Monday, July 21, 2008

I Have a Question...

*cow photo supplied by freefoto.com
what, exactly, does milk do in a recipe?

I mean, is it just a liquid binder?

I've recently decided to not buy any form of dairy (yes, we can talk about it if ya'll want to, but I tend to get a little irritating...a little more irritating than usual when the "Subject" comes up*) but I'd like to continue making baked goods...and while I can search out vegan recipes that use as substitutes soy or rice milk (blech), I'd much rather just not bother with that at all...


so if a cookie recipes calls for 1 tablespoon of milk, can I just sub in 1 tablespoon of water?

...and don't worry...I've got the Butter Angle allllll covered with my old friend Crisco...the best banana bread I've ever eaten in my life is made with Crisco...or whatever vegetable shortening is on hand...calories galore! but a stick or two of butter isn't all that weight-management friendly either, is it?
my Granma used Crisco all the time in her baking and boy, oh boy, could Granma cook...one of those old-fashioned Southern Cooks who didn't really use a recipe but everything she turned out was delicious...except her hamburger patties...Poor Granma...bless her heart, the woman could not fix a hamburger patty that wasn't kin to a charcoal briquette...and every Monday Night was hamburger night...

but that's okay 'cause Saturday Night was Waffle Night (with cane syrup, please) and Sundays were all about the Fried Chicken...
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and if you truly want to know why I'm no longer buying dairy (I stopped buying "beef" (that means "cow") and "pork" (that means "pig"), watch the video...my conscience finally got the better of my stomach and my lazy tendencies...if you have a tender heart, be prepared to be sad and angry...for a long time...but if you're brave enough and don't mind havin' your comfort zone sized down a bit...

5 comments:

Deb said...

Hi Shelia, I don't know much about baking and contents, but I did want to comment on your post. I am not a big beef eater anyway I eat it only in spells mainly because I read somewhere that beef takes 3 days to digest and I can't really handle that. I think it's terrible the way they handled those poor animals too. I'ts a sad world that we live in. Deb

Anonymous said...

Sheila,

We've changed out beef for turkey meat. Poor turkeys. I probably won't watch your video since it's about animals and I WILL cry. Sorry. But I just want to say how much I love reading your blog. You are truly a funny girl. I love hearing your stories.

Brandee :-)

Darla said...

Good question and one I don't know the answer to. In know you can sub water for milk in most bread recipes. Milk is supposed to make a softer bread I think. I mostly use water. We do use rice milk in some things. I know you can sub. part of the "fat" in lots of recipes with applesauce.

I'm not quite ready for the video. I did read The Omnivores Dilema tho - that was pretty descriptive (and disgusting) about the way animals are raised/treated to be consumed.

Darla

Deb said...

Hi Shelia, thanks, that's a lovely poem. No, it didn't make me sad, it blessed me to know that you are still thinking of me and wanted to share that lovely piece, which was very comforting. Thanks, so much! Deb

PAT said...

Sheila, perhaps applesauce could substitute as a binder. I know it's used in place of oil.

I have a two year old grandson who is a natural vegan. He is extremely intelligent, so perhaps he knows, instinctively, something we should all know.

My other grandson little Noah, 8 months old, has recently been diagnosed with severe allergies to dairy and peanuts. They carry epi pins. He was taken by ambulance to the hospital and that's when the allergy was discovered. He's too young to test for others, so for now, they're working with these two.

Pat

it's all about the journey...