2% Milk = 2% Taste?

What is the big deal about milk?  After 30 years of never having a glass of milk, 30 years of saying “no thank you" to the creamy, white glass of liquid, 30 years of completely avoiding the dairy aisle in the grocery store, I ask that question.  What is the big deal?

First, there are a zillion choices in the cold refrigerated shelves of the grocery store: 1%, 2%, whole, Vitamin D fortified, cream, etc., etc.  Again, I’ve lived 30 years without having to make the decision about what kind of milk to drink, so I did the natural, logical thing and made my husband choose.

He picked the 2% milk because he didn’t want to overwhelm my milk deprived tummy with too much creamy richness.  However, 2% milk doesn’t taste like anything to me.  It’s flavorless! At least water has a crispness to it that my taste buds recognize as water.  This was just cloudy, crisp-free water.  Perhaps my judgment stems from the fact that I’ve never had a glass of milk before, so my taste buds have no comparison.  However, I would rather drink water than 2% milk as water seems to have more taste and less calories.  I would also rather drink any of my milk alternatives, preferably almond or coconut milk when I want something a little sweeter.

Maybe you can put this into perspective for me.  What’s the big deal?

Steak & Eggs

I was disappointed with my first taste of scrambled eggs.  I imagined them to be light and fluffy, salted clouds with a yellow ribbon of yoked flavor.  Unfortunately, my imagination tasted better than the reality.  The eggs were rubbery, flat and didn’t even tease my taste buds.

Of course, my husband I thought we were being creative for my first real helping of eggs.  We had leftover steak from Easter that were already seasoned and grilled.  We thought the eggs would complement them nicely, so we chopped up onions and green bell peppers and whisked them into the gooey mix.  Then we dusted the mixture with paprika before dumping it all into an olive oiled skillet.

It didn’t taste bad, but it wasn’t GREAT either.  I always expect greatness from food, my calories.  If I don’t have it, I will seek it out.  I tried sprinkling the eggs with salt and pepper, but still couldn’t escape the flatness.  And then the husband suggested the miracle of all condiments: ketchup!

I squirt a huge pool of ketchup on my plate and dipped the eggs and the steak in it.  The combination of sweet and salty tomato saved my steak and eggs combo.  I’m more impressed with the versatility and surprising flavor of ketchup than the scrambled eggs.  (Expect another post on ketchup in the future!)

Potato Chips

I never understood what the big deal was about potato chips. They’re greasy, they’re salty, and they’re noisy. Crunch, crunch, CRUNCH.  And they’re served with everything from deli sandwiches, to hamburgers, to appetizers at birthday parties.  This was one food item that was hard to avoid as a kid.  Luckily, I didn’t like it, so it was easy to just say no.  The corn chip has always been an excellent alternative.

But now that I’ve been cleared for eating potatoes, I have given the potato chip another chance.  I’ve discovered Ruffles Natural Reduced Fat Sea Salted Potato Chips.  They are soy free and corn free, but most importantly not taste free.

These chips don’t seem to be nearly as greasy as other chips that I’ve tried. That means you can have a handful of chips and the only residue left on your hands after you have gobbled them all down is salt. What’s even better is that there are only three ingredients in these yummy treats instead of a novel of unpronounceable mystery products. Yes, they’re still noisy, but I don’t seem to mind it now that I’m the one making the noise.  Crunch, crunch, YUM!

Why a picture of an empty bag of chips?  Because I ate them all!