Raw Granola + Almond Milk (Vegan, GF)

We got a dehydrator! Whoo! But don't worry we will still make the majority of our raw recipes dehydrator-free for people who live the cheap and cheerful student life. We'll mostly use it for dehydrating soaked nuts and drying fruit.

Here's a recipe for raw granola that I sort of made up as I went along. It's a great base that you can add to. I added jungle peanuts, goldenberries and cacao nibs. Jac was not a fan of the jungle peanuts for some reason...I guess even though we're twins we don't agree on everything...And the goldenberries were a bit too sour. Next time I'll add a sweeter fruit like blueberries or grapes.

1 1/2 cup finely chopped soaked almonds

1 cup raw pecans, soaked (from More than Alive)

2 tbsp ground flax seeds

1 tsp cinnamon

1 apple, peeled and chopped

1/2 tsp sea salt

1/4 cup agave syrup/raw honey/maple syrup (or any other sweet syrup)

1 chia egg (1 tbsp chia seeds mixed with 3 tbsp water)

Start off by chopping the soaked almonds (You could also pulse them in a food processor). You want to make sure they are finely chopped but not into a puree. Put almonds into a large bowl. Finely chop 1/2 cup of the pecans and throw in the bowl with the almonds. Add in ground flax, cinnamon and salt, set aside. 

In a blender or food processor, puree the apple, agave syrup, chia egg and 1/2 cup of soaked pecans. Add to the almond mixture. Add in any nuts or fruit you desire. Spread onto a dehydrator sheet and dehydrate overnight. (We did ours for 17 hours, but you can just see how dry it is the next morning and decide how much more you want to dry it for). Flip over and break into pieces half way through dehydration. Eat!

How to make Almond Milk:

1 cup of soaked almond

2-3 cups of water (2 cups will make it more creamy and 3 cups will be more like skim milk)

1 tbsp of raw honey/agave syrup or a couple dates (optional)

Blend together all ingredients and squeeze through a nut milk bag or sieve. We used reusable produce bags that Jac found for really cheap at the grocery store. You could also use cheesecloth.

This is our first time making almond milk from scratch and I can't believe we didn't do it sooner. It just tastes so much more fresh and pure, unlike the boxed almond milk that tastes stale and processed. And you can use the pulp for making gluten-free almond flour which is always so expensive. It's 2 for 1!