What to do with Leftover Almond Pulp (No Dehydrating)

...After making homemade almond milk WITHOUT DEHYDRATING because it is such a waste of energy with that oven usage for little return.

Ah, my mom refuses to make any more almond milk until I can find a good use for the almond pulp that I have accumulated.

So I've gathered a few recipes that I could potentially use, aggregated from easiest to hardest (but they're honestly all pretty easy, I'm just lazy); 

Easiest

• Put a few tablespoons in smoothies and blend, adding to the texture. You can add it in with fruit, or make a Chocolate Banana Smoothie (bananas, almond milk, almond pulp, and cocoa - Credit to The Mama's Girls)

Medium

• Banana Almond Bread: http://the-salty-tomato.com/2014/03/banana-almond-bread.html

• Almond Cake - 1/8 C sliced almonds, 1/2 C margarine or butter, softened to room temperature, 1 1/4 C sugar, 1 egg, 1 1/2 t. almond extract, 2/3 C milk, 3/4 C dry pulp, 1 1/4 C flour, 1/2 t. baking powder. Mix the sugar and butter first, then add in liquid ingredients, then mix the dry ingredients in. Grease and flour the pan, pour in and sprinkle with the sliced almonds. Bake at 350 for 40 minutes. (I don't see why the pulp needs to necessarily be dry at the point where you're adding watery ingredients like eggs and milk. Credit to The Mama's Girls)

Hard-ish

• Chocolate Chip Bars - http://thevegan8.com/2014/02/18/almond-pulp-makes-the-best-chocolate-chip-bars/
• Raw Carrot Cake - http://websta.me/p/466449715970575257_297930129#GXttKHliLsYFKGSw.32

Homemade Almond Milk

After reading the article "Lay Off the Almond Milk, You Ignorant Hipsters" by Tom Philpott (See the article here), I realized that I was also drawn to these supposed magical properties of almond milk, shelling out a good amount of money for a jug. I am partly lactose intolerant (being Asian...it's probably more unlikely that you're NOT lactose intolerant), so when my friend introduced me to almond milk, I was literally overjoyed to see its high calcium and low fat content.

I guess the main takeaway I got from the article is that I was paying too much for literally just crushed almonds and water (with some chemicals). So, I decided to try my hand at making almond milk myself.

soaked almonds

The milk is ready!

almond milk and some almond meal on the side (after straining)

Ingredients

1 cup almonds

5 cups water (1 for soaking, the rest for the milk)

I let to almonds soak for about 12 hours (but in other recipes, I saw that only about 4 hours is needed). I put the almonds into a soy milk maker (an oddly specific device, I know) and let her rip with additional water. It was all ready in about 15 minutes! I then poured the milk through a strainer which separated the milk from the crushed almond meal. The result is a slightly cleaner tasting version of almond milk (which my family finished within a day!).

There aren't any stabilizers in this homemade version, so the almond milk tends to separate really easily. I'm not completely sure what I want to do with the almond meal yet, but I'll probably find some recipes online.

Another takeaway from the article was the water wasting properties of producing almonds. Although it's good for me to be aware of its ecological harms, I don't think it's effective for me to give up almonds or something in protest. With these things, it's better for some government intervention to help curb California's forever impending drought.

I've become really interested in making super basic ingredients/foods at home! My friend really inspired me the other day by making homemade butter, which I have yet to try. The idea of being able to control all parts of the process appeals to me greatly. Off to obtaining some heavy cream!