Delish Dairy Free Half-n-Half

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Ripple is non-dairy product that came out not long ago.
When my daughter was for sure diagnosed dairy intolerant, we were thinking she might have nut issues also. Other than soy, coconut and rice, there were few options. Even fewer she was crazy about consuming. I wasn’t crazy about having my girls consuming large amounts of soy. Soy mimics estrogen and I have no desire to mess around with natural hormone levels. So that limits the amount of soy we choose to consume. My daughter doesn’t much care for coconut milk, rice milk is watery, and oat milk is oddly sweet. Fine for cereal, not great for savory applications.

I then noticed Ripple appear on my local grocery refrigerator shelf. This is a plant based ‘milk’ that is extremely good and very creamy, mimicking whole fat dairy milk. (FYI: their chocolate milk is delish)

Being aware of (finally) a good tasting milk brand that fit all the parameters, helped me to notice when they released a Half n Half.
Finally.
I’ve struggled with the texture of dishes that require the richer and thicker taste/texture of a cream. You know, like a good french toast, Christmas quiche, and really amazing (GF) bread puddings.  When it comes to replicating half and half, this comes pretty dang close. In fact, with the exception of uses that are exclusive to cream, this is a bang up excellent substitute.

I can tell you that there are many non-dairy creamers out there that are quite suitable for coffee and such, but they are all have a sweet note to them. Not a natural ‘sweet’ cream note, but a ‘sweet creamer’ note. Even the ones not labeled as ‘sweet’ have a sweet taste to them. One Christmas, I thought I was doing my daughters a favor by making a quiche with a traditional non-dairy creamer that claimed to be just ‘creamer’. Trust me, it was not good. The girls graciously ate it, but an oddly sweet ‘ham quiche’ was not what they were expecting for Christmas brunch.

Enter: Ripple Half-n-Half. They have 2 formulas as of today. Vanilla and plain.
I love this stuff.
Seriously…I’m using it every weekend!
I use it to make my GF/DF christmas quiche, french toast, egg bakes (both savory AND sweet), pancake mixes, and more. I adjust which one to use based on the application. French toast? Vanilla. Quiche? Plain. Savory Egg Bake? Plain. Pancakes? Vanilla!
My new sunday morning default is an egg bake I’ve prepped the night before, ready to bake off when we get home from church! Oh…this stuff has changed my life!

This product is amazing. I’m constantly encouraged by the great products that keep coming out to appeal to the dietary demands we have.
Whether you are vegan or dairy intolerant, the market is driving some great innovations in products, and this is one.
Love it.
And I highly recommend it if you can find it.

Note: when mixed in coffee as creamer substitute, there appears to be some sort of a strange reaction that causes the solids to precipitate out of the milk. We notice a slightly gritty sludge at the bottom of the mug. The drink tastes perfectly fine, but be aware of that small drawback. My daughters have only noticed it happening with coffee. Not sure if it happens with other hot drinks.

 

 

Best DairyFree ‘Butter’ EVAH!

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Since my daughter had to go dairy free as well as gluten free, my life has been in a conundrum. I love to cook, and the main tools in my cooking arsenal are olive oil, avocado oil and butter. Olive oil and avocado oil can substitute well in a lot of places, but there just doesn’t exist a good substitute for dairy.
I’ve experimented with various ‘vegan’ products and while they are getting better, many are just not there….until now!

This vegan butter is seriously a game changer for me, and my resistance to compromise on taste and quality. I simply hate having to settle for producing an inferior product, just to be able to have it. My daughter has tried enough mediocre GF/DF products to agree with me.

Enter Miyoko’s Creamery European Style Cultured VEGANButter. This product has changed my attitude (did i say that out loud?) about non-dairy cooking.

My first foray into testing was grilled sandwiches. Personally, as a super-sniffer I find most ‘vegan’ butters to be at best, meh. Sure, they are adequate when spread on something, but cooked/melted they take on a rancid smell.
IMHO.
(I believe this to be due to the fact that vegetable oil is processed at such a high heat to extract, that it is actually made sorta rancid. Of course, the processors then have to ‘bleach’ the smell out to make it palatable to consume. Well, I can smell it. Ick.)
This ‘butter’ performed like a charm. The toast was browned (a big complaint of non-dairy products), crunchy, and had the real creamy – smooth taste of butter. Pancakes performed just as well. Eggs need a touch of olive oil to keep from sticking, but I find that to be an issue with real butter also – due to the solids. The taste? Buttery.

Seriously…can I emphasize again: TASTES. LIKE. BUTTER.

Granted, this is european style cultured butter, with a smidge of that cultured tang, certainly not a negative in my book.

Since I’ve started using this product around Easter, I decided to try an egg bake.  I tested this in a GF cinnamon raisin bread, ‘French Toast’ style egg bake. I used this ‘butter’ mixed with brown sugar, sliced almonds and a bit of GF flour for the topping. While it did not hold up in a typical style crumble, (maybe next time I’ll use some oats) it did melt and created a nice crunchy caramelized top to the bread-y eggy concoction. I need to research the science to figure out how to keep the topping more texturally firm, but it was SOOOOOO GOOD!
And baked potatoes? Oh yeah. Slather it on.

I’m looking forward to testing out some of my daughters favorite sweets and treats using this product. I can’t wait to make ‘butter’-cream frosting and a butter cake.

I’ll keep you posted, so keep checking back. This one is definitely going to be a pantry item for me.

 

‘Out of the Box’ (or Bag) Breakfast

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Sometimes we just need to take a short cut or two. Over brunch, we can take our time with planning, preparation and cooking. But when it comes to breakfast, true, race-out-of-the-house breakfast, speed and ease is of the essence.

Every once in awhile, I like to use a pre-done product to shortcut and streamline a meal. Alexis Potato Puffs are a delicious, gluten free, way to have a creatively fun breakfast option.

Heat up your waffle iron first. Spray or lightly grease it, then layer your frozen, right out of the bag, tots evenly across the surface. Cook until well-browned, which will look like this:

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While your tot ‘cakes’ are cooking, you can fry your ham and eggs. I encourage you to leave the yolk runny, that way you have a built in healthy ‘sauce’.

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My trick to a perfectly cooked egg: Start the egg in a skillet, then throw a tight fitting lid over the pan, turn the heat down and ‘steam’ the whites on the top. Voila! Isn’t that a beauty?

This meal is so versatile, you can dress it up or down. Serve it with a hollandaise, or melted cheese sauce. Salsa would be delicious if your meat was fried chorizo sausage. Add a thick slice of tomato, basil and bacon and you have a riff off of a BLT.

Give it a whirl, and be sure to leave your ideas in the comments below!