Want free, poison-free, package-free, transport-free, suffering-free milk for life? This is close:

Oh! Oat Milk is so fun and easy and cheap and healthy and eco.

Water, organic oats, no plastic packaging (buy a 25 pound bag, 10% off, at Alfalfa’s or another spot), blend it up, pour out the milk through a cheesecloth, save the goop for granola or cookies, you can add a little maple syrup/molasses or cinnamon or vanilla, or just enjoy it straight up.

Editor-in-chief’s intro:

Quarantine special! I just made oat milk! And granola! All organic, cheap, zero waste, yummmmy.

Oat milk’s like normal milk, only animals don’t suffer! And it’s organic! And cheap! And zero packaging plastic waste! And, best of all climate-change wise, it doesn’t involve shipping liquids! Me and my pal added molasses, maple syrup, cardamom, cinnamon, Himalayan sea salt, blended it all in my finally-actually-used blender (bought years ago because it looked cool) and sifted it through a strainer thingy through a funnel into a ball jar, and presto!

Then I used the leftover oat mush to mix with more oats, maple syrup from good ol’Vermont, coconut oil from Dr. Bronner’s, organic walnuts and cashews, pumpkin seeds and sesame seeds, a little molasses, more cinnamon and cardamom, spread it out on wax paper and two metal pans, popped it in a pre-heated oven and made this granola. ~ Waylon.

When I’m super busy, eating a balanced breakfast is usually the first healthy habit to go.

I was looking for something uncomplicated to make ahead of time, so that I’d always have a quick, nourishing breakfast ready to go. Granola with almond milk and fresh fruit is one of my favorite breakfast meals, so I started to experiment with making my own granola, and I came up this general recipe.

This almond milk recipe just  takes a few minutes to make, and it tastes so much better than store-bought. Once you make your own, you’ll never buy any nut milk again! Store-bought granola and almond milk is usually loaded with sugar and preservatives, but this recipe eliminates those additives and is much cheaper than buying granola and almond milk.

These recipes make three quarts of granola and one quart of almond milk. Serve together with some fresh fruit and cinnamon sprinkled on top!

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Granola Ingredients: 

6 cups whole oats (optional: gluten-free oats)

1 cup nuts (almond, walnut, pecan)

1/2 cup seeds (sesame, sunflower, pumpkin)

1/2 cup melted coconut oil

1/2 cup maple syrup

2 Tbls cinnamon

1 tsp cardamom

1 tsp  vanilla extract or vanilla powder

3/4 cup dried fruit (dates, sour cherries, cranberries)

Optional: 1/2 cup chocolate chips

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Granola Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix everything together, except for the dried fruit.

Spread onto 2 baking sheets lined with parchment paper.

Bake for 30 minutes, stirring a few times.

Let cool completely and stir in dried fruit.

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Almond Milk Iingredients: 

1 cup of raw almonds

4 cups of filtered water

1 nut milk bag

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Almond Milk Instructions:

Put the almonds into a large bowl, then cover with water by at least 2 inches. Let soak overnight.

Next day, drain the almonds, and add to blender with 4 cups filtered water. Blend until milky.

Put a large bowl in your sink. Pour the milk into the nut bag to filter out the almond meal. Done!

(Optional: Return the milk to the blender, add a pinch of vanilla powder and 2 pitted dates and blend. This makes a sweeter version of almond milk.)

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Author: Cori Bernardo

Editor: Yoli Ramazzina

Photo: Author’s Own