I’ve had an ongoing disagreement with Milk for the last couple of decades. I just don’t like it, OK? Milk is for cereal and coffee and that’s about it. OK, fine, Milk is the perfect thing to dunk cookies in but that about ends the usefulness of milk. I can’t fathom sitting down to drink an entire glass of milk, especially with a meal. Blech. I’d rather drink glue. Yeah, I know, it has calcium and stuff but in this Age of Food Chemistry that we seem to be living in, orange juice now has as much calcium as milk. And milk is pretty high in calories. Yeah, I know, skim milk exists but if I have issues with full fat milk, you can imagine my stance on skim milk? The stuff is GRAY for goodness sakes. Beverages should not be gray. At the end of the day, I just don’t get why people drink milk. Cow’s milk’s function on this earth is to have a calf gain 700lbs in a year. Not exactly on my to do list.
My local Stop and Shop carries a full line of Silk products
And there are beverage alternatives to milk.
Bean Juice
I don’t remember when I first had soy milk. I’m pretty sure it was when I was in Asia as a child. When I encountered it again probably a decade later, it was familiar and delicious and had that echo of good memories. And soy milk has come a long way
I know a lot of people who object to soy milk being called “milk”. You’re right, it’s not milk but really, trying to market “Pressed Bean Juice” is a tough job.
Soy milk has come a long way in the past few years. When I first started looking at milk alternatives in the late 90s, you had to go to specialty health food stores. And it was only sold paper cartons and shelf stable (any food product that can sit on a shelf for a year sorts of freaks me out a bit). In the late 90s, you started seeing Silk, and later 8th Continent in the fridge case of most supermarkets. Now even Target has a whole case just for milk alternatives. And you’re not just limited to soy milk either. Soy has gotten a bad rap in recent years for a connection to breast cancer. The jury is still out on that one.
Silk in Target
So As I’ve been doing this detox thing and gone off dairy, I wanted to try out new products. I was actually kind of surprised by the choices out there. Silk, one of the most popular soy milk brands has branched out into almond and coconut milk.
Silk Cococnut
Silk Coconut may be my new favorite thing
I am a nut for anything coconut. Coconut water, coconut flakes, Mounds, Almond Joy, Thai style curries, if it comes from a coconut, I’m on it like a fat girl on a box of donuts. I was totally excited to try Silk’s Pure Coconut Milk. Now first, this is not the stuff you make curries out of or put in you Pina Coladas. The consistency is on par with milk and it has just the lightest hint of coconut taste. Douse this stuff on your GoLean cereal and it’s dessert worthy (What? You know I’m not the only one who has sugar cereal for dessert. Sometimes when I want a naughty treat, I get me a box of Lucky Charms and have a big bowl late at night, you know, in that Magic Hour of midnight when calories don’t count. Just sayin’). I did not test it out in my coffee however. Silk Coconut Milk was slightly sweet, 90 calories, refreshing and gives you the naughty feel that you’re having a naughty treat when you’re not. OH and holy cow, it rocked in my detox smoothie.
Silk Almond Milk
Nut milks are all the rage apparently. I kind of find that surprising considering the rise of nut allergies in this country. But I guess if you don’t want to do milk and soy isn’t your thing, almond milk is a fine alternative. Silk Pure Almond was way way different than Silk Soy or Silk Coconut. It was much thicker, much creamier, and well of course it had a nutty taste. When I used it in a smoothie with frozen peaches, and rice protein powder, I had to eat it with a spoon or risk it slumping out of the glass and smacking me in the nose like a ball of mushy ice cream. I had a glass of Silk Almond by itself. It was delightful in taste, creamy, rich, nutty, but not refreshing. It came really close to being a dessert all on its own.
Silk Almond and Creamer
Silk Creamer
OK, I’m fessing up. I did not give up coffee on this detox thing. I know, I know, coffee is the devil but if loving coffee is wrong, I don’t want to be right. I did cut down to a cup a day. OK, Fine, it was one GIANT cup of coffee but still. My schedule is really rough right now and I really didn’t want to face that sans cafe. I’m not a masochist after all. Well, actually, I could handle cutting out coffee if I lived on a desert island but me dealing with life without coffee would be cruel and unusual punishment for other people in my life. Best not to, you know, drive people to murder you because you are a raging lunatic.
Anyhoo.. So yeah, I’m still drinking coffee and yes, putting a dollop of full fat milk in it. For Week 2 of the detox, I figure might as well go completely dairy free and try out Silk’s coffee creamer. I might be a fan of coconut, soy and almond milk, but there’s something about coffee that makes the idea of milk alternatives in my coffee just totally unappealing. I don’t know what it is, maybe I just like my coffee creamy without being weakened by adding additional beverages. But I digress.
Silk Creamer did a fine job in my coffee. I didn’t even add any additional sweetener, as it has a slightly sweet taste.
