— Marcia Damoiseaux

You know, beans, um, well, so yeah, soy beans, taste like beans and, and soy milk. Uh, soy beans have a pretty beanie. They have a pretty strong characteristic. Lemme just start by saying that, um, they're, they're tough to cook. They're, um, uh, you know, also, um, very, uh, beanie in their aroma in flavor. And if you want less beanie, uh, you can thin it out, you know, with water, uh, or you can add a vanilla bean, or you can add something else like pureed date, you know, which adds a little bit of sweetness as well, uh, you know, along with its flavor. And, um, so those are a couple of pretty common ways to approach, um, the, the masking of the beanies of soy milk, as well as other plant-based milks, you know, that have a, that can have a pretty strong unidimensional flavor that's characteristic of the base ingredients. And, uh, so again, vanilla and dates are a couple of favorites for me. Um, I also use spices quite a bit. Um, green cardamom, um, cloves, peppercorns, and, um, uh, turmeric are a couple of my favorite combinations, you know, singularly or all together. So you can test out some different versions that you like, uh, maybe for different applications or for different moods, you know, that you might be in. Um, you know, I like spices, uh, because they contain phytonutrients, uh, and they have healing properties, every single one of 'em. And if you can add spices to your, your food, you know, anything that you cook morning, noon, and night over the long term, uh, it'll benefit you. And it doesn't have to be some crazy wide array of spices. It can be just, uh, a handful, you know, that, um, you figure out are your favorites. But I would recommend black pepper and turmeric in everything that you do. Um, turmeric has these wonderful, um, uh, anti-inflammatory properties among other benefits. And just to have a steady stream of spices, uh, going through our body, uh, day in and day out over the long term is a good thing.