How does one "milk your diet", exactly?

As part of my ongoing effort to eliminate animal products from my diet, and owing to my increasing lactose intolerance, I've basically eliminated cow's milk completely. I keep nonfat dry milk on hand to use in baking, and I still eat dairy products (mainly cheese and ice cream) in small quantities, but I haven't bought cow's milk in over two months.

I like soy milk alright, but it's never really been a "love" for me. It doesn't seem to go very well with any kind of cereal except the healthy kinds, and sometimes, a girl just needs a bowl of Lucky Charms, mmkay? I tried rice milk, but the wateriness of it was a real turn off. Then I read somewhere that almond milk is a good substitute for cow's milk, so I picked some up.

I'm now an almond milk convert. It's really delicious, and I like the "nuttiness" of it. It's really good with Oregon Chai concentrate (my morning caffeine hit in the warmer months) and Ovaltine. And, of course, it's delicious all by itself. It's a bit pricier than the Safeway-brand soy I was getting before, but not too much. I haven't tried mixing it with Kahlua yet, but I'm sure that will be good, too.

One of these days, I'll probably try making my own, although I don't know how much cheaper it will be; almonds can be kind of expensive. There are many websites with instructions on how to make almond milk (just google "almond milk recipe" and you'll see what I mean.) Anyway, when I get around to making my own, I'll try and put up a post doing a cost comparison between homemade and store-bought. Until then: Try almond milk! It's really good!