Healthy Smoothies

In New York City, where I live, calorie counts have to be posted at fast food outlets and chain coffee shops like Starbucks. Sometimes I am shocked to see the calorie count in a muffin or scone.

At least at Starbucks, a smoothie is a great choice, a blend of banana, strawberries, milk and protein powder.

But although Starbucks let’s you customize your milk, with nonfat or soy, they don’t have Lactaid. I can understand this; if you are lactose-intolerant, you can just use soy milk.

But my daughter prefers the taste of cow's milk. So at home, we use our blender to create smoothies using whole fresh fruit and Lactaid.

My secret is two-fold. I freeze overripe bananas (after peeling them – believe me, mentioning this step is important) and use those in the smoothies. The brownish bananas are much sweeter, and using them frozen means I can use less ice, and more milk.

Freezing bananas is also a great way to use up extra bananas that ripened too fast too eat - i keep them on hand for banana bread and a not-at-all-healthy but delicious chocolate peanut butter cake.

My smoothies are loaded with vitamins from the fruit and protein from the milk, so there’s no need to add protein powder.

Healthy Smoothie for one

½ frozen banana

3-4 strawberries, hulled

¼ cup Lactaid

2 ice cubes

Blend and enjoy.

You can also substitute peach, watermelon or mango for the strawberries.

Melissa d'Arabian showcased Lactaid’s versatility on the TODAY Show, with this recipe:

 http://www.today.com/id/52297933/ns/today-today_food/t/chicken-lactose-free-creamy-mushroom-sauce/#

Giveaway: milk for the lactose intolerant

Cooking vegetarian meals for my family got more challenging when my oldest daughter stopped eating dairy. She loves cheese and milk, they just didn’t love her back.

So cream soups, cheesy lasagna and pizza were all out. Or so I thought until we tried Lactaid. This lactose-free milk looks and tastes like regular milk (it is just slightly sweeter, though without any added sugar) so we could sub this into regular recipes.

Chef Melissa d’Arabian is a mother of 4 daughters, one of whom is also lactose intolerant. She said recently that even many lactose-intolerant people, like her daughter, can eat hard cheese and yogurt. So aged cheddar and Gouda, which are quite tasty, can be eaten in small amounts.

And goat cheese has less lactose, so many people with dairy insensitivity, like my sister, can eat goat cheese.

I am also lactose intolerant, and can almost never eat ice cream. I was pleased to find out that Lactaid makes 5 flavors of lactose-free ice cream, including chocolate.

And if you like buttermik, you can make your own by adding a little vinegar to Lactaid. My kids like ranch dressing, and I found this dressing recipe on Lactaid’s website:

'Buttermilk' Dressing'

·       3/4 cup mayonnaise

11/3 cup LACTAID^® Fat Free Milk

·       1 teaspoon chopped garlic

·       1 teaspoon chopped onion

·       1/4 cup cider vinegar

·       1 teaspoon chopped parsley

·       1/4 teaspoon salt

·       1/4 teaspoon white pepper

·       2 ounces goat cheese

Combine all of the dressing ingredients in a large bowl, mixing until smooth. (The cheese might still be somewhat lumpy, but that is fine). Refrigerate until ready to use.

But things couldn't be easy forever. One of my daughters decided to become a vegan.

Lactaid provided me with a coupon to try a product free, and I am giving one away to a reader. To enter, please leave your email address below and tell me who in your family is lactose intolerant.