Rice Dream Review + Spiced Pumpkin Loaf

Hello! How are you all doing? I'm not writing the post I'd planned to about Bath tonight I'm afraid - I still haven't got round taking photos of all the things I bought so I will try to do that tomorrow!

Instead you get a review that I have been meaning to write for a while.

I was contacted by Rice Dream (you can find their Facebook Page here) asking if I'd like to try out their non-dairy milk. It's taken me a while to write this post as when I first tried out the carton they sent, I used it in coffee...and it curdled. I'm a bit funny about textures as it is, so I was put off, especially as when I poured it there were also lumps in it. I now think that there was something wrong with that particular carton, as having tried another carton I have had much better results...but it did take me a little while to build up the courage to try it again!!

I'm glad I did give it another go though, as the next carton I tried was much better - it poured out lump-free and worked fine in my lattes. I found that it had quite a neutral flavour so I was able to enjoy my latte like usual.

I did see on Rachel's blog that she too had had slight curdling in hot drinks with Rice Dream, but that it hadn't affected the taste. I asked them about it and they recommended waiting a minute or so before pouring the Rice Dream into the hot drink, as it shouldn't be poured directly into boiling water.

I also tried Rice Dream in my beloved porridge:

This was delicious - it had the same texture and taste as I'm used to, so works really well as a non-dairy alternative to milk.

As with most non-dairy milks, the thing that does stop me using them as my only type of milk is the lack of protein. I'm not vegan or dairy-free, so I do drink dairy milk a lot of the time. If you don't, then I think Rice Dream is a really good alternative. But for me, I think I will continue to use it in porridge/cereal (where I can add peanut butter to up the protein!), but for my lattes (which often act as breakfast, or at the very least tide me over until after the school run) I will stick with cows' milk to give me some protein to stop me getting so hungry.

Having said that, I'm really glad I did this review - I do like trying different types of non-dairy milk and Rice Dream was a new one to me, which I will now add to my rotation. Thanks Rice Dream for letting me try their product!

*****

In other news photos, I made spiced pumpkin bread today. It didn't turn out quite as well as I'd hoped - the spiced taste wasn't strong enough, and the loaf had more of a cake-like texture than the dense, slightly drier loaf I'd been hoping for. I never normally like my baked goods dry (and of course I don't really mean dry - I think dense is probably the better description), but I was trying to make something similar to the amazing pumpkin loaf I bought a few weeks ago from a Christmas Fayre. At least I've got a starting point to play around from now!

This was meant to tie in with this post as I was planning to use Rice Dream in it...but the recipe didn't call for any type of milk. Oh well, I thought I'd put it in here anyway - it looks pretty, and the children love it! It's certainly ok as first attempts go, but I hope I can make it even better next time!

Have you ever tried Rice Dream before? Or other non-dairy milks? What are your favourites? I'm awful for deciding that I'm going to stop drinking cows' milk (the thought of it does disturb/disgust me, but I'm still in the burying my head in the sand stage at the moment), buying a load of non-dairy milks, and then switching back to cows' milk after a couple of days! My cupboard currently contains Rice Dream, Oatly, Kara coconut milk, and soy milk...oops! I'm trying to make my way through them by using them in foods (cereals, porridge, smoothies...) but still using cows' milk in my hot drinks.