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Emily Stokes
I'm a lady who loves cheese, sour cream, & ice cream, but I recently became lactose intolerant. My key focus in recreating dairy recipes is taste, but I try to be as health conscious as possible. Some of my recipes are low lactose rather than dairy free. I'm also a writer, teacher, nanny, dog mom, housewife, native Yinzer, current Californian, and social organizer extraordinaire.

Thanksgiving Turkey Tips

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How do you make the tastiest, tenderest turkey with the least amount of work involved? Forget brining and basting, just cook it in a Reynolds Oven Bag. This is the not-so-secret method of my grandma’s turkey cooking, passed down to me on my first Thanksgiving as a married woman. I love simple turkeys best–they don’t taste like salt and flavorings, they taste like real, tender, moist, delicious turkey. Make a simple thick gravy from the drippings and pour it over everything. There is nothing quite like it. Here are a mix of tips my grandmother gave me, and also some from Reynolds, when making a turkey in an oven bag.

Tools you will need:

Reynold’s Oven Bag, Turkey Size
Large baking pan–we get the disposable pans.
A turkey thermometer if your turkey doesn’t come with one
If you are stuffing it, get some some string to tie the legs together, and a wire skewer for the neck

Ingredients:

Frozen turkey, any size
Olive oil or canola oil
Sea salt and black pepper
1 yellow onion
3 celery stalks
1 tablespoon of flour
Your favorite stuffing
*Optional: Paprika

Directions:

1. Thaw your turkey according to directions on packaging. Ours was 23 lbs. and needed three days to thaw in the refrigerator. It was still frozen in the inside when we opened it, so we rinsed this part under warm water. We were cooking for a huge group, not just the two of us!

2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and then clean out the turkey. Take out the parts inside the neck and chest cavity–reach in and pull out everything that shouldn’t be there. Rinse it well, like giving it a bath. Take off the oil gland if it’s still on the tail–ours was. Place your cleaned turkey on a cutting board or clean surface and pat the skin dry with paper towels.

3. You can take this time to prepare your favorite stuffing if you haven’t already. Follow the poultry preparations on the stuffing bag or box. My favorite is a whole grain cranberry stuffing in a bag I get at Whole Foods. We made two batches, including fresh diced onions and celery as it called for in the poultry directions.

4. Now you can prepare the oven bag. Open it up and add a tablespoon of flour. Close the opening and shake it around. This will coat the bag and prevent it from sticking to the turkey and bursting. Slice a yellow onion and your celery stalks and add them to the bag–your turkey will sit on top of them.

5. Rub the turkey in your choice of oil. We once used a mixture of butter and olive oil, but we don’t use butter around here anymore. It turned out great, though. This year we used canola oil and it still turned out fantastic. After the turkey is covered, lightly sprinkle sea salt and black pepper over every inch of it. If you want a browner turkey, sprinkle paprika over it.

6. Put the stuffing in the chest cavity and neck, then close the neck so the stuffing doesn’t fall out when you move the bird.

7. Place the turkey in the Reynold’s bag on top of the vegetables. The tricky part is which side do you place it on? Traditionally, you would put it on it’s back, for a pretty, brown turkey. But for flavor, my grandma recommends putting it breast side down. She says this makes the moistest turkey. So that’s what we did. Make sure you tie it securely with the provided nylon tie.

8. Cut six half inch slits on top of the bag, and insert your turkey thermometer through one of these slits, into the thickest part of the inner thigh, not touching the bone. Tuck in the ends of your bag so they don’t burn in the oven.

9. Now comes one of the best parts about the oven bag–the baking time. Using this method reduces the baking time, so it’s really convenient, especially if you have a very large turkey like we did. Bake 2 to 2 1/2 hours for a 12 to 16 lb. turkey, 2 1/2 to 3 hours for a 16 to 20 lb. turkey, and 3 to 3 1/2 hours for a 20 to 24 lb. turkey. Add 1/2 hour for a stuffed turkey. When it’s done the red thermometer will pop up. We cooked ours for a little over four hours, but without the bag it could have taken six hours.

10. Take your turkey out and let it sit for 15 minutes before loosening the bag. If you are making gravy–this method produces an insane amount of tasty turkey drippings. It will be flavored by the onion and celery, salt and pepper. We cut a corner of the bag and drain it into a pot, straining any stray onion slices and stuffing. Read on to make your gravy. Happy Turkey Day!

Making the Gravy

Ingredients:

Turkey drippings
Cornstarch

Directions:
1. Dissolve 1 tablespoon of cornstarch in 1 tablespoon of water and set aside.

Whisking gravy in a pot.

2. Stir into turkey broth with a wire whisk, and heat on medium high. Bring to a boil and stir constantly. If the gravy is not thick enough, or if you have tons of gravy like we did, add another tablespoon of cornstarch and water mixture until desired thickness. Pour over turkey and mashed potatoes. Mmmm.

Finished gravy.

Buffalo Chicken Pizza with Soy and Goat Cheese

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Here is one of our favorite things to make for dinner. It’s perfect for the person in your family who is lactose intolerant. You can make one side of the pizza with soy cheese, and one side with regular cheese. It works perfectly for me and my husband, and I get my pizza fix without worry. I even get to satisfy my cheese cravings by adding a sprinkle of goat cheese crumbles.

Goat cheese has less lactose than regular cheese. It bothers me in excessive amounts, but just adding a tiny sprinkle enhances the buffalo chicken and cheese flavor. If you can’t do any goat cheese, then eliminate it altogether, or just add it to your significant other’s side of the pizza. But it is a good alternative for people who have mild lactose intolerance. You can also try adding Parmesan cheese on top of the soy cheese to give it a more authentic cheese flavor. Hard, aged cheeses lose most of their lactose in the aging process. That means small amounts shouldn’t bother someone with lactose intolerance.

There are lots of cheese alternatives out there. My favorites are Trader Joe’s Soy Mozzarella and Daiya Mozzarella Style Shreds. I have only been able to find Daiya items at Whole Foods and Costco. Daiya cheese alternative is also gluten and soy free, so it’s perfect for people with multiple allergies. I don’t usually eat a cheese alternative by itself, but when combined with other ingredients soy cheese blends in just like the real thing.

Ingredients:

1 bag premixed pizza dough (We like Trader Joe’s Garlic and Herb dough)
Trader Joe’s Soy Mozarella Cheese, shredded to desired amount
1/4 cup goat cheese crumbles
1 12 ounce can white chicken, drained of liquid
1/4 cup Franks Buffalo Sauce
2 tablespoons Franks Buffalo Sauce
1/2 cup tomato basil marinara sauce
Flour for rolling dough
Course grind cornmeal (if using a pizza stone)

Directions:

1. If the pizza dough is refrigerated, let sit for 20 minutes before rolling.

pizza dough

2. Preheat the oven to 500 degrees Fahrenheit.

3. For the crispy on the outside, soft on the inside pizza, use a pizza stone. Heat in the oven for ten minutes before placing the pizza on it. You can also use a regular non-stick pan, just make a square shaped pizza. If you have a large flat cookie sheet, you can make a circular pizza on this. Or, if you have it, use a circular pizza pan.

3. In a small pan, combine the chicken and 1/4 cup of Buffalo Sauce. Cook until heated and the sauce is absorbed into the chicken.

chicken cooked with buffalo sauce in a pan.

4. On a clean surface, sprinkle a thin layer of flour. Roll out the pizza dough with a nonstick rolling pin, adding more flour as needed.

5. Remove the pizza stone from the oven and sprinkle with course grind cornmeal. Don’t use flour–it will only burn and your pizza will stick. Place the rolled dough on the pizza stone, rolling up the edges to make a crust if you desire, and cook in the oven for three to four minutes.

6. Remove the cooked pizza crust from the oven and get ready to put on your toppings.

Cooked pizza dough.

7. Spread the tomato basil marinara sauce on the pizza evenly. Using too much sauce will make the pizza soggy and hard to cut, but some people like their sauce, like me.

pizza dough with sauce spread on.

 

8. Sprinkle on your desired amount of soy mozzarella cheese.

Shredded soy mozzarella cheese.

9. Next, add the Buffalo Chicken in an even layer, topping with a sprinkle of crumbled goat cheese.

Pizza with cheese.

10. For the last topping, drizzle the 2 tablespoons of Buffalo Sauce all over the pizza.

11. Place in the oven and cook for 6-8 minutes, or until desired crispiness. Thoroughly enjoy.

 

Buffalo chicken pizza slices.

Dairy Free Buffalo Chicken Dip

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I never thought I would be able to eat this stuff again! I mean, the main ingredients are three types of cheese. I used a combination of cream cheese alternative and non dairy cheese to make this highly addictive dip much healthier than it’s original version. It’s completely free of lactose, trans fat, and the only cholesterol in it is added by the lean chicken! It tastes so amazing and so close to the original version you won’t even notice the difference! Even if you can eat dairy, don’t eat the regular version of this dip again–this recipe eliminates so much of the fat and cholesterol that you should not be putting into your body. Trust me, this is good.

Ingredients:

8oz This Is Not a Tub of Cream Cheese This Is a Tub of Non Dairy Spread from Trader Joes
2-3 tablespoons Franks Red Hot Sauce (depending on how spicy you want it)
5oz canned chicken
1/3 cup Daiya Chedder Style Shreds

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

2. Soften the cream cheese alternative in the microwave for 30 seconds, then mix all ingredients together until well blended. It’s easier to blend if you mix the cream cheese and Frank’s first.

Canned chicken.

Cream cheese alternative.

Franks mixed with cream cheese alternative.

Cream cheese mixture with fake cheese.

3. Bake for 20 minutes to melt it all together and OMG the result is divine. Enjoy with some lime tortilla chips and tell me how much you love it.