Oat Milk

An alternative to cows milk--oat milk.  Easy to make and inexpensive when compared to purchasing commercially prepared non-dairy milks.

To make 2 cups:  place 1/2 cup old fashioned oats into a blender.  Add 2 cups of water.  Blend for 1 minute.  Strain to remove any solids.  Refrigerate to store. 

You might add some vanilla to your milk to enhance the flavor when used on cereal.

To watch a video of this being prepared click here .

Or you can copy and paste the URL:  http://allnaturalme.com/blog/?p=1512

Fake Milk

A lot of people use fake milk because they can't drink cow's milk and other animal milks--the secretions of their mammary glands-- are not easy to find.

I use the fake stuff--almond milk--because it is low in calories, carbs and fat.

But the fake stuff comes with a price--a high price.  Per gallon I'm spending over $8 for a gallon of the stuff.

Hence, I've decided I'll make my own fake milk and save myself a bundle of money.  After all--almond milk is almonds soaked in water.  The liquid is called milk.  Milk of the almond.  Soy milk is made similarly.  Soy beans are soaked and processed and the resultant liquid as well is called milk.

How will I do this you ask?  Well, it's simple...a first grader could do it.

I'm going to take cows milk...skim milk, or whatever I have on hand...and add....WATER.  Yep.  Water.  Equal parts of water and milk will yield one cup of fake milk.  Using skim that translates into 40 calories, zero fat and 6 grams of carb.  And the cost?  A dollar fifty per gallon.

While in TX recently I only had access to whole cows milk.  That's a whole lotta calories on my cereal in comparison to the almond milk I normally use.  So I thought 'shoot'...I'll water it down.  And guess what?...it tasted great.  As good as the almond milk for sure.

By the way, if you like your fake milk flavored like the vanilla soy and almond milks, easy peasy--add some vanilla.  And if you want it sweetened--the fake milks come sweetened and unsweetened--you can add sweetener too.

Save all around.  Make your own fake milk,  You 'll also eliminate the necessity of having 2 or more kinds of cows milk in your fridge.  You can adjust the amount of water you add to get the ratios you prefer.

Baby Steps: One Thing I Am Doing

Last post I mentioned setting myself a four week goal to make some changes and discover the net--if any-- effect.  I've made several changes, but bottom line--I'm not on a diet.  There is nothing to 'go off of'.  I'm incorporating some things into my life that I plan to stick with routinely.  It remains to be seen what benefits, if any, I will net.  I will share more at the end of the 4 weeks.

One thing I changed is what I put into my morning coffee.  I love good coffee in the a.m. with half and half, sans sweetening of any kind--unless it's iced coffee, which I also love.

Now I don't think fat in food is evil.  I did the whole very low fat/no fat thing back in the late 1990's.  More realistically it was a fast carb (versus slow carbs) diet which elevated my body weight and my cholesterol.  Good fats are good for us.  But too many calories-- including healthy ones-- will make us over fat, so we need to consider that aspect.

As well, I've read that when you eat fat, your body will utilize that fat before it utilizes your stored body fat.  If that is true--don't know if it is or isn't--then to get rid of my fat I need to reduce my total fat intake.  Meaning, I eat good fat, in modest amounts--that being what is optimal for good health--and use non-fat substitutes elsewhere as needed to balance my calorie intake.

So...my bright idea was to use skim milk in my coffee.  Yuk.  Not good.  One issue is the amount I need made it too cool.  My solution was to nuke the milk, then add the coffee.  But I still hated the taste, or lack of to be more exact.

All the creamer substitutes--which do a better job  than skim milk in my book--I have issues with.  They are usually sweetened or they have partially hydrogenated oils.  I can't abide sweet hot coffee, though I love sweet cold coffee, and I avoid routine use of trans fat foods.  And the  dairy fat free half and half is tasteless to me and overpriced.  I may as well save my money and use skim milk.

I was ready to call the skim milk in my coffee quits and go back to half and half --because it is not a change I can live with forever--when I hit on the idea of trying 1% milk in my coffee.  Who'd have thought it would make such a big difference???  Well, not me, but guess what?..it is 100% better.  So much so that I may just be able to live with it for life, saying bye bye to half and half forever.

I'll see how it goes.  I could always try 2% milk, and even whole milk.  I need to do the fat math and the calorie math since I use about 1/4 cup per 12 ounce coffee mug.

This one little thing won't make a big difference.  But a lot of little things, a lot of little changes might add up to one big change--me seeing the number on the scale diminish.

If I have learned anything, I have learned this: the thing that gets you to your weight loss is the thing that keeps you there.  The coffee change is a baby step, but perhaps a step in the right direction.  We'll see.

Milk Tea (With Turmeric and Ginger)

Try this hot beverage for a pick-me-up or a nightcap. My own unique concoction? I add the question mark because it may not be anything new.

In a heat proof mug place about 1/8 teaspoon ( I don't measure) each: turmeric and powdered ginger (if you want you can use fresh ginger). On top of that add a big tablespoon of good local honey. Then add enough boiling water to make a paste. Stir, stir, stir until smooth. Then add more hot water so the mug is 2/3 full. Top off with milk the rest of the way. Continue heating by placing in the microwave. I like it to almost reach boiling. I think it helps the turmeric and ginger 'get into' the milk.

This is a nice light hot drink and the benefits of turmeric and ginger have been oft touted .

Give it a try. I love it. So might you. Even husband thought it was good.

COFFEE AND CREAM DESSERT

This is one serving. It uses some fat free and sugar free products and it is surprisingly good. I’m not a fan of most engineered fat free foods and I use sugar free sparingly. But having a sweet tooth I had to come up with some desserts I can truly enjoy.

For this one, use a coffee mug. Way cute.

You’ll need these ingredients per serving.

One vanilla pudding cup, sugar free
Two tablespoons of fat free cream cheese
Four tablespoons of light Cool Whip
One serving of vanilla wafers, broken
One teaspoon of instant coffee plus water, or leftover coffee
Rum flavoring
A little milk
A little unsweetened cocoa powder
Lite Whipped cream in a can (the aerosol kind--it‘s prettier)

First off --I fold some vanilla flavoring into my Cool Whip before I use it--a tip I saw on Sandra Lee’s cooking show--the name escapes me.

In a small bowl mix the instant coffee with a tablespoon of water, a tablespoon of milk and about a half teaspoon of rum flavoring. To this add the broken vanilla wafers and toss. Let this sit to absorb the liquid while you mix up the rest. You can add a little more milk or water if it’s too dry--though you don’t want to add so much liquid that the cookies disintegrate…just enough to soften and flavor them.

In another bowl combine the cream cheese and pudding cup until it is smooth, then fold in the whipped topping.

To assemble, place half the cookie mixture in the coffee mug, top with half the pudding mixture. Repeat. Sprinkle this with the cocoa powder. Then top it with a single ring of whipped cream around the perimeter of the cup.

This will taste similar to Tiramisu. If you don’t like coffee, use Oreo cookies and milk, omitting the coffee and rum flavoring…and you’ll have Cookies and Milk Dessert. You might want to put it in a glass. Enjoy!

Bubble Tea and Joy Fit Club Video

I did it! I made bubble tea. I've been fascinated with it since hearing about it. And today I found the black tapioca pearls at the area world market.

Note--the pearls were not easy to find. The market is huge and I had to thoroughly investigate many aisles before finding anything that resembled tapioca. To make things more difficult, the writing on the package was not in English. It looked Japanese, definitely Asian. But fortunately for me, the tag on the shelf said tapioca. And the picture on the package looked like black pearl tapioca. But...it could as well have been black beans . The tapioca itself, as I could see it uncooked through the packaging, was brown.

When I first began cooking it I had my doubts that it would turn out. It was small and brown with only a little black on one side and no way could I envision it swelling into those lustrous pearls I'd see on the Web. But...it did!! And I had the key ingredient for bubble tea.

I steeped the pearls in lemon and sugar for about half an hour and then placed them in the bottom of a clear glass. I used the traditional milk tea (iced) which is strong black tea with milk and sweetener added. When you add the milk it allows you to see those beautiful black "bubbles" at the bottom of your glass. It happened that I had a straw that would accommodate the size of the pearls and I was in business--sucking up those yummy gummy pearls, chewing them as I slurped my way through my tea .

My next quest will be to find the colored tapioca pearls so I can make some fruity bubble tea.

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In the event the video won't work for you, here's the link: click here

SKIM MILK POWDER

As I sit here and type this post I have a hot mug of Yorkshire Tea by Taylors of Harrogate. It has a rich amber color with a rich full flavor. The box says "blended in the Yorkshire Dales". This tea is blended by the same family who blends for Bettys Tea Rooms in Yorkshire (that's in England--you probably knew that :-D). I found this tea at T J Maxx and decided to purchase it because I love the comedy series "Last of the Summer Wine" which is set---and I hear filmed on location---in Yorkshire.

My tea is accompanied by a snack of Bhel Puri, which is an Indian "chaat" (snack) and is one of my favorites. It is apropos since Indian food is popular with many Brits. I assume it has something to do with the British ruling and occupying India for several years. I'm not that familiar with the history, so not wanting to step on any toes in ignorance, will say no more. If you're unfamiliar with Bhel Puri you can go here for the recipe and a video demonstration. Note: I use boiled potato instead of mango---I learned to make Bhel Puri from a friend who is a native of India.

When I was adding my skim milk powder to my tea I thought "now there's a post---skim milk powder". Mind you I drink and cook with 2% organic milk and for my morning coffee I use 1/2 and 1/2, which I limit to an ounce or 2 tablespoons. It costs me 40 calories, and is pretty high in fat, but I compensate for those "losses" in other ways. And my cereal gets 4 ounces of unsweetened Almond Breeze (almond milk) which is just 20 calories.

In my tea I've taken to using skim milk powder because it does save calories and fat grams that I can use elsewhere and it doesn't cool my tea down too fast---I like my beverages quite hot. If I do find it too hot, I can add an ice cube---problem solved. The skim milk powder in the tea is every bit as good as full fat milk---whereas the skim milk powder in my coffee was a no go---it tasted chalky to me.

And when it comes to frothing milk for your hot beverages, skim milk powder works fantastically. I generally put 4 teaspoons in my cup with approximately 4 tablespoons of boiling water then whip to a huge heady froth with my battery operated hand frother. I've posted about it before---here. It is one gadget I truly enjoy and use often and well worth the $20 I spent on it---mind you, that price included the good battery packaged with the frother. Once I have the froth in my cup, then I add my coffee and cream, or tea bag and water or whatever I might be drinking at the moment.

To make the skim milk handy, I put it in a small tin--a pretty one--and place a measuring spoon right in the tin. I've found that the plastic disposable spoons measure approximately 1 teaspoon (when fairly level) and if need be you can break the handle off to shorten it so it'll fit right in your tin. Just be sure that any loose plastic is knocked off so you don't end up drinking it---not good.

To make it easy, I've done the math and share it here. Noting that my box says a serving of milk is 1/3 cup dry powder, I calculated that 1/3 cup is 5 and 1/3 tablespoons, which is 16 teaspoons. With 1/3 cup being 80 calories, that makes one teaspoon 5 calories.

This is another one of those seemingly to me obvious things. But perhaps you haven't thought of it. Who knew so much could be said about skim milk powder? Well--I confess---I am verbose, so I don't find it all that difficult.

Almond Breeze

I just wanted to share this find with you. I've known about it for a couple years, even tried it, just never used it much until recently. Not only is it low calorie it is also low carb...and I think it tastes great on cereal...a whole cup is only 40 calories for the unsweetened vanilla, which is the one I use, and the carb count is 2 grams per cup with 1 gram of fiber and 1 gram of protein. From a nutritional standpoint it is a good source of vitamin E (50% DV) and potassium (190 mg). It also provides 20% DV of calcium, 25% DV of vitamin D and some additional nutrients...also it has no cholesterol. I'd say it's a good all around bargain considering the low carb, low calories it contains. I paid $2.29 plus tax for a quart of it at Krogers.

Being a cancer survivor whose cancer was dependent upon estrogen and on the advice of my oncologist I avoid the soy milk that is so popular today.

I save a lot of calories using the Almond Breeze on my cereal and get my dairy from yogurt and cheese. The Almond Breeze is also good in smoothies.

If you'd like more product information you can check it out here .

My Favorite New Toy

I'm not huge on kitchen gadgets. But this current one is the best fun. It's the Aerolatte battery operated milk frother.

Generally I like my coffee with half and half...I just don't like it with milk unless it's part of a latte or cappuccino...but froth some milk and put it on top of some good black coffee, give it sprinkle of cinnamon and a dash of Splenda granules and you've got yourself a winner and a special treat...at least it feels like a treat to me.

I found this goodie, which comes with it's own carrying case, at Bed, Bath and Beyond for $19.95 plus tax. If you watch you can often find a coupon for BB&B for 20% off which saves almost $4.00.

The frother uses 2 AA batteries, which are included and the information states they will last for 150 uses, which is about 5 months if used daily. Not too shabby and you won't spend a fortune on batteries.

I have a frother that is the pump type, but by the time you wash the thing you've washed the pump, the glass container, and the lid, and all by hand...so not worth the bother for one cup of coffee. But clean up with the automatic frother is just a matter of giving it a whirl under some running water, and then a whirl to shed the water to facilitate drying. When dry, pop it into it's case and stick in a drawer until next time.

It is so unlike me to buy something so totally frivolous that costs more than a couple dollars...this was a splurge for me, given my frugality. But worth every penny. If you'd like more information go to the product website here.