Monday, May 4, 2009

Rice Dream and milk issues


I tried Rice Dream for the first time this morning. Yes, I'm trying this "no dairy" thing one more time. And I have to say, I do not have that crappy stomach feeling that I usually get after my bowl of cereal. I've heard that Rice Dream used to not be gluten free, but it is now. At least, my package was.

I've always hated milk. As a kid I was always the one who sat there at the breakfast table because I wouldn't finish the milk in my cereal bowl. I always had to choke down that glass of milk with dinner or whatever. The taste & texture is revolting to me. I will never voluntarily drink milk- even chocolate milk. The only time I eat it is in my cereal- and even then I don't use a lot. I will eat cheese sauces, ice cream, milkshakes, and pretty much every other thing milk is used in. Except that tres leches cake, which makes me want to puke. Why ruin a perfectly good cake with milk?? I'll never understand.

So, as much as I hate milk, I have this thing. I've tried soymilk with cereal and it's a mental thing that I can't get past. Something foreign on my cereal? Eew. Even though milk makes me feel bad, it's all I've ever had on cereal and it's really wierd to try something else on it. I'm a creature of habit and for 24 years I've had milk on my cereal... I was really skeptical.

I took the package out of my fridge, shook it, opened it, and cautiously smelled it. No smell. That's a good thing. I poured it onto my cereal. It kinda reminded me of that skim milk from the carton in elementary school that always looked blue. Or maybe the carton was blue, but I swear the milk had a blue tinge to it.
Anyway. It was milk-colored, which is a plus. Soy milk always had that funny color to it that made me gag a little as I stared down at my cereal bowl. The major drawback is that it's pretty thin. Milk always had some kind of texture to it.
As I was eating my rice chex, I detected no wierd aftertastes or anything. I managed to get through the bowl. I think I'm going to try and get used to this. I know it'll be easier for me to use in cooking and baking because at least then it's incorporated into something. I dunno, something about using it as straight milk grosses me out. I know, I have issues.

So I ate my rice chex with my rice dream and was all rice-ful and happy. Now back to adaptive evolution, phenotypic plasticity, and this paper I'm writing about endangered seahorses...

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

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Jolynn B said...

I much prefer Rice Dream over soy milk. Original soy milk always reminded me of pureed squash. :S I use rice dream in baking all the time. Since it isn't quite as thick as cow's or even soy milk I sometimes, but not always, cut back on the amount I put in. Especially in buscuits and other thick doughs.
Now when it comes to ice cream, soy pretty much tops rice. I wish those little tofutti bars were gluten free sooo bad!

Christa said...

This really struck a chord with me. I've always been that way about milk.. I love my cheese but milk is ONLY for on cereal, and don't you dare try to get me to drink the leftovers!

So since I love my cheese so much, I've gone back to having some dairy products (all it seems to do is congest me slightly) but when I went off dairy entirely I switched to almond milk, and I find it's very good. No weird look (I know what you mean about blue-tinged, yuck!), no weird smell or taste or texture that I've noticed. Perfect for its one good purpose--on a bowl of cereal!

Jennifer said...

Jolynn- Great tips, thank you!

Christa- I'm so glad that I'm not the only one who's weird with milk! I will definitely have to try that almond stuff.

Gina said...

I agree that the rice milk is a little thin and blue like skim milk. I would definitely prefer to try almond milk for something like cereal, but for baking I've been mostly using coconut milk because it has plenty of fat in it. has anyone baked with almond milk? I'm curious about how it works!

Kimberley said...

Soy milk has always revolted me. Not only is it disgusting, it's actually bad for you contrary to the belief of the Western world. Rice milk was a nice change of pace when I went VEgan, but it never really hit the spot. Lo & behold, I've recently discovered ALMOND MILK. Now this is the stuff! Not too sweet, no weird taste or color, a tiny hint of salty/almond flavor. Delicious! This is exactly what I've been looking for in a milk-like substance. =D