On Milk Options

My daughter has had a lot of problems with fluid in her ears. She doesn't get colds per se, it all goes into her ears. We've found that a dairy-free diet helps her get rid of that fluid.

With back-to-school, she had her first incident last weekend-- on a day we were scheduled to meet friends for pizza. Instead of pizza, we had fried chicken.

I'm a big believer in moderation, so I struggle to find a go-to substitute for dairy milk. I think it partially depends on the purpose. I like to rotate my milks, primarily because I don't want to feed everyone too much soy.

Silk Very Vanilla (soy) is the family's favorite drinking milk, though the chocolate is my husband's favorite. I often use the Unsweetened for cooking.

Silk Pure Almond is common in this house, usually vanilla for drinking. My husband likes the dark chocolate, daughter does not. 

Silk Pure Coconut in vanilla is often in the house for drinking (and fruit smoothies) and plain coconut milk for cooking (especially for dishes like Mac and cheese). 

These are the alternative milks that Target carries. Coconut milk is full of fat, which for those on a paleo diet would be considered a good thing. I'm not really a low fat cook, so I don't think we need extra fat.

Almond milk doesn't have protein and since I usually need the extra protein... But we recently tried the protein fortified So Delicious Almond milk which did not have calcium.

Today we tried Good Karma flax milk, which had lots of omegas, but no calcium or protein. But no real fat either.

We also occasionally use the almond milk and soy milk from Aldi. My daughter swears their vanilla almond milk is the best.

15 years ago I always used Rice Dream rice milk that I used to purchase by the case. The nutritional value was minimal and it was all carbohydrates. 

So I still don't have a go-to milk. And rotation is not a bad thing.

Almond pancakes

Tonight I made dairy-free almond pancakes with hot strawberries. For dinner.

Honestly, the jury's still out on whether or not the sliced almonds in the pancakes worked or whether I should have placed them on top with the strawberries.

Ingredients:
2 eggs
1 cup unbleached white flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup Very Vanilla Silk
1 cup unsweetened soy milk
2 tablespoons brown sugar
4 tablespoons walnut oil
1 teaspoon nutmeg
2 tablespoons baking powder
About 3/4 cup sliced almonds
1 teaspoon almond extract

Beat eggs and add other ingredients. Fry up on hot griddle or frying pan in butter.

About 15 pancakes.

Strawberry topping
16 ounces frozen strawberries
1/8 cup powdered sugar
1/4 cup water
2 teaspoons strawberry preserves

Heat strawberries in microwave or thaw in fridge. Combine water & sugar in saucepan and stir well. Add strawberries, their juice and preserves. Heat to boiling.

Let boil about five minutes.

PureCoconut milk

A friend gave me a coupon for PureAlmond or PureCoconut milk. My daughter is a vanilla almond milk junkie, so while she was eager to try coconut, I was hesitant to deviate from the current favorite.

Last night my husband made caramel iced coffees with it, and he really liked it. I found the coconut flavor in the coffee not enough to really add something so it was more of a distraction.

My daughter didn't like it plain, which I found odd, since when I tasted it by itself, I found it very light.

We made our cream of wheat with it this morning and she liked that. Of course, I let her make the cream of wheat in a saucepan on the stove with my supervision and minimal interference so of course she loved it. She made it.

Crockpot oatmeal II

Today we started talking about oats and got hungry for crockpot oatmeal. Crockpot oatmeal can be a super hot breakfast, but it requires some forethought. And while you're supposed to cook on low overnight, it probably would only take a couple hours if you turned the heat up. The trick seems to be to make sure there's enough liquid to keep it from drying up since the oats absorb over time.

This can be a very hearty vegan breakfast if you use alternative milks and a margarine product for the butter. I'm trying mine tonight with almond milk for the first time. Silk's new vanilla almond milk is a favorite of my daughter.

Grease the crockpot.

Mix:
- one cup oats, rolled oats NOT instant ( I used one and a half)
- 2 cups milk ( I used about 1.5 cups vanilla almond milk, 3/4 cup soy milk and 1/4 cup whole cow's milk)
- 1 tablespoon melted butter
- 1 chopped apple (I used two)
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 cup raisins
- 1/2 cup walnuts ( I used pecans)
My other add-ins:
- 1/4 cup chopped prunes
- 2 tablespoons vanilla white chocolate chips
- 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
- 3/4 teaspoon fresh ground cinnamon 
- a few chopped dates

New Year Wegmans Indulgence

My mother gave us a $100 Wegmans gift card for Christmas, so today we went and bought some groceries, some of which were indulgences. We had an early lunch before leaving so at 2:30 we were ready for a snack.

For the adults: rainforest crunch whole bean coffee from fasig's with half and half
For the wee one: silk pumpkin spice milk (oh my! Delicious)

A baguette
Medium Brie
& scallops wrapped in bacon

Must Try: Silk Truffles

I'll let everyone know when I try this:

http://www.silksoymilk.com/recipes/silk-chocolate-truffles

Silk Pure Almond vanilla milk

So, today I went to Target and I say Silk Pure Almond milk in original and vanilla. I had to try it. It was $2.99 for the half gallon.

Now, I bought the vanilla and it tastes delicious. BUT unlike soy milk, it doesn't offer protein. Just 1 gram per serving. Part of the reason I use soy milk is for added protein. Sigh. And because flavored soy and other alternative milks don't have high fructose corn syrup and preservatives like commercial chocolate milk.

So, here's the nutritional content on 8 oz.:
90 calories
2.5 g fat (all unsaturated)
no cholesterol
150 mg sodium (that seems high)
150 mg potassium (4 % RDA)
16 g total carbs (3%) (1g as dietary fiber 4%)
Vitamin A 10%
Calcium 30%
Iron 4%
Vitamin D 25%
Vitamin E 50%
and Riboflavin, Phosphorous, Magnesium, Zinc, Copper and Manganese