Foodprint: Dishing

DessertTruck Works.

I have to confess. There's highly likely there's nothing nutritionally beneficial about dessert truck works.

Whew. I feel so much better.

Firstly, one must hike down to DessertTruck works, one of the standing, erm, stands of NYCs infamous food trucks (Wafle & Dinges, TacoTruck, Etc.), if the truck's not about. Or, if you want to sit somewhere whilst desserttrucking. I went for the bread pudding. Mmmm. Bread...mmm........pudding (insert further Homer Simspon drool here) because it has BACON CUSTARD SAUCE.

BACON.
CUSTARD.
SAUCE.

Each word deserved its own line break, okay?

You can request the sauce on the side, so you don't feel quite so bad about yourself. The portions are also tiny. But, I like tiny because it's indulgent without overindulging. Strong flavors, and great ingredients really don't need sparklers, noisemakers or huge portions to be great. Although, the bacon custard sauce wasn't as bacon-y as I would have liked. Also, the staff behind the counter were very friendly, it didn't hurt that the place was empty for a spell, but nevertheless, friendly. The coffee, is also good and they have skim milk. Often, smaller non-chain places tend not to have skim, and I end up going sans milk. But, at DTWorks, you don't have to. You can have your cake, and skim too. And your...

BACON.
CUSTARD.
SAUCE.

Ubiquitous Must Have #1

NDF.

What is it? I've written 9 of these, and the last one is some horrible, unreadable enigma! Kidding. It's Nonfat Dry Milk.

Why I love it:

1. Shelf-stable. Make as much as you need.
2. Versatility. Same product is a glass of milk one second, a Splenda aid the next, and then a thickener the next minute.
3. Low in calories.
4. Cheaper than milk because it's dehydrated.
5. Comes in a box, usually with cows on it. I like the idea of boxed milk, alright?
   

So, if you hate skim milk, I really think that you'd make your peace with NDF. The flavor is concentrated, so if you dislike the texture & taste of skim (watery, bluish), you can reconstitute the milk by reducing the amount of liquid you'd normally use, or increase the amount of powder. Normal ratio is 1 cup of water to 1/3 c powder. Let's say you used the 1/3 c powder, but just 1/2 c water. You'd get this nice, creamy, sweet tasting milk by altering the ratio. You could swap out a lot of added calories in a recipe in addition to adding calcium and vitamins as well.

I use it for:

• food base: smoothies, puddings, lattes
  
• coffee creamer
• soup thickener
  
• ***Fat free whipped cream***
• milk, duh
• in recipes

The whipped cream trick is really neat; I hope to have video on that soon.

NDF, my favorite 3-letter abbreviation right after NPH. Y'know, Neil Patrick Harris...ubiquitious and a must have in his own right, I guess.