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My Week on Almond Milk
Like fashion, there are always trending ingredients and current food fads. Among the “Popular Crowd” right now would be chia seeds, Nutella, Greek Yogurt, Pumpkin (as with every fall), and Almond Milk. I know it has been around for a while, but it seems like more and more people are making the milk-swap, vegan or not!
What’s the fuss about?
I was intrigued, and decided to forego my skim dairy milk for a carton of Silk Unsweetened Original Almond Milk. Since then, I have been told that Vanilla flavor is the way to go. Anyways, I poured myself a glass with dinner that night, a little apprehensive about the gray-ish color…(No one thinks it’s weird that it sits on the shelf in the cupboard until opening?!)
I gave it an honest try but I couldn’t get past the ‘bitter water’ flavor. It may be 1/3 the calories of skim, but I think I’ll stick with the Cow’s milk.
I still had a carton of almond milk left, and I wasn’t going to waste it! I made a cup of hot chocolate with the almond milk next:
Pure deliciousness in a mug! The almond milk was definitely a hit with hot chocolate (6 oz. Almond Milk, 2 Tbs unsweetened cocoa powder, 2 Tbs sugar, 140 calories). Also a fan of almond milk over cereal and in fruit smoothies. When it was combined with other flavors, the wateriness wasn’t as obvious. I think it’s worth it to go for this low-calorie, high-calcium substitute in baking and other dishes. Next I’m excited to try Coconut Milk.
Now, I would never consider becoming a vegan or vegetarian; however meat is not a big part of my diet. I probably have meat 3 times a week, predominantly chicken or fish. I get most of my protein from milk, yogurt, garbanzo beans, peanut butter, peanut butter, peanut butter, protein bars and peanut butter ;)
My favorite Vegan in my life is quite a character. You may recognize her from some previous posts…
It’s Missy! Missy loves her carrots, and practically any veggies. She’s got some food allergies and is sensitive to a lot of dog food. No she’s not really Vegan (I think her food is lamb-flavored?) but she does LOVE her dinnner-time vegetables. This dog eats canned carrots like nobodies business, my little bunny dog. When we were all out of carrots, we discovered she is equally as excited about beets, peas, green beans, potatoes, and ALMONDS. She will literally scarf down a bowl of steamed, sliced carrots in 3.6 seconds – if only we ALL were as excited about a bowl of veggies :D
Thoughts on dairy-substitute products?
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Hot Summer, Spicy Empanadas
Muy Caliente (Homemade!) Empanadas
Hey, Autumn? Cool, crisp autumn….you can start any time now. Really, feel free to take over. I am SO ready for fall weather. And fall flavors. Mmmm pumpkin, cinnamon, apple, sweet potato. Not that summer cooking isn’t exceptional too – grilling and fresh fruits and ice cream. But who else is counting down til the return of the Pumpkin Spice Latte?
This recipe doesn’t contain any of that. In fact it is non-seasonal. It’s EMPANADAS! The first time I had an empanada was four weeks ago in Manhattan at a tiny, colorful, Cuban restaurant called Empanada Mama. (How cute is that name!) Dinner inspiration comes from all over and when my family was planning our week’s menu, we decided to recreate our own empanadas.
They looked easy enough to make: a “crust” and filling of your choice. We made a cornmeal crust and spicy chili filling with cheese, onions and tomatoes topped with avocado and more tomatoes. Good call on the cornmeal! There are literally unlimited ways to make and fill these things though…pizza-stuffed, veggie-stuffed, seafood, cheeseburger, fajita – it doesn’t have to be Cuban! (In theory, you can even make a dessert empanada. THINK about the possibilities!) Haha basically, have fun with them :)
The dirty work
Stuffed and ready to bake!
Baked Chilli Empanadas:
For the crust:
1 cup non-fat milk
1 package active dry yeast
2 Tbs olive oil
2 Tbs brown sugar
1 cup yellow cornmeal
1 1/2 cups white or wheat flour (we’ve used both and both are great!)
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking soda
For Filling:
1/2 lb. or ground beef or ground turkey
1 packet of chili seasoning
diced onion
diced tomatoes
shredded cheese
Tomato, avocado and light sour cream to top
1. Warm milk in a saucepan to 110 degrees. (Watch carefully, it happens fast!) Stir in yeast.
2. In a separate bowl, mix together olive oil, brown sugar and cornmeal. Add in the milk and stir. Stir in the flour, salt, and baking soda.
3. Knead the dough on a floured surface, shape into a ball, place into the bowl and cover with a towel. Allow to sit for 1 hour. Meanwhile, prepare your ground beef or turkey with the chili mixture or seasoning of your choice.
4. Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
5. Roll out dough to about 1/4 inch thick. Using a circular cup or small bowl, cut out discs of dough to fill for your empanada (ours were about 6 inches in diameter)
6. Fill the middle of the dough disc with chili meat, cheese, onions and tomatoes. (If you are a bean-eater, those might be well-suited in this mixture as well.)
7. Dip your fingers in water and dampen the edges of the dough disc; then fold in half to a half-moon shape and pinch closed.
8. Bake for 15-18 minutes until golden delicious. Top with avocado, tomatoes and/or sour cream and enjoy :)
Like an EXTREME hot pocket
What would you fill your empanada with?
Samples Have Calories Too
Land of Samples
Let’s be honest. The samples are the only reason we accompanied our mom to Costco when we were younger. Heck they may be the reason half the adults still go there. The whole excitement in what tasty treasures today’s selection will bring. One lap around the perimeter of the warehouse can practically yield a meal: quarter of a chicken sandwich, some Ghiradelli chocolate, a trail mix cup of nuts and dried fruits, some Hawaiian rolls and even chips and guacamole! Other days though, prunes, vitamins, lunch meat, and applesauce lead to a disappointing turn out.
Yesterday on outing with my parents, we stopped at Costco & I was curious to see how many calories a shopper could rack up in “free samples” (not to be confused with “free calories”). The Saturday’s crowd had a pretty good fare: warm cinnamon bread, cheese cubes, ice cream bars, corn dogs, animal crackers, pancakes with syrup, pulled pork with BBQ sauce, granola bars, cereals, almonds and a croissant with turkey. Now someone could make a lunch out of all this! Except one thing: NO FRUITS AND VEGGIES! It’s all carbs, fat and sugar and that just isn’t a meal.
(Not my hand!)
These tiny portions or fractions of a serving seem harmless in the way of diet. “It’s only a bite,” “It’s just a little sample,” “That couldn’t have been enough calories worth counting.” “Cheesecake?! SCORE!” Calories add up, especially when most of these samples averaged between 40-75 calories each. 10 samples later and you’ve had a third of you daily caloric intake! So just pick one or two samples if you must. (I had a nature valley peanut granola bar piece) and skip the empty calories like that croissant. Pack a bag of sliced fruit to snack on too! :) We brought apples and pears and had no problem by-passing this man handing out samples of MAYONAISSE:
