Follow Up and a Tasty Side Dish

As promised in my last post, I wanted to share my thoughts about Nutiva HempShake. I whipped up a smoothie using my sample packet of Berry Pomegranate yesterday around mid-morning. I used 4 ounces soy milk (I wanted to use almond milk, but it wasn't cold), 4 ounces water, 1 sample packet of HempShake, and about half a cup of frozen strawberries. The HempShake mix by itself looks kind of unappetizing; it's an ugly brown color. But once I blended everything up, the shake turned a nice mauvish-purple color. This blended up really nicely; there were no chunks of powder or anything. As for taste, this mix was very good. I could really taste the pomegranate flavor, which pared nicely with the frozen strawberries. I'm sure using mixed berries of pretty much any kind would work well. The one thing I saw as a negative was the thickness. Even though I used a full cup of liquid, half of which was just water, the shake came out a little thick and gummy. I think next time I would add another half cup of liquid. Final verdict? I would buy this again, and switch it up with my soy protein shakes occasionally.

Last night, I finally got around to making a side dish I've been meaning to make for a while - cauliflower puree. I don't know why I waited so long because this might be the most simple thing to ever be produced in my kitchen. This puree was light, fluffy, and tasted like cauliflower and only cauliflower (which is a wonderful thing if you ask me). I served this alongside a green risotto that I made with leeks, peas, zucchini and herbs. In the future, I'd save the puree for an entree that had a texture that was not soft and creamy. Don't get me wrong, I love soft creamy food; but maybe not an entire plate of it (full disclosure - I wanted to make risotto cakes, but for some reason they didn't so much stay cakes... I'm thinking it might had been that big glass of wine I had before dinner, oops). The recipe below was inspired by this one.

Simple Cauliflower Puree
-1 large head cauliflower, cut into florets
-salt and pepper

-Set up a steamer basket in a pot above about half an inch of water. Heat the pot over medium high heat.
-Put the florets in the pot and steam them for about 8-10 minutes. Stir once or twice to ensure everything cooks evenly. The cauliflower is done when it is tender but not mushy.
-Put the steamed florets into your food processor and season with salt and pepper. Add a splash of the steaming liquid and puree. Repeat this process until you have a nice smooth consistency, making sure not to add too much water. You don't want a runny puree, you want a light fluffy one.
-Serve this puree right away so it's still hot, preferably with an entree with crunchy elements.

Hemp - Not Just for College Students

I am an alum of the University of Vermont in Burlington, Vermont. When people hear this, they often gravitate to one of a few topics; commonly, it's hemp. Obviously, a student or two was known to use a variety of the plant for its, shall we call them, recreational purposes. There was also a store stocked full of clothing and other goods made of hemp (The Hempest). This was new to me, coming from New Jersey where I'd never seen the plant used in its fiber form. I may be living 300 miles away from Burlington today, but my hemp discoveries have not ended. In the past week, I've come across a couple of interesting hemp products that I wanted to share.

First, we have Tempt Non-Dairy Frozen Dessert. I was really excited to find this at my local Whole Foods.
I've had a few different soy based non-dairy desserts and I've always been underwhelmed. They almost tasted icy, if not a little freezer burned. Anyway, when I saw this frozen hempmilk dessert, I decided to give it a try. I picked up the Coffee Biscotti flavor. I will say, this little pint of wonderfulness blew me away. It was so creamy; I attribute this to the good fat that hempseeds are a great source of. Hempmilk has more than double the Omega-3's and Omega-6's than soy milk. Besides the healthy fats, this product is a good source of both protein and essential amino acids. Go ahead and try to find me another dessert that has all this AND tastes delicious, smooth, and creamy!

Another hemp product I just stumbled upon today is Nutiva HempShake. I haven't had a chance to actually try this yet, but I was intrigued enough to pick up a sample packet to try tomorrow. We've all heard the saying "everything in moderation". I like to make sure I take this to heart, especially with my soy intake. I enjoy soy yogurt, soy milk, soy protein powders, and tofu as much as the next guy. However, I'm trying to branch out to include other kinds of products to add variety to my diet.
The HempShake mix seems like a good choice because it contains about the same amount of protein as my soy protein mix and it also has blueberries, acai, and goji berries, which are all jammed packed with antioxidants. In addition, this mix is a good source of fiber. I promise to report back with a review of the taste and texture; I'm planning on blending this mix up with some almond milk and frozen strawberries.

Hopefully this inspired you to venture in the world of (legal) hemp products! If you feel so inclined, it's worth the time to do some reading on the state of hemp farming today; despite the fact that the industrial hemp used to produce food and fiber products can't be used as a drug thanks to low THC levels, it's still illegal to farm here in the United States.