We've got quite a few friends on our Facebook fan page from Trinidad and I've been promising them I'd give them some ideas for hormone-healthy foods available on their islands.
I ran across a couple of great drinks that our mainland friends should think about trying!
Peanut punch is somewhat like a smoothie. The original version uses sweetened condensed milk, but I found one made with plain milk that's been healthied up:
Peanut Punch
2 cups roasted and shelled peanuts
3 cups water
1 cup lowfat milk
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
3 tablespoons honey (I would start with 1 tablespoon and add as needed)
1/4 teaspoon grated nutmeg
Directions
1.Place the peanuts and water into a blender jar and blend until the peanuts are pulverized. Strain the liquid from the ground peanuts and put the liquid back into the blender jar along with the remaining ingredients. (Discard the ground peanuts.) Beat it until it is frothy. Serve it immediately or refrigerate (blend again before serving).
If you're in the United States and have access to a wider variety of ingredients, you could easily change out peanuts for any kind of nut, and you could use any kind of milk alternative. It will have more protein if you use milk, but there is flexibility here.
Channa (chickpea) Punch
2 – 3 cups cooked chickpeas
2 cups lowfat milk
Few dashes bitters
1 tsp vanilla extract
Methods/steps
Place channa in blender with milk and condensed milk. This may be done in batches. Blend well. Strain into jug or pitcher. Add the bitters and essence. Stir. Taste and adjust sweetness if necessary. If too thick, a little water may be added
I like this one even better! Chickpeas are one of the lowest glycemic types of carbohydrate you can eat. You may need to add some sort of sweetener as I did remove the sweetened condensed milk and replace it with regular milk. Originally it was a 50--50 mix. You may want to experiment and add some of your wonderful island fruits to sweeten and mix up the flavor instead of plain sugar.
I was pretty fascinated reading about the foods our friends eat. Hopefully it will inspire more posts with ideas that work with your available foods and also encourage others to be adventurous in the kitchen!