Thursday 8 December 2011

Rice Dream Review + Spiced Pumpkin Loaf

Hello! How are you all doing? I'm not writing the post I'd planned to about Bath tonight I'm afraid - I still haven't got round taking photos of all the things I bought so I will try to do that tomorrow!

Instead you get a review that I have been meaning to write for a while.

I was contacted by Rice Dream (you can find their Facebook Page here) asking if I'd like to try out their non-dairy milk. It's taken me a while to write this post as when I first tried out the carton they sent, I used it in coffee...and it curdled. I'm a bit funny about textures as it is, so I was put off, especially as when I poured it there were also lumps in it. I now think that there was something wrong with that particular carton, as having tried another carton I have had much better results...but it did take me a little while to build up the courage to try it again!!

I'm glad I did give it another go though, as the next carton I tried was much better - it poured out lump-free and worked fine in my lattes. I found that it had quite a neutral flavour so I was able to enjoy my latte like usual.

I did see on Rachel's blog that she too had had slight curdling in hot drinks with Rice Dream, but that it hadn't affected the taste. I asked them about it and they recommended waiting a minute or so before pouring the Rice Dream into the hot drink, as it shouldn't be poured directly into boiling water.

I also tried Rice Dream in my beloved porridge:


This was delicious - it had the same texture and taste as I'm used to, so works really well as a non-dairy alternative to milk.

As with most non-dairy milks, the thing that does stop me using them as my only type of milk is the lack of protein. I'm not vegan or dairy-free, so I do drink dairy milk a lot of the time. If you don't, then I think Rice Dream is a really good alternative. But for me, I think I will continue to use it in porridge/cereal (where I can add peanut butter to up the protein!), but for my lattes (which often act as breakfast, or at the very least tide me over until after the school run) I will stick with cows' milk to give me some protein to stop me getting so hungry.

Having said that, I'm really glad I did this review - I do like trying different types of non-dairy milk and Rice Dream was a new one to me, which I will now add to my rotation. Thanks Rice Dream for letting me try their product!

*****

In other news photos, I made spiced pumpkin bread today. It didn't turn out quite as well as I'd hoped - the spiced taste wasn't strong enough, and the loaf had more of a cake-like texture than the dense, slightly drier loaf I'd been hoping for. I never normally like my baked goods dry (and of course I don't really mean dry - I think dense is probably the better description), but I was trying to make something similar to the amazing pumpkin loaf I bought a few weeks ago from a Christmas Fayre. At least I've got a starting point to play around from now!


This was meant to tie in with this post as I was planning to use Rice Dream in it...but the recipe didn't call for any type of milk. Oh well, I thought I'd put it in here anyway - it looks pretty, and the children love it! It's certainly ok as first attempts go, but I hope I can make it even better next time!

Have you ever tried Rice Dream before? Or other non-dairy milks? What are your favourites? I'm awful for deciding that I'm going to stop drinking cows' milk (the thought of it does disturb/disgust me, but I'm still in the burying my head in the sand stage at the moment), buying a load of non-dairy milks, and then switching back to cows' milk after a couple of days! My cupboard currently contains Rice Dream, Oatly, Kara coconut milk, and soy milk...oops! I'm trying to make my way through them by using them in foods (cereals, porridge, smoothies...) but still using cows' milk in my hot drinks.

8 comments:

  1. I love Rice Dream - my only issue is with the lack of protein too. If only there was a milk that had proetin that wasn't derived from soy, which my poor intestines aren't too fond of.

    Making pumpkin-based things dense or dry is really difficult - Pumpkin has such a high water content, I'd imagine you'd have to add extra flour or something or just use an eeny weeny bit of pumpkin for flavour. There's me, rambling on about baking as if I have a clue!

    xxx

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  2. I love all the non dairy milks in porridge but not in my coffee, I'm like you though I do keep trying them :-)

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  3. I think Rice Dream is one of my favourite non-dairy milks. I love their vanilla and hazelnut and almond varieties.

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  4. I quite like rice dream, but am on a hemp and coconut milk kick at the moment!

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  5. My go-to non-dairy milk is unsweetened vanilla almond milk. I also really like coconut milk, but I just seem to gravitate toward that almond milk!

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  6. Jess - thanks for your pumpkin comments - sounds like you have more of a clue than me! :) I'll have to try the recipe again, maybe with half the amount of pumpkin or something.

    Lara - yes, my coffee is too precious to me to risk messing up - if milk curdles in my coffee it is way too upsetting, especially if I don't have time to make another one!! ;)

    Jemma - oooh, I think I have a carton of hazelnut and almond Rice Dream hiding in my cupboard...I will give that a go next :)

    Lauren - I've never actually tried hemp milk. Coconut milk is the first non-dairy milk I tried, so I do tend to go back to that quite regularly.

    Sarah - vanilla almond milk sounds lovely. I'm not meant to be adding yet more non-dairy milks to my "to try" list though...not until I've drunk the ones I've already got at least! ;)

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  7. Could you reduce the pumpkin puree first? I have a cookie recipe from vegan cookies book, and you have to simmer the puree until it reduces by 1/3 or something. Then the flavour is more concentrated but it is less moist?

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  8. Oooh, that's a really good idea, thanks Maria! I will try that next time :)

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