Eat Great Food

Chocolate Silk

One of the hardest things about going dairy-free is you end up constantly comparing what you're eating with it's dairy counterpart.  Sometimes it's better than the original while other times you end up being disappointed.

Tofu-based puddings always fell in the disappointment category for me.  I've tried a number of versions and not one of them was even remotely close to dairy-based puddings. My solution...stop comparing the two. 

Sweet Potato and Roasted Red Pepper Soup

It's a given, potatoes will explode in a microwave if you don't poke them, right?  Have you ever tried it? 

A few years ago the US Potato Board came to the magazine I was working for and showed us new techniques for baking, mashing and roasting potatoes in the microwave.  I'll be honest, I was surprised the techniques worked as well as they did but the one that stood out for me was the mashed version.  They went against "common sense" and didn't poke holes in them before nuking them.  When they demoed it I just sat back trying to figure out who was going to clean the splattered bits of potato out of the microwave.

Almond Pudding with Bourbon Vanilla Bean Syrup

Even after switching to soy milk a number of years ago, I still can't say I'm totally in love with it.  I long for the days when things didn't have that 'toasted marshmallow' flavor I typically associate with soy.  So I was happy to see almond milk recently show up in my local store. It's still fairly new on the market and may not be available everywhere so if you can't find it bug your grocery manager. 

I was surprised how good it was in my morning latte but the true test came when I tried to make it into pudding.  In making a pudding or custard you want a nice, rich mouth feel when you're eating it.  Since almond milk is pretty thin, the texture of the first batch was also thin.