Although the sun is setting later these days in Canada (yay!), it’s still very chilly. Soups are a great way to warm up, get your recommended vegetable intake and fill your belly with a low-calorie, high-nutrient meal.

Thanks to the rice and variety of veggies, this soup is uber hearty. It’s also simple enough to throw together when you’re short on time; just make sure to cook your brown rice ahead of time.

And since it’s short on spice but just flavourful enough with a few herbs, it’s guaranteed to please those who have sensitive palettes!

Steph’s Tasty Garden Veggie & Rice Soup

Makes: a whole pot-full.

Get ready to freeze!

Ingredients

• 2.5 cups brown rice, cooked
• 6.5 cups broth, veggie or chicken
• 1.5 cups filtered water
• 3 garlic cloves, chopped
• 2 small onions, chopped
• 2 stalks celery, chopped
• 2 carrots, peeled and chopped
• 1 zucchini, quartered and chopped
• 1/2 small green cabbage, chopped
• 1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and chopped
• 2 cups cauliflower, chopped
• 1 tsp each dried thyme, marjoram, rosemary
• sea salt and pepper, to taste.

Preparation

1. Place broth in pot (with fitted lid) and bring to a boil.
2. Add veggies and herbs.
3. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover and simmer for 15 to 30 minutes.
4. Add cooked brown rice.
5. Bring soup to a boil again, then reduce heat and let simmer, covered for another 10 minutes.
6. Season soup with freshly ground pepper and sea salt.
7. Enjoy!

If you have digestive troubles you know it can affect every aspect of life. This post outlines the reintroduction phase of an elimination diet so that you can find what foods, if any, are causing your intestinal issues.

So you’ve embarked upon an elimination diet adventure and have been eating only hypo-allergenic foods (here are some elimination diet recipes) to cleanse your system of possibly offending foods. Some of you may have even tried a safe, enlightening 3 day fast to speed up the process like Live Lighter Reader, Jamie.

Now you’re ready to discover the culprits (a.k.a. food sensitivities or intolerances) behind your digestive woes.

Here are steps & a few tips for food reintroduction:

Note: it is highly recommended that you do an elimination diet with a Naturopathic Doctor. They will work with you (based on your individual circumstances) to determine what foods you’ll avoid and how long you’ll need to avoid them. More importantly, they are there for emotional support, guidance and medical supervision.

The big idea behind the reintroduction phase

Pretend you’re a scientist. No, really, we should have as much fun with this as possible! It’s a simple process of elimination. You reintroduce each possible offending food, one-by-one, noting any symptoms so you can determine which foods your body dislikes.

STEP 1: Plan

Get out your calendar, a piece of paper and plan your food reintroduction. The next few steps help you do this.

STEP 2: List & Prioritize

List the foods you’re testing and prioritize them. The first day should be something fairly easy to digest (in general) and that you’re pretty sure is ok with you, like plain organic yogurt. The next food will be the next ‘least likely’ to be causing you problems. Leave the `most likey’ foods until the last.

Tip: Since wheat, corn, red meat and eggs are fairly hard to digest (in general) schedule these for last.

STEP 3: Timing

Determine how long you’ll test the food for. Some docs, like Dr. Natasha Turner from The Hormone Diet, suggest to introduce 1 new food each day. Others, like my ND from the CCNM, suggest introducing 1 new food for 3 consecutive days.

Tip: I suggest doing a couple of different elimination diets. You may avoid my elimination diet woes by starting with Dr. Turner’s anti-inflammatory detox. It was very simple and I discovered 3 food insensitivites on it! This is compared to the lack of results on my 1st (more strict) elimination diet.

Stay tuned for an upcoming post, “The Hormone Diet Review“!

STEP 4: Mark it down

On your calendar, write down the individual food or food group that you’ll reintroduce and on what days.

Tip: Use a pencil! Why? You’ll find out in Step 7.

STEP 5: Introduce foods

Start reintroducing foods! Continue eating hypo-allergenic foods but on your first day, introduce the food you’ve scheduled for that day. Eat it 2 to 3 times throughout the day with allergy-friendly foods.

Tip: Try choosing elimination diet recipes around the food that you’ll be introducing. For instance, when reintroducing dairy, try adding grated low-fat cheese or feta to this Fresh Basil & Black Bean Quinoa Salad.

STEP 6: Keep a record

Note your reactions to each food. If you don’t have a reaction, skip to step 8.

Tip: There are a list of symptoms to be on the watch for: gas, bloating, headaches, water retention (puffy fingers or face), constipation, diarrhea, postnasal drip, fatigue immediately after eating the food or the next day, acne, dark circles under the eyes the next morning, constant need to clear the throat, joint pain or stiffness, indigestion, upset stomach.

STEP 7: Stop!

If you react to a food, stop eating it. Wait until the reaction passes before proceeding to step 8. As you can tell by the list above, some of these symptoms may not show up until the next day. This is why some docs suggest to try each possibly offending food for three days before moving to the next one.

Tip: Make any adjustments necessary to your calendar to account for your reactions.

STEP 8: Next food

Reintroduce the next food on the next scheduled day. Repeat steps 6 – 8 until you’ve reintroduced all of your potential food gremlins.

STEP 9: Review

Check out your record and list the foods you reacted to.

STEP 10: Retest potentials

Using this new, reduced list of suspects from step 9, repeat steps 2 – 8.

Tip: This step may seem redundant but other factors can have an effect on digestion and interfere with your test results. Stress, which is hard to control, is one of those factors. Here are some tips to improve digestion.

Congrats! You are done the reintroduction phase! You should definitely celebrate.

Now that you know what foods your body reacts negatively to, you can decide whether you need to avoid that food or food group altogether or eat it sparingly. Sometimes, it’s just worth it, you know?

Do you have digestive issues and want to learn if food sensitivities or intolerances are part of the problem? If you’re starting an elimination diet adventure and want some ideas for yummy meals and recipes that comply with even the most strictest of elimination diets, then this post is for you!

For your convenience and thanks to reader, Heather, here is a compilation of elimination diet-friendly recipes published here on Live Lighter so far:

1. Outta this World Elimination Diet-Friendly Meal. 5 recipes: Coconut-Almond Crusted, organic Chicken Fingers, Spicy Homemade Mustard Dipping Sauce (or Honey Garlic Dipping Sauce), steamed Garlic Asparagus and Broccoli and Watermelon-Berry Fruit Smoothie.
2. 3 More Yummy and Good on Your Tummy Recipes. 3 recipes: Miller’s Supreme Millet & Veggie Dish, Black Bean Spread and Kinda Like Chocolate Pudding.
3. Elimination Diet Adventures Continued… and More Hypo-Allergenic Recipes. 3 recipes: Organic Chicken with Oregano & Basil Soup, Bitchin’ Black Bean Quinoa Salad and Even MORE like Chocolate Pudding.
4. Elimination Diet Adventures… On Pause. 3 recipes: Cuban Black Bean Dip, Broccoli, Spinach & Sweet Potato Stir-Fry with Coconut Milk and Spicy Stewed Apples.
5. Game On! Elimination Diet Adventures Continue. 2 recipes: Steph’s Easy Broccoli Quinoa and Steph’s Roasted Garlic Black Bean Dip.
6. Berry Guava Elimination Diet-Friendly Froozie.
7. 3 Allergy-Friendly Recipes. 3 recipes: Steph’s Zesty Black Bean Dip, Steph’s Yummy Lamb Dish and Elimination Friendly Rice Pudding.
8. Smoky Chickpea Stew.
9. Fresh Basil & Black Bean Quinoa Salad.
10. Warming Chickpea Stew.
    
11. Green Detox Blender Meals. 19 recipes in 6 posts. These blender meals add variety to your elimination diet, help you cleanse your system of offending foods faster and more thoroughly and will give you a break from cooking and cleaning.

Please note that some of the above listed recipes have been reproduced or inspired by those found I’ve found in 2 amazing recipe books:

• The Vital You’s Ultimate Holistic Cookbook.
• CCNM’s Brown Rice Cookbook.

These recipe books are FULL of many more recipes for you to enjoy and alter to suit your tastes and/or particular elmination diet. Unfortunately, their cookbooks are for sale in person only. Please contact them and request that they sell their books online!

So there’s 42 recipes for you to try while you’re on your elimination diet. Good luck and as you discover/create other elimination diet recipes, we’d love to have you share your allergy-friendly recipes with us!

The hot summer days are upon us and our bodies are craving light, cooling foods. Let’s celebrate salad season with a recipe!

Created recently, this one was a BIG hit with everyone who tried it. Since quinoa (see pic) is an easy-to-digest grain, it’s especially delightful for those with digestive issues.

Please come back and let us know how you like it once you’ve tried it:

Fresh Basil & Black Bean Quinoa Salad

This recipe was inspired from The Vital You’s “Quinoa and Black Bean Salad” (very different BUT equally yummy) found in the Ultimate Holistic Cookbook:

1 cup quinoa, rinsed
2 cups water, filtered
¼ cup fresh basil, chopped finely
4 green onions, chopped
2 tbsp cold-pressed virgin olive oil
2 tbsp rice wine vinegar
1 can black beans, rinsed
sea salt and pepper, to taste

Quinoa Preparation:

1. Put quinoa in a small pot and pour tap water over grains. Swish grains around with your fingers. Strain water and loose debris down sink. Repeat again, one to two more times.
2. Combine rinsed quinoa with filtered water and a dash of sea salt. Bring to boil, lower heat to minimum, cover pot and simmer for 20 minutes.
3. Let cool.

Salad Preparation:

Mix cooled quinoa with rest of ingredients. Enjoy!

This recipe was inspired by a good friend of mine (Happy Birthday, Denise!) and Jackie Yurko’s Warming Chickpea Stew. This very impressive, robust and lip-smacking stew is absolutely perfect for a cold winter’s day.

Smokey Chickpea Stew

Ingredients:

4 cups chicken stock
1-2 onions, chopped
4 cloves of garlic, chopped
2 med sized yams, chopped
1 cup carrots, chopped
1 cup zucchini, chopped
2 cups green kale, chopped
1 cup chickpea, cooked
½ cup brown rice, cooked
¼ tsp sea salt
¼ cup almond butter
2 tbsp lemon juice, freshly squeezed
¼ cup tamari
1 tbsp cumin powder
1 tbsp olive oil

Directions:

1. In a large soup pot, sauté onion and garlic in olive oil for 3-5 minutes.
2. Add vegetable stock/water, yam, additional vegetables (not kale), chickpea, brown rice, and sea salt.
3. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer covered for 30-45 minutes.
4. In a small bowl, mix nut butter with ½ cup liquid from stew.
5. Stir mixture back into stew, along with kale, and cook for 5 minutes.
6. Add lemon juice, tamari, and chili powder and cook for 5 more minutes.
7. Serve.

This turned out heavenly, but just to make it sinnful next time, I’ll substitute broccoli for the zucchini.

The last few days here in Ontario were absolutely beautiful – it was like springtime! Today the temperature drops back down to normal temperatures and winter will be knocking at our doors once again.

To help prepare, I’ve tried this elimination diet friendly, allergen-free, vegetarian and vegan recipe full of protein and great taste. This time I chose the cashew butter rather than the almond spread, and used beef broth this time. Next time I’m going to mix it up a bit and would prefer it to be a little spicier.

It was a hit with the hubby and the crew at work. I’ve shared this recipe with several people already. But why believe me and my folks?

Check it out for yourself:

Warming Chickpea Stew

Ingredients:

4 cups vegetable stock or water
1-2 onions, chopped
4 cloves of garlic, minced
2 med sized yams, diced
2 cups additional vegetables (cauliflower, broccoli, zucchini, carrot…)
2 cups green kale, chopped
1 cup chickpea, cooked
½ cup brown rice, cooked
¼ tsp sea salt
¼ cup cashew or almond butter
2 tbsp lemon juice, freshly squeezed
¼ cup tamari
1/8 tsp chili powder
1 tbsp olive oil

Directions:

1. In a large soup pot, sauté onion and garlic in olive oil for 3-5 minutes.
2. Add vegetable stock/water, yam, additional vegetables (not kale), chickpea, brown rice, and sea salt.
3. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer covered for 30-45 minutes.
4. In a small bowl, mix nut butter with ½ cup liquid from stew.
5. Stir mixture back into stew, along with kale, and cook for 5 minutes.
6. Add lemon juice, tamari, and chili powder and cook for 5 more minutes.
7. Serve.

Reference: Jackie Yurko, ND.

If you’ve been following Live Lighter, we’ve been on an elimination diet adventure. It’s a diet designed to help you find foods that irritate your digestive system because you’re either allergic to or sensitive to them. These foods include gluten, 3 types of nuts, dairy, sugar, nightshade veggies, soy, shellfish and catfish, several fruits, corn, caffeine, alcohol, and certain meats.

That list doesn’t leave much left! Even in my Allergy-Free recipe books, there are recipes that include several items on the “to avoid” list, like tomato or eggplant (both from the nightshade family) or lemon and limes (citrus fruits – not allowed). This makes creating tasty meals quite the challenge, let me tell you!

So I thought I’d share some of my recipes that I’ve found or created since I’ve been on this very restrictive diet. Even if you’re not on an elimination diet, these recipes are very healthy and extremely easy to digest – as long as you don’t wolf them down.

Here are 3 allergy-free recipes to try out:

Steph’s Zesty Black Bean Dip

Prep time: 15 minutes
Cook time: 3 minutes
Serves 4 people (with lots left-over for the week)

Ingredients

1 can black beans, rinsed
½ small onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
3 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped
3 tbsp tahini sauce (sesame paste)
2 tbsp flax oil
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp marjoram
3 tbsp distilled or filtered water
sea salt and pepper to taste

Preparation

Blend ingredients in blender until smooth. Try serving with fresh, raw veggies or rice crackers.

Steph’s Yummy Lamb Dish

Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 40 minutes
Serves 4 people

Ingredients

1 cup brown rise, rinsed
2 cups water
2 cup spinach, rinsed and de-stemmed
2 cup kale, rinsed and trimmed from stems
4 tbsp tahini sauce
4 lamb medallions
sea salt and pepper to taste

Preparation

1. Heat oven to 400°F.
2. Place brown rice in a pot and fill with water. Tickle rice with your fingers and strain it with fingers or lid. Repeat. Put 2 cups of water with rinsed rice in the pot and bring to boil. Put lid on and simmer for 40 minutes.
3. Place the lamb medallions on a drip or broiling pan – one that’ll allow the fat to drip down away from the lamb as it cooks. Put the lamb in the oven for 30-35 minutes.
4. Prepare greens and place in a pan with water. Put a lid on it. When the rice has about 5 minutes left to finish, start steaming the greens on medium heat for 10 minutes.
5. Fluff the rice and scoop 1 cup onto a plate.
6. Place steamed greens on top of the rice.
7. Drizzle tahini sauce over rice and greens.
8. Season with sea salt and pepper.
   
9. Cut medallions into quarters and place on top of greens.
10. Serve and enjoy.

Elimination Friendly Rice Pudding

This tasty rice pudding recipe was adapted from The Vital You’s Ultimate Holistic Cookbook:

Prep time: 5 minutes
Cook time: 10 minutes
Serves: 2

Ingredients

1 cup left over cooked brown rice
Almond milk to desired consistency, stevia to taste
1 tbsp ground flax seeds
3 tbsp warm water
Cinnamon or nutmeg to taste
Dash of sea salt
½ tsp vanilla
1 handful raisins, soaked (optional)

Preparation

1. Beat together ground flax seeds and warm water, until smooth. This is your egg substitute. If you prefer another, use it. Or if you can have dairy, replace these two ingredients with 1 egg.
2. Mix all ingredients together in a pot. Heat slowly on stovetop until gently boiling, stir, reduce heat to simmer for 5 minutes.
3. Remove from heat and enjoy!

With eliminating soy and milk products from my diet, my morning smoothies haven’t been the same. I just love the thickness and smoothness that yogurt and flavoured soy beverage lend these delicious, healthy, easy-to-digest protein breakfast drinks.

However, I found a fabulous substitute! It’s guava nectar (although, I’m sure any fruit nectar will do). It’s extremely flavourful and compliments the other frozen fruit in the smoothie…er, I guess it’s called a froozie without the milk derivatives.

Check it out and let us know what you think!

Berry Guava Elimination Diet-Friendly Froozie

Ingredients

1 ½ cups Europe’s Best 4-Field Berry Mix (straw, rasp, blue & blackberries)
½ cup guava nectar
½ serving Ruth’s hemp protein powder
½ cup filtered or spring water (to desired thickness)

Directions

Add ingredients to blender and blend until smooth.

Nutritional Info

Calories 223.2

Total Fat 2.5 g
Sat Fat 0.2 g
Poly Fat 1.5 g
Mono Fat 0.1 g
Cholesterol 0.0 mg
Sodium 20.3 mg
Potassium 543.0 mg
Total Carbs 44.9 g
Dietary Fiber 10.8 g
Sugars 28.0 g
Protein 9.6 g

Vit A 11.7%
Vit B6 6.0%
Vit C 68.7 %
Vit E 13.8%
Calcium 55.5%
Copper 12.2%
Folate 10.9%
Iron 19.2%
Magnesium 32.3%
Manganese 75.9%
Niacin 8.3%
Pantothenic Acid 3.6%
Phosphorus 16.4%
Riboflavin 7.2%
Selenium 1.4%
Thiamin 4.4%
Zinc 14.4%

Earlier this year, my Naturopathic Doctor suggested that I try an elimination diet to help find the source of my digestive problems. To recap, an elimination diet eliminates all foods known to cause allergies or food sensitivities.

Eating hypo-allergenic foods gives your digestive tract a chance to heal itself. It also cleanses your body of offending foods so that it becomes more sensitive to detecting them. After a specific time (TBD by your doc), you slowly reintroduce foods you eliminated and note any reactions.

It’s a strict diet and I had troubles sticking to it in the Spring, so I decided to put it on hold for the Summer. It’s Fall now and since I’m trying to conquer my addictions, I thought I might as well do it all at once. I have a plan to completely cleanse my system, eliminating cravings for addictive substances and any possible foods causing me trouble.

There aren’t a lot of elimination diet-friendly recipes out there, so I’d like to share some recipes that I have in different print sources, some adaptations to them, and even some that I’ve created myself! Here are a couple to try, even if you’re not on an elimination diet. They are super healthy, nutritious and very yummy.

Steph’s Easy Broccoli Quinoa

Ingredients

1 cup quinoa, rinsed
2 cups water
2 broccoli stalks
½ cup diced red onion
1 tbsp sesame oil
2 tbsp olive oil
sea salt and pepper (to taste)

Preparation

1. Put quinoa in a small pot with water to rinse well, tickling the grains with your fingers and discard rinsing water. Repeat at least twice more.
2. Pour fresh water in pot with rinsed quinoa and bring to a boil. Reduce to simmer for 20 minutes.
3. Steam broccoli for about 10 minutes.
4. Let quinoa and broccoli cool.
5. Once cool, combine with remaining ingredients.
6. Add sea salt and pepper to taste.

Steph’s Roasted Black Bean Dip

Ingredients

I can black beans, rinsed
3 roasted garlic cloves
2 tbsp red onion
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
2 tbsp olive oil

Sea salt and pepper to taste

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 400°F.
2. Peel outer layers of garlic bulb, leaving individual garlic clove skins intact. Chop off entire top portion of bulb, about ¼ to ½ an inch off the top of the cloves.
3. Coat the exposed cloves with olive oil, wrap bulb in tin foil and place in oven for 30-35 minutes.
4. Take out and let cool.
5. Place ingredients in blender and blend until smooth.
6. Serve with rice crackers and raw veggies.

And for dessert or a snack idea, try a plain rice cake with almond spread on top!

It’s been awhile since we had an elimination diet adventure post. Several weeks ago, I started the stage that I was most excited about, food reintroduction. It’s the phase of the elimination diet where you slowly and methodically begin eating the foods that may have been causing our bodies to react negatively.

This part, while fun, has also been very challenging. It’s basically a scientific test and I’ve found that it requires a lot of attention, planning and determination. This is how it’s supposed to go down:

1. Continue eating hypo-allergenic foods from the elimination diet.
2. Take one day and eat 2 – 3 servings of a possibly offending food, e.g. eggs.
3. Note any digestive disturbances throughout the day.
4. Wait 1-4 days and choose another food to try, repeating the process until you’ve tried all possibly offending food groups (wheat, gluten, dairy, eggs, soy, sugar and nightshade).

The problem is that life tends to happen, plus it’s terribly difficult to go against the grain. For over three months now I’ve been turning down social invites left, right and center (I think people were starting to take my no’s personally). I only started going out again (where there was food) since this reintroduction stage.

So while I’ve tried a few foods, most of it has come in the form of pizza, sushi, pasta, sandwiches, etc. where I’m trying many of the possibly offending foods all at one time. If I’m sensitive to say, gluten, there’s no way I’d be able to differentiate it between say, the tomato in the nightshade family. I’d just feel yucky and still don’t know why.

There are several other factors that make this reintroduction phase difficult, as well. The biggest interfering culprit, and our most destructive and common enemy, is stress . Stress impedes proper digestion, as well as how you eat and how much. I know for myself, when I’m stressed and I eat, I tend to eat faster and in bigger portions than I would if I was taking my time and enjoying my meal. (Look here for 3 ways to improve your digestion without changing your diet .)

So those are some of the obstacles in the reintroduction stage I’ve discovered. Now that I’m aware of these and other challenges of the elimination diet , I consider this a successful first attempt! I admit that I’m disappointed that I haven’t yet discovered my food sensitivities, but I’m satisfied that I’ve done my best under the circumstances and faired well with this intensely restrictive diet. I can let it go (for now) and enjoy the summer with all its glorious BBQs and patio dining. My elimination diet adventures are officially on pause until the fall. 

Don’t get me wrong, though, my digestion is important to me and I’ve learned a lot on this elimination diet. I will continue to find and make elimination diet-friendly recipes (and post them here) for most of my meals. This will help me manage my digestive troubles until I continue my adventures in the cooler weather, starting with a safe, enlightening 3 day fast . I just won’t say no to a big, juicy barbequed sirloin steak with baked potato, sour cream, chives & bacon bits (NOT an elimination diet-friendly meal , my friends).

If you have any recipes or elimination diet adventures of your own to share, please comment below!

Enjoy these 3 yummy, healthy and easy-to-digest, elimination diet-friendly recipes:

Cuban Black Bean Dip

This garlicky, hearty dip is found in the CCNM ’s Brown Rice Cookbook:

Ingredients

1cup canned black beans, rinsed
2 Tbsp chopped red onion
2 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 Tbsp flax oil
1 medium garlic clove, crushed
Pepper, to taste

Preparation:

In a blender or food processor, combine beans, chopped onions, vinegar, flax oil and garlic. Blend until smooth. Season with pepper and place in serving bowl.

Broccoli, Spinach & Sweet Potato Stir-Fry with Coconut Milk

This tasty and unusual stir-fry is taken from The Vital You’s Ultimate Holistic Cookbook:

Ingredients:

1 small broccoli, cut into florets
½ lb. sweet potatoes, sliced 1/3 inch thick and salted
1 bunch green onions
½ cup chopped cilantro
½ tsp. turmeric
½ tsp. chili flakes
2 Tbsp. olive oil
1 large bunch spinach
1 15 oz. can unsweetened coconut milk
sea salt to taste

Cooking instructions:

1. Separately boil the potatoes & broccoli in salted water until tender, then drain.
2. Set aside 2 tbsp. each of the green onions & cilantro and puree the remaining green onion, cilantro, turmeric, chili, 1 tbsp. oil and coconut milk.
3. Heat a wok or a large skillet, then add 1 tbsp. of the oil and swirl it about the side. When hot, add the onions & stir-fry for 1 minute.
4. Add the spinach & stir-fry until wilted and tender. Add the broccoli & potatoes, season with sea salt & cook until heated through. Pour in the coconut mixture.
5. Bring to a boil & simmer for 2 minutes.
6. Serve garnished with the reserved cilantro and onions.

Spicy Stewed Apples

An interesting breakfast alternative from The Vital You’s Ultimate Holistic Cookbook:

Ingredients

1 cup apple juice (organic)
8 apples, peeled, cored and sliced
5 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice
1 stick cinnamon (or 1 tsp. ground cinnamon)
½ tsp. ground allspice
½ tsp. ground nutmeg
½ tsp. ground cloves

Preparation

Place all ingredients in saucepan and slowly bring to boil. Then turn heat down and simmer for 10 minutes until apples are tender. Serve hot or cold, topped with rice milk or almond milk if desired.