Almond Breeze

So I don't have a lot of awesome recipes, but I do have a knack for finding wonderful products at the grocery store. I'll try to post about those periodically.

One of my new favorite things is Unsweetened Almond Breeze. It's kind of like soy milk, but almond based instead of soy-based, which means there's plenty of vitamins, and even some fiber (yay fiber!). And if you aren't a fan of soy milk or rice milk because they're kind of chalky tasting, this stuff isn't at all. And the best news - this is by far the lowest calorie dairy-substitute out there. Only 40 calories in a cup!! Most soymilk has about 120 or more, and even skim milk has 85ish. I know not everyone is nuts about calorie counting, but even if you're just concerned about good health, Almond Breeze is low in sugar and high in Vitamins A, D, E, & Calcium! I know what you're thinking - "Great, but what do you use this stuff for?" I'm glad you asked! Here are my ideas:

• I use it most often in smoothies. If I make a fruit smoothie, I use unsweetened vanilla instead of milk. I use about 6-8 ounces of the Breeze, plus about a cup or so of fruit (strawberries, blueberries, peaches, whatever), some low-sugar fruit juice to add a kick and some splenda to sweeten it up.
• If you make a coffee smoothie (YUM!), you can use the unsweetened chocolate flavor to make it much richer. Just throw 6ish cubes of ice in the blender with a cup of the Breeze, some splenda, and instant coffee crystals to taste (I use about a tablespoon). Sometimes I throw in a tablespoon of sugar-free pudding mix to thicken it some, which works wonderfully.
• You can also use the Breeze as coffee creamer or on your cereal. You can use the original flavor in cooking too, but I haven't tried much of that. (Here's more Breeze recipes.)

You can find Almond Breeze in most grocery stores - I've seen it at HEB, Randalls and Whole Foods. It's usually located by the other non-refrigerated soymilk and ricemilk, which is in different places depending on the store. At my HEB, that stuff is next to the pharmacy by the diet supplements and Powerbars. At Randalls, it's on an end-cap near cereal, and at Whole Foods, it was near the cereal too. You can ask an employee, and even if they don't know what it is, they will probably know where non-refrigerated rice milk and soy milk are located. So... happy shopping!