Almond Fresh Noël Nog French Toast

Almond Fresh Noël Nog

I had some friends over recently for a pre-holiday gathering and given that some of them are lactose intolerant, I thought it would be fun to try Almond Fresh Noël Nog, a non-dairy “egg nog” that I learned about recently (check out my previous post about Almond Fresh here).

The verdict: We all enjoyed it and we were particularly impressed with how light it was in comparison to regular egg nog. My friend Lisa was particularly happy that she could have an egg nog style drink without the dairy, as she only found out that she was lactose intolerant a few months ago.

I had some Noël Nog leftover after the gathering, so I decided to make some French Toast, using a recipe from Almond Fresh. It was my first time trying out a non-dairy French Toast and I was really pleased with the results! I was able to get the same custardy, rich texture that I enjoyed when I made French Toast with regular milk.

I ended up making this on a morning when my husband wasn’t home, so I cut the recipe back to make French Toast for one (makes 2 pieces of French Toast). I’ve included measurements for one serving in brackets below.

Almond Fresh’s Noël Nog is only available for the holidays, so if you can’t find it, you could substitute Almond Fresh Vanilla and add a ¼ teaspoon of nutmeg to the recipe to get the same flavours.

1 Egg + Almond Fresh Noël Nog + Cinnamon = mighty fine French Toast goodness

Into the frying pan with a little butter or oil

Almond Fresh Noël Nog French Toast

Serves 4

Ingredients:

4 eggs (for one serving, use 1 egg)

1 cup (250 mL) Almond Fresh Noël Nog (for one serving, use ¼ cup)

2 tsp (10 mL) cinnamon (for one serving, use a ½ teaspoon)

8 slices bread or brioche (for one serving, use 2 slices of bread or brioche)

Slivered almonds and maple syrup

Directions:

1. In a shallow dish, beat together the eggs, Almond Fresh Noël Nog and cinnamon.

2. Heat a large frying pan over low/medium heat.

3. Soak bread in the Almond Fresh Noël Nog/egg mixture, one slice at a time.

4. Lightly coat the pan with vegetable oil or butter. Cook each slice of French toast on both sides until nicely browned.

5. Serve with slivered almonds and maple syrup- enjoy!

Notes:

-You could easily make this with regular egg nog if you had some leftover from your festivities

-Again, Almond Fresh Noël Nog is only available for the holidays, so if you can’t find it, you could substitute Almond Fresh Vanilla and add a ¼ teaspoon of nutmeg to the recipe to get the same flavours.

-I chose to dust my French Toast with icing sugar, instead of using the slivered almonds and maple syrup.

For more info, check out their website at http://www.almond-fresh.com/

They are social media friendly! You can also “Like” them on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/almondfresh or follow them on Twitter at @almond_fresh or http://twitter.com/almond_fresh

Disclaimer: I received coupons to try Almond Fresh products in the mail. All opinions expressed in this post are my own.

An Ode to Almond Milk

If you’ve been following my blog over the past year, you’ll know that I recently found out that I have an intolerance to cow dairy. What does this mean? It means that apparently my body doesn’t react particularly well to cow’s milk, yogurt, cheese…and the list goes on. I’ve managed to remove the majority of items containing cow dairy from my diet and I can certainly say that my general health has greatly improved. I don’t feel bloated all the time, I have more energy and my stomach is a LOT happier now!

In my quest to find great non-dairy beverages, I’ve found almond milk to be one of the tastiest alternatives to milk (from cows that is). The texture, colour and flavour is fairly close to cow’s milk and it tastes great hot or cold (heat up chocolate almond milk and you’ve got an awesome alternative to hot chocolate…mmm). Some people believe that only cow’s milk has the nutrients you need but in case you didn’t know, a cup of fortified almond milk contains 30% of the calcium needed in a day, along with Vitamins D, B12 and A. All this and my stomach won’t bother me anymore too…woot!

Since I’m the only one in the house who drinks almond milk, it’s difficult to finish a full carton before it gets spoiled, so I was thrilled to find out that I can now get almond milk in tetra packs (the little kid in me is excited too…who doesn’t love drinking boxes?!?!).  Earth’s Own now sells Almond On The Go tetra packs of original and chocolate almond milk and they come in a 3 x 250 mL pack.

I now keep a few in the fridge at work as a snack for those afternoon cravings or late nights at the office. Clearly, my favourite of the two is chocolate but the original one is just as good as it has the hint of sweetness needed to kill a sugar craving when it strikes. As mentioned above, if I feel like having a “hot chocolate” I pour the chocolate tetra pack into a cup and microwave it or put heat it up on the stove. It smells amazing too….

The wonderful ladies at the Almond Fresh booth at the ShesConnected conference told me that in a few weeks, they’ll be coming out with a non-dairy holiday beverage, Almond Fresh Noel Nog (image below is from the Almond Fresh website). I can’t wait to try it out. P.S. Earth’s Own is a CANADIAN company, which is why they’re getting a shoutout on my blog : )

On a side note, it’s almost time for the holiday season and if you’re looking for a non-alcoholic beverage to serve, I tried this one at the conference:

Almond Fresh Apple-Tini

Recipe and image above are from the Almond Fresh website – http://www.almond-fresh.com/recipes/smoothies

Makes 1 serving

Ingredients:

2 oz apple juice

1 oz Almond Fresh Unsweetened

splash caramel syrup

dash fresh lemon juice

1.  Combine ingredients over ice in a martini shaker.

2.  Shake vigorously and serve in martini glass.

3.  Garnish with a cherry or apple slice.

Do you drink almond milk? What do you use it for?