frothy milk without fancy equipment

Good morning! This post comes with a story. Normally I hate that, so scroll to the bottom to skip it.

There's a reason why I care so much about foaming milk without fancy equipment.

It starts with my preference for strong black coffee. My stomach became irritated with it, so I tried adding unsweetened almond milk to buffer the jet fuel. It helps. A LOT.

My stomach has felt better, but I don't exactly like the way it tastes. I still prefer that bitter, un-adultered cup of coffee. Do you know what it's like to wake up in the morning and NOT look forward to your coffee? It sucks.

I recently visited a friend who likes lattes in the morning. She uses a milk steamer and it got me thinking... I like lattes, and I could get on board with being fancy every day. I almost bought myself a milk steamer, but we already have 2 coffeemakers and I don't want another gadget cluttering the kitchen counter.

Luckily, all I needed was a glass jar.
(I happen to have a glass jar problem and have plenty laying around. I think this one is an old pizza sauce jar- I like it because it has markings on the side for easy measuring.)

Here are the steps to get frothy almond milk:

1. Add almond milk to the jar. Sometimes I add turmeric or cinnamon.

2. Microwave it for 1 minute (with the lid OFF)

3. Feed the cat while it's heating

4. Place the lid on the jar

5. Shake for a few seconds

6. Pour into a cup of dark, strong coffee

Now, I look forward to my cup of coffee again.

bacon.

I want to talk about bacon real quick.

I like bacon every once in a while. Added to a dish for flavor, fried up with an egg, the usual. It's nice to have on hand but I typically don't use an entire package at once, so I freeze it.

If you've ever frozen an entire package of bacon, you know it's damn near impossible to peel a single strip off the stack unless the whole package is thawed.

So I started freezing it strategically:

Freeze the bacon on a sheet pan in a single layer on wax paper.
Cut each piece in half (not required but I like to because it's easier to store).
Then layer the frozen strips on squares of wax paper and place them in a freezer bag.

Super easy to pull out the exact amount I need.

updates

Quick update. Haven't been cooking much lately.

I was at Quizno's the other day picking up a sandwich for the man when I grabbed a Sobe Life Water because I was parched and it looked yummy. After a large gulp I figured I should read the ingredients, just in case. Well poop in my cereal. Right there on the label of WATER, was modified food starch. It was a Sunday so the hotline was closed but I did some searching online and found out all of the Sobe Life Waters are gluten free. Sweet.

Found out Kroger has a pretty good gluten free section on their website for all of the store brand products.

And all of Kraft brand products will say right on the label if anything is derived from wheat. For example, Modified Food Starch (Wheat). When I spoke to the lady on the phone she said if it doesn't specify then it's okay.

So that's the news for today.

tips, hints and other dealywhoppers

Since I've been spending more time in the kitchen, I've picked up a few things that help make life simpler. I'll update as I learn!

-I burn myself a lot. To prevent the pain and blistering, you gotta immediately run cold water or hold an ice cube over the burn. This, to me, is annoying because I've still got cooking to do. So what I've done is taken a used tea bag, placed it in a baggie and frozen it. I also keep rubber bands in my kitchen "junk drawer," so when I get a burn all I have to do is position the frozen tea bag in place with the rubber band and keep working. The tea bag doesn't "sweat" as much as an ice cube would, and the shape stays pretty much the same as it thaws, unlike an ice cube that slides around. I can keep the cold on the burn for longer and I get to keep working. When I'm done, I throw it back in the freezer until next time. I think it's genius.

-Basic flour mixes:
I started using the mix below but I usually adapt by adding soy, sweet sorghum, bean flour, Bob's all-purpose mix, or some other flour depending on what I'm making. But here's the basic that I mix all at once and store in a jar.

1 1/2 c. rice flour
3/4 c. potato starch
3/4 c. cornstarch
1 c. tapioca starch

-Where do I find these flours?
Well, most of these I have found in small bags at higher prices at Whole Foods, online, or some other neighborhood grocery store. I can find a lot of them at asian food stores for WAY cheaper, and usually in larger sizes so I'm not always at the store buying more. I look in the "ethnic" aisles instead of the yuppie "specialty" aisle and can usually find a better price for the same thing. Kudos to my friend JN for suggesting that!

-Most of the recipes I try, I end up not liking the recipe and not finishing the food. So, when I try a new one I always halve it. That way I don't feel AS bad for wasting food when a recipe comes out of the oven tasting wonderful but the next day is disgusting. This happens especially with baked goods.

-Wal Mart puts "gluten free" on every gluten free "Walmart" brand they sell. That's been helpful when reading labels.

-I recommend getting an oven thermometer to see just how accurate the dial is. Mine kept burning everything, so I got one and discovered that it heated 40 degrees higher than it said it was. Things turn out a lot better now.