Kiwi Strawberry Smoothie

Here's a delicious summer fruit smoothie to enjoy for breakfast or as a midday snack. Smoothies are great ways to use up all that fruit in your fridge! I'm still too afraid to progress to the vegetable smoothie. Don't get me wrong, I love my vegetables, I'd just rather eat them sautéed, steamed, baked, or raw. I don't really want to drink them.

I made this fruit smoothie twice, using two different milk ingredients. I'm very sensitive to lactose and can handle digesting good greek yogurt, like FAGE brand. I first made this using strawberry FAGE yogurt and it was perfect. Very thick, very creamy, 0 grams of fat, plus added protein. I made it again using Silk Very Vanilla Soymilk, and it was still delicious, obviously just not as creamy. The soy milk also added 2 grams of fat and not as much protein. You could try making this with strawberry soy yogurt or vanilla almond milk as well, according to your preference.

I also wanted less added sugar, but I didn't want it to be too tart. So I added a little honey plus some stevia. You could skip the honey altogether or add more. Overall, a very balanced smoothie.

Ingredients:

6-8 strawberries, stems removed
1 small apple, peeled and sliced
2 kiwis, peeled and sliced
3 ice cubes
1/2 cup Silk Very Vanilla Soymilk, or yogurt
1 teaspoon honey
1 teaspoon Stevia or white sugar

Directions:

Add ice cubes, strawberries, apple slices, kiwis, milk or yogurt, honey, and stevia to the blender. Crush ice first then blend for about 1 minute. Add more or less sweetener to taste. Serve with a slice of kiwi.

Dairy Free, Egg Free Pumpkin Ice Cream

It's that time again! Fall is here, and I'm super excited about pumpkin everything! I've already had my pumpkin spice latte at Starbucks, and the annual Half Moon Bay Pumpkin Festival is in two weeks. There we will get big pumpkins from the pumpkin patch and enjoy pumpkin pancakes, smoothies, curry, pie, bread, and even pumpkin ale!

I had a go at some dairy free pumpkin ice cream and it is so delicious. It tastes just like pumpkin pie without the crust. My recipe is completely vegan and low in sugar. Add an extra half cup of soy milk to make it creamier and less pumpkiny, if you like it like that. I hope you have an ice cream maker!

Ingredients:
1 15 oz can full fat coconut milk, chilled
1 15 oz can pureed pumpkin, chilled
1/2 cup Very Vanilla Silk Soymilk (optional)
1/3 cup agave syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves

Directions:
1. Stir all ingredients together until smooth. I used an electric mixer but it's not necessary.

2. Pour into your completely frozen electric ice cream maker and it should be soft serve ready in 15-20 minutes! Put it in the freezer for an hour to harden it up if you prefer. If storing in the freezer, let it soften for a half hour before eating.

                                                

Three Easy Dairy Free Banana Breakfast Smoothies

When I had my mouth surgery, I drank a lot of smoothies. Being lactose intolerant, I get to experiment with many different dairy free milks. There are so many to choose from! While Very Vanilla Soymilk by Silk will always be my favorite choice, it's not perfect for everything.

If you're cooking something sweet, coconut milk works great, but if you are cooking something not-so-sweet, plain almond or soy milk works better. Of course, chocolate almond or soy milk is a delicious way to drink non-dairy milk by itself.

Here are some of my favorite dairy free smoothies. The best part about them is that the dairy free milks are interchangeable. You can use whatever you have on hand! The best thing about these smoothie recipes: they taste amazing!

More tips:

• Just add some cocoa powder and sweetener to create chocolate milk out of any plain milk you have. Cocoa powder is always dairy (and sugar) free!
  
  

• Adding some oats, flax seed powder, or wheat germ into your smoothies adds a boost of fiber and/or whole grains without taking away from the flavor. 

• You can also experiment with soy, coconut, or lactose free yogurts. 

• Adding instant coffee to a smoothie is a great way to combine your breakfast and your morning coffee :-).

Directions:
1. Just add all ingredients into a blender and push the smoothie button. Blend for about 20 seconds, pour into a fancier cup than mine, and enjoy!

Ingredients:

Strawberry Banana Oatmeal Smoothie
(Put some whole grains in your shake!)

1 cup Silk Very Vanilla Soymilk, chilled
1 banana
5-6 strawberries, stems removed
1/4 cup oats

Pineapple Coconut Smoothie
(Hawaii in a cup)

1 cup coconut milk (I used Vanilla Coconut Milk)
3/4 cup pineapple pieces
1 banana
A few orange slices or 2 tablespoons orange juice (optional)
A few ice cubes

Mocha Monkey Smoothie
(Inspired by Pittsburgh's Crazy Mocha)

1 cup Chocolate Almond Milk
1 banana
1/2 packet Starbucks Instant Coffee
1 tablespoon agave syrup
A few ice cubes

     

Delicious Dairy Free Ice Cream

Smooth, sweet, and creamy--it's as good as the real thing! I love this combination of full fat coconut milk and vanilla soy milk. It makes a rich ice cream that doesn't make me miss the dairy. I've tried a few combinations, and there are alternatives with fewer calories, but this recipe is the best tasting. Using just soy milk gives the ice cream a grainy, icy texture, but add the thick, sweet, full fat coconut milk and you have an instant substitute for heavy cream.

Any non-dairy milk will do for this recipe, but I love the thick texture and sweetness of Silk Very Vanilla soymilk. Homemade ice cream has the added benefit of being able to add your own amount of sugar. Agave syrup is a healthier option as it is metabolized slower than sugar. Besides being easy to mix in it also has a mild flavor that compliments vanilla quite well.

This recipe requires an electric ice cream maker. If you don't have one, I suggest getting one. They are perfect for making ice cold homemade treats in twenty minutes or less. Frozen yogurt, sorbet, frozen drinks, and slushies are other great ideas to make with this tool.

You can easily add mix ins to make other flavors. Eight ounces of melted chocolate added to this recipe will give you a delectable chocolate ice cream. I've also added crushed chocolate and cream (dairy free) cookies in the last five minutes of mixing for cookies and cream ice cream. The possibilities are endless!

Ingredients:

1 can full fat coconut milk, chilled at least two hours in the fridge
1 1/4 cups refrigerated Silk Very Vanilla soymilk
1/2 cup agave syrup
2 teaspoons vanilla extract (use 1 tablespoon if using non-vanilla soymilk)

My pretty red ice cream maker...not much bigger than a coffee maker!

Directions:
1. In a large bowl, combine all ingredients and stir until well combined.

2. Pour into your frozen ice cream bowl and freeze according to your ice cream maker's directions. It should be ready to eat in 15-20 minutes. It will be soft, so if you want harder ice cream, put in the freezer for at least 1 hour prior to enjoying.

Full fat coconut milk and Silk Very Vanilla soymilk.

Agave Syrup.

Adding the vanilla.

Churning process.

Finished product :-)

Cinnamon Rice Pudding

This week I've been lying low, slowly recovering from gum grafting surgery. I have very thin gum tissue around four front teeth on my lower gum line, and it has been gradually receding over the years to expose the roots of some of my teeth. So I decided to take care of it before it got worse. Last Friday I had a minor surgery done where a rectangle of skin on the roof of my mouth was taken and sewed over the exposed roots and thin area of my lower gum line. Sounds gross but it's very cool!

It was a quick and easy surgery but came with a 10 day recovery time that limited my ability to eat (I'm so hungry!).  Being restricted to a soft food diet, I needed to come up with some creative ways to eat substantial food without chewing. I had the added challenge of my lactose intolerance so ice cream, smoothies, milkshakes, etc. all had to be dairy free.

Here is a delicious rice pudding recipe I made for a breakfast option. Besides being easy to eat it has the added bonuses of being dairy free, gluten free, and low fat/low sugar! I used Very Vanilla soymilk, but any dairy free milk could be substituted. If it's not vanilla then I recommend adding an extra teaspoon of vanilla extract to the recipe.

The sweetness can also be varied to taste. I used exactly 1 tablespoon of SPLENDA packet sweetener, which is sweeter than the granulated SPLENDA. The estimated equivalent in SPLENDA granulated form or white sugar is a 1/2 cup. But I haven't tried this measurement yet so I can't be sure of the equivalent sweetness. I would start with a 1/4 of a cup and add more if needed. You can also substitute with Agave syrup or Stevia sweetener. I would start with a 1/2 cup for these as they are not as sweet as white sugar or SPLENDA.

Ingredients:

2 cups water
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1 cup white rice
3 cups Silk Very Vanilla soymilk
1/4-1/2 cup SPLENDA granulated sweetener
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Directions:

1. In a medium size saucepan, bring water to a boil. Add rice and salt, stir. Cover, reduce heat and simmer until water is absorbed--about 10 minutes.

2. Add Very Vanilla Soymilk, SPLENDA, and cinnamon. Cook uncovered over low heat, stirring occasionally, until most of the soymilk is absorbed--about 15 minutes.

3. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla. Serve warm. Easy for someone recovering from surgery!

Dairy Free Orange Cranberry Quick Bread

We just moved into a new apartment, and it had a couple of issues. The tiny bathroom floor was pretty gross, and over a couple of days it began to reveal an ant problem. So today I was stuck inside waiting for the specialists to come in and take care of things.

The exterminator came first and sprayed the areas where the ants were coming from, followed soon after by three hispanic men that I could barely understand but believed to be the guys that would replace the bathroom flooring.

The one had the nerve to tell me that the old flooring was still good...I guess if you are okay with yellow staining, gashes, and ant colonies it was still good.  Didn't they want to get paid? They were then followed by the maintenance man who came to see that they did the job right.


Since I was stuck inside all day to wait for everybody, I decided to whip up something healthy for Eric  for when he got home. And, of course, I wanted to enjoy it as well, so I adapted a quick bread recipe to be dairy free. I happened to have orange juice and cranberries on hand, so I made a super healthy whole grain orange-cranberry bread with Very Vanilla Soymilk.

It's pretty easy to put together but requires some whole grain ingredients like whole wheat flour and fiber rich wheat bran.  Not everyone is likely to have these ingredients in their cupboards but they are good to keep around. It's cooking right now and smells delicious.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup unbleached white flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup wheat bran
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup dried cranberries
1 egg
1/2 cup Silk Very Vanilla Soymilk
1 cup orange juice
1/3 cup vegetable oil

Directions:







 1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.








2. In a large bowl, whisk together the egg, Very Vanilla Soymilk, orange juice, and oil.

3. In a medium bowl, combine flours, wheat bran, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.












4. Add dry mixture into wet until just combined, then stir in cranberries.











5. Pour into a greased loaf pan and bake for 50-55 minutes. Cool in the pan for 15-20 minutes before removing.







6. Serve warm for your sweetheart ;-)

Non-Dairy Creamer, or a replacement for Half and Half

I used to drink half and half in my coffee every morning. No sugar, just cream. It really made the perfect cup of coffee. And I am a huge coffee drinker. When even a little bit of half and half made me feel sick, I had a hard time handling it. At first I just dealt with it, then I tried to find other methods. I'm really crazy about the way my coffee tastes--working at a coffee shop will do that to a person.

Plain soy milk in coffee was just disgusting. Even Very Vanilla Soymilk didn't really cut it for me. I tried Coconut Milk Creamer--totally gross. I didn't want to do it, but for a long time I started using Coffeemate non-dairy creamer. That stuff is really terrible for you--it's like drinking trans fat. I tried all different flavors, and they were tasty. My favorites were the sugar-free vanilla, which tasted like marshmallow to me, the peppermint mocha, and original, which was the closest taste to half and half that I could find. But they completely covered the taste of the coffee as well, which is okay if you are drinking ground Foldgers, but not okay if you bought a new bag of fresh, whole bean Caribou Blend. What can I say? I love my coffee.

Then I realized that when I ordered a soy mocha or soy latte at Starbucks it tasted amazing. So why didn't my coffee taste amazing when I added vanilla soy milk? The answer was in the steaming. I don't really know why, but heated soy milk in coffee tastes ten times better than cold soy milk in coffee. Especially when that soy milk is very, very sweet. The sweeter the better.

So after all of my experiments and attempts to find the perfect healthy replacement for half and half I have finally found the answer, and I wanted to pass along my knowledge, which is actually a small recipe.

Ingredients
8ounce cup of coffee
1/3 cup Silk Very Vanilla Soymilk
1 packet of Splenda

Directions
1. Mix the soymilk and Splenda in a microwave safe mug and heat for 30 seconds.
2. Pour in the fresh, hot gourmet coffee and find your happy place.

New Tip
You can also substitute vanilla soy milk with soy vanilla ice cream-it's also a great cream alternative to your coffee, and helps it cool down as well.

Soy Milk Pumpkin Pie

Soy Milk Pumpkin Pie

For my husband's birthday I usually make him a pumpkin pie instead of cake, since he considers it the best dessert ever created. I was an expert at making a creamy, melt-in-your mouth pumpkin pie. Now that eating anything made with 12 ounces of condensed milk is out of the question for me, I thought I would take a shot at making it lactose intolerant friendly. There are a bunch of dairy free pumpkin pie recipes out there, but I think you'll find mine particularly tasty. My husband loves it!

Ingredients
1 refrigerated pie crust
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 large eggs, 1 egg white
15oz can pumpkin
1 cup Silk Very Vanilla Soymilk


Directions
1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit.



2. Mold the pie crust into a pie dish and trim excess dough from the edges.



3. Mix sugar, salt, and spices in a small bowl until thoroughly blended.




4. In a large bowl, beat eggs and egg white. Stir in the pumpkin and then the sugar and spice mixture.



5. Gradually add Very Vanilla Soymilk and stir until completely blended. Pour into pie crust.



6. Bake for 15 minutes to set a crispy crust, then lower the temperature to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and bake for 40 minutes. To check if the pie is done, stick a knife through the middle and see if it comes up clean. If there is a layer of pumpkin on it, you may need to bake for an additional 5-10 minutes. Serve with dairy-free vanilla ice cream if you want to go all out. Happy Fall!