teaspoons of fresh lemon juice
• Optional: two medjool dates/ two teaspoons of maple syrup
• A pint and a quarter or approx. 600ml of water (maybe more)

Method:

Soak your almonds overnight- make sure they are well covered by water as they will swell.

Throw the water out that they have been soaked in and give them a brief rinse. Put  them into your blender/ food processor. Add your coconut, date/maple syrup, water, salt and vanilla. I blend mine on the setting for nut butters/ dips. Basically a few short burst and then continuously for 45 seconds. Add half your lemon juice. Blitz again for another 30 seconds. Taste it and see if it needs more lemon juice or not!

Straining your milk. You can use a nut bag or muslin cheese cloth. I just use my metal sieve. I pour some in to the sieve over a wide topped measuring jug. Press the ground almonds to get all the milky-ness out of them! It should deliver just over a pint.

Taste again! If very creamy you may want to add more water- you can either stir it through or give a quick blitz again to throughly mix. Put in the fridge it is best served chilled! I keep the almond pulp for making cookies/ raw little sweets or adding to a dinner.

I will have a glass tonight to toast the Lunar Eclipse! Hope you try making it!Xs Aissa

Moon looking beautiful already!