Matcha review

I read, on the Mother Nature Network, an article that highlighted seven science based ways to look younger/undo the effects of aging. Among sleep, flossing and meditation was consuming green tea. 

Green tea? I admit I am not the hugest fan. At least not of drinking straight green tea.

But matcha, powdered matcha?

When I was a newlywed I embraced my foodiness with a subscription to Bon Appetite. I  would drop hundreds in a single trip to the grocery store for the ingredients for a few meals containing rare cheeses and out of season vegetables with prime cuts of meat. I  cut out a third of the recipes, categorized them in a giant binder alphabetized under their main ingredient, and mainly forgot about them.

Occasionally I would flip through the binder for (expensive) inspiration. (Nowadays, My food expenditure for the four of us is roughly one hundred dollars per month not including eating out). For some reason I was always drawn to my clipping of the Green Tea Panna Cotta. The smooth,shining strangeness of the pale green construct contrasting against the bold though simple randomly strewn strawberries.

That recipe appeared nearly ten years ago and I have yet to make it.  In fact I don't even have the clipping anymore as I vowed to recycle those recipes I didn't use within a year as part of a decluttering/destuffifying streak .

Inside the bag

But now I have the product my grocery store didn't carry all those years. The matcha! My urban grocery store still doesn't carry the powder, but you can order a fresh smelling batch online.

The trouble with just getting the Matcha now is my lifestyle change. I CANNOT go buy the half and half and the gelatin, unless I find a super deal. I had half and half but used it up in coffee for guests. I had gelatin but used it up when I was out of xanthan gum for my homemade gluten free bread (NOT THE SAME THING).

I am still working through the bag of Matcha so hopefully at least the gelatin will hit a rock bottom price soon. I can always sub out whole milk for the half and half, but for the gelatin?

Ingredients:Just this and the bread

But I always seem to have bread in the house. I stock up on the gluten free ingredients, purchasing in bulk so I can keep a fresh loaf on hand. And I have a family that loves their breakfast, so when I came across a recipe for Matcha French Toast I whipped up a batch.

Banana based french toast!

Bananas can whip up rather well

It was yummy and I really liked that it used bananas in it instead of the eggs. Not that I have anything against eggs but we go through them so quickly that it's nice to have an alternative. 

The only thing I would say is not to give the matcha to your kid. I kind of figured this out because green tea is supposed to have a lot of caffeine in it but I didn't mention it to The Ogre when I put the leftovers in the fridge. Several hours after Boo was supposed to be asleep and he was still bouncing off the walls we finally put it together that The Ogre had accidentally given him the matcha tainted french toast. Everything ended up fine I just wouldn't do it again ;)

Happily munching away

**I received product for free in exchange for my unbiased review**