What is the threshold for too many bowls of cereal? Can I just eat it for dinner? ..Again?

I started making my own almond milk a while ago because I couldn’t find any on the shelves that were just almonds and water. No, I don’t want sugar. Oh, it’s unsweetened? Great! ..Wait, what are these other ingredients? Almond milk fail. I found this recipe for almond milk here on one of my favorite blogs, Deliciously Ella. She’s the best. Can we just have an almond milk date, please? Anyway, once I mastered that and I was making a lot more almond milk (and you will too after this) I needed to figure out something to do with all the leftover almond pulp. I made it into rawnola (you can find that trendy little snack just about everywhere on social media) which was great, but it went bad pretty quickly. THEN I discovered a recipe when I inquisitively searched for “almond pulp” online. Who knew that was a thing? I was pleasantly surprised to find this granola inspiration from Camille Styles. You had me at pistachio. I wanted to make a granola/cereal from my almond pulp (seriously I have trouble taking myself seriously when I write that) that would satisfy my insatiable cereal obsession and be a delicious component to my daily greek yog parfaits (not kidding. every day.) — and that’s why it was CRUCIAL that this recipe needed to be as healthy and sugar-free as possible. I only used raw honey, vanilla extract, dates, unsweetened shredded coconut and cinnamon to sweeten this granola and it really is all you need. But first, almond milk. I will tell you right now that it does take some extra effort. But if you drink almond milk, it’s totally worth it. It’s really delicious, relatively easy to make and so good for you. You can even flavor it! Raspberry Almond Milk, Espresso Almond Milk, Coconut Almond Milk. Oh yeah, that’s happening. The first time I made almond milk I cried. I did everything right — blanched the almonds, took the skins off, anxiously waited until the next day to blend it all up. Pretty sure I even dreamed about it. I was in my cute, look-at-me-making-milk-on-Sunday-morning outfit, bragging to my roommate about how I was making almond milk, no big deal. As I poured my strained milk back into the blender for the very last step, my smile quickly faded as I watched my precious almond milk flow, almost mockingly fast, out of the bottom of the blender and all over the counter and all over the floor. There was nothing I could do. Except clean. Anyway, make sure your blender is properly assembled when you use it. It’s really helpful that way.

Almond milk via Deliciously Ella

• 1 cup blanched almonds*, soaked overnight
• 3 cups fresh water
• cheesecloth

Blend blanched and overnight-soaked almonds with fresh water in a blender. You will notice the milk starts to get a little foamy –that’s good! Then, pour the almond milk through a cheese cloth, a little bit at a time, into a large mason jar or container. Use a spoon to press any liquid through the cloth. Once the pureed almonds pile up, use your hands to squeeze the cloth and drain any extra liquid out before tossing the pulp into a mixing bowl. Repeat until all milk is extracted and smooth. Here is where you can add in any flavors you like. Pour your milk back in the blender and add in raspberries, espresso powder, hand full of dates, cinnamon, honey, or any flavor your almond-milk-heart desires and blend. Strain through cheesecloth again. Store in glass container and best used within 5 days.

*To blanch, boil 1 cup of almonds in a saucepan for a minute. Strain and remove almond skins when cooled. Place in small bowl, fill with water, and let soak overnight.

Pistachio, Coconut & Date Almond Pulp Granola

• leftover almond pulp
• coconut oil spray
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup fresh pitted and chopped dates
• 1/2 cup rolled oats
• 1/2 cup shelled, unsalted pistachios
• 1/3 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
• 1 tbsp honey

Place leftover pulp on a baking sheet and bake at 350° until completely dry and golden brown. Combine nuts, vanilla, oats, cinnamon, dates, coconut and honey with the roasted pulp in a large mixing  bowl. Season to taste, add in more and additional ingredients if needed. I’ve thrown in some PB2 in here, dried cherries, chocolate..just go ahead and build the granola of your dreams. Place granola back on baking sheet, spray with coconut oil, and bake at 350° until golden brown, tossing every 10 minutes or so.