Milk and More

Hey all, Happy Valentines Day! Last night I dragged my carnivorous husband to a great vegan restaurant on St. Pauls Street in Baltimore called "The Yabba Pot". It was quaint little place with a nice simple menu, a juice bar and off the hook vegan desserts! Who knew desserts could taste that good without eggs or butter! I met two wonderful girls, one who worked there and one who was dining with her fiance, both were vegans and chock full of information from great websites to recipe books to general reading about lots of the issues we are talking about. I will share that info with you as well!

My husband Scott and I dined on mashed sweet potatoes made with coconut milk, fried navy bean patties, curried white potatoes, an amazing raw kale dish with carrots and beets, fried cauliflower that tasted like fried chicken, a dish called king greens which was sauteed kale, cabbage and onions (I loved that dish so much I made for lunch today and served over polenta), and spicy lentil stew. Their desserts like I mentioned were so good -we had the lemon cake with amazing lemon frosting that was made with no butter, milk or eggs - need to get that recipe!

I talked about milk with my new friends and one of the girls makes her own milk out of almonds. I am not ready to make my own yet, but I took my new friend's advice and went out and bought Almond Milk today. Almond milk is a milky drink made from ground almonds. It does not contain cholesterol or lactose like animal milk. It is completely vegan. I bought "Almond Dream Unsweetened Almond Milk" I wanted to buy organic - but the only organic version was sweetened. It tastes really pleasant, like almonds. If I wanted to make it sweeter I could by adding a little honey, cane sugar, maple sugar or truvia/stevia myself. I always like to buy unsweetened and add my own sweetener if needed. We will talk about sweeteners later this week for sure. The girls I chatted with last night use Agave Nectar, which I like as well. The almond milk you can buy from the store is often enriched with vitamins and comes in not only plain sweetened and unsweetened, but vanilla or chocolate. If you want to make it yourself you would simply combine ground almonds with water and put in a blender. It is really good and almonds are super healthy, this may be my new staple for my morning cereal or the milk in my morning latte!!

There is so much out there about soy milk and if it's healthy or not due to it's estrogenic properties as well as processing at high temperatures. The best type of soy to eat is fermented soy, but unfermented soy milk has it's health benefits as well. As I discussed before, it has the same amount of protein as cow's milk, although little digestible calcium, but is usually enriched with calcium carbonate which humans can digest. Soy milk, like Almond milk has little saturated fat and no cholesterol. It also contains isoflavones which are organic chemicals that have health benefits such as protection against breast cancer, prostate cancer, menopausal symptoms, heart disease and osteoporosis. The healthiest bet with soy milk would be to drink it in moderation and buy Organic Unsweetened Soy Milk. Other types have added sugar which is not that good for you. Fermented soy has a higher nutrient level than unfermented soy because it is not processed at high temperatures. Fermented soy products are miso, tempeh (you can buy at health food stores or even Giant, the brand I buy is Lighlife Organic tempeh Three Grain, made with brown rice, barley and millet - or of course make yourself), naturally brewed soy or tamari sauce, whole soybean powder and fermented soy yogurt which is full of the friendly bacteria lactobacillus bulgaricus and streptococcus thermophilus - which are live and active cultures. You can of course make your own soy yogurt, there are lots of recipes online - have at it!

Another type of milk is Rice Milk. Rice milk is processed from usually brown rice and is usually unsweetened. Some brands may be sweetened with sugarcane syrup. It has more carbohydrates than cow's milk, but does not has a significant amount of calcium or protein. It has no cholesterol or lactose, and is usually fortified with calcium, vitamin B12, B3 and iron. Store brands will have not only unsweetened Rice Milk but also vanilla, chocolate and almond flavors. I will try it, this may be good for shakes before a workout because of it's high carb content. Rice and Almond Milk are both good alternative if you are lactose intolerant or allergic to soy.

I was asked about cow's milk yogurt vs. cow's milk and if it is a healthier option. It is a healthier option because it has the "good bacteria", the live and active cultures that take up some of the milk's sugar (lactose), converting it into lactic acid - giving it that tangy taste and is digested easier. The live cultures in yogurt may prevent intestinal problems and even colon cancer. Like I said before, you can mix yogurt with water to make yogurt milk, which some believe if you are going to drink dairy is a healthier alternative to cow's milk.

TAKE AWAY:

The girls I was talking to at the Yabba Pot (remember they are vegan) suggested a few great books/websites...here they are:

Books: Skinny Bitch - the whole series, The Kind Diet, The New American Diet, Fast Food Nation, Vegan with a Vengeance, Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World.

Websites:

the Post Punk Kitchen Website (www.theppk.com),

http://www.sustainabletable.org/home.php,

http://www.themeatrix.com/

and http://www.eatwellguide.org/i.php?pd=Home

(this site helps you find markets and restaurants that use local sustainable organic products and

"Meet Your Meat" a youtube video narrated by actor Alec Baldwin, which is hard to watch - but shows the cruelty of the animals that are raised to be slaughtered for the meat we eat

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIjanhKqVC4

happy reading and surfing!

until tomorrow.....