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don't miss dairy

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.

Soy Milk Pumpkin Pie

Desserts, , , , , ,

Completed soy milk pumpkin pie.

For my husband’s birthday I usually make him a pumpkin pie instead of a cake, since he considers pumpkin pie the best dessert ever created. I was an expert at making a creamy, melt-in-your mouth pumpkin pie. Now that eating anything made with 12 ounces of condensed milk is out of the question for me, I thought I would take a shot at making it lactose intolerant friendly. There are a bunch of dairy free pumpkin pie recipes out there, but I think you’ll find mine particularly tasty. If you enjoy coconut, take a look at my coconut milk pumpkin pie recipe as well!

Ingredients:

1 refrigerated pie crust
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 large eggs, 1 egg white
15oz can pumpkin
1 cup Silk Very Vanilla Soymilk

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit.

2. Mold the pie crust into a pie dish and trim excess dough from the edges.

Pie crust.

3. Mix sugar, salt, and spices in a small bowl until thoroughly blended.

Sugar and spice mixture.

4. In a large bowl, beat eggs and egg white. Stir in the pumpkin and then the sugar and spice mixture.

Egg and pumpkin mixture.

5. Gradually add Very Vanilla Soymilk and stir until completely blended. Pour into pie crust.

Uncooked pumpkin pie filling in crust.

6. Bake for 15 minutes to set a crispy crust, then lower the temperature to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and bake for 40 minutes. To check if the pie is done, stick a knife through the middle and see if it comes up clean. If there is a layer of pumpkin on it, you may need to bake for an additional 5-10 minutes. Serve with dairy-free vanilla ice cream if you want to go all out. Happy Fall!

Pesto Chicken with Sun Dried Tomatoes and Pine Nuts

Entrées, , , ,

One of the saddest parts about being lactose intolerant is the inability to eat cheese. I really miss it. This is especially difficult when favorite foods contain cheese, like pizza…Easy Mac…chicken parmesan….just to name a few. Fortunately, there are options! My undeniable cravings for pizza and other cheesy recipes have led me to discover many delicious modifications that, though they will never be the same, are still good replacements that leave me quite content. 

Soy cheese is a great discovery, although the soy flavor is too overpowering to enjoy by itself. When it’s combined with other flavors, however, it makes a great cheese replacement. I’ve made some amazing pizza recipes that use a mixture of soy mozzarella cheese and goat cheese crumbles to replace real mozzarella. It’s more than delicious and also a much healthier option, since much of the fat from the cheese is eliminated. Goat cheese contains less lactose than soft dairy cheese, and when used sparingly can be digested without any problems.

Also, lactose intolerant people can handle small amounts of parmigiano-reggiano and other hard, aged cheese because most of the lactose is broken down in the aging process. Actually, the harder and older the cheese, the lower the lactose. An even better option is aged goat cheese! So while a piece of cheese pizza leaves me in agony for hours, a piece of months old parmigiano-reggiano or aged goat gouda is just fine, and helps to satisfy that cheese craving. That being said, it is okay for lactose intolerant people to use parmigiano-reggiano in their recipes, as long as they don’t overdo it. Pesto sauce is acceptable, as long as it is not mixed with butter and cream, which some recipes call for and many restaurants use.

This pesto chicken recipe only contains a small amount of aged parmigiano-reggiano cheese–store bought pesto sauces usually contain it. You can make your own pesto sauce without cheese very easily if you have a food processor.

Ingredients:

4 thin sliced chicken breasts
Pre-made Pesto Sauce
1/2 cup julienne cut sun dried tomatoes
2 teaspoons olive oil
3 tablespoons pine nuts

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

2. In a small bowl, drench the sun dried tomatoes in the olive oil and leave them to soak for a minute.

Sun dried tomatoes in olive oil.

3. Line a large glass baking dish with foil, and place the sliced chicken breasts so that they do not overlap.

Uncooked chicken breasts.

Basting chicken breasts with pesto sauce.

4. Use a basting brush to brush each side of each chicken breast with a generous teaspoon of pesto sauce.

5. Top each chicken breast with the olive oil soaked sun dried tomatoes.

Uncooked chicken topped with pesto and sundried tomatoes.

6. Cover the dish with foil, and bake for 25 minutes.

7. While the chicken is baking, toast pine nuts in a small pan over medium heat for five minutes or until light golden brown. They will toast quickly, so be careful not to burn them, and you also may want to make more, because you will eat them as you are waiting for your chicken to cook.

8. When baking time is up, remove foil and top the individual chicken breasts with the toasted pine nuts. Serve with a green vegetable or a serving of pasta. Simple, healthy, and delicious!




Crock Pot Meatball & Vegetable Soup

Soups & Crock Pot, , ,

The crock pot is my best friend in the kitchen; in this soup recipe, throw everything in the pot and forget about it for hours. There is minimal chopping prep and no extra cooking or searing. This low maintenance recipe is a meal in itself. It’s hearty, delicious, and healthy.  More veggies can easily be added, like frozen green beans or corn. It also goes well with egg noodles, orzo, or kidney beans for added carbs. But I think it’s just right with the minimal ingredients, and super simple. This meatball soup is a perfect meal for two, especially on a chilly summer night. Best served with warm sourdough bread or some flavorful crackers.

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups beef broth
2 cups party size frozen meatballs
1 small onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
3 carrots, peeled and chopped
3 celery stalks, chopped
4 small gold potatoes, cubed
1 can no salt added diced tomatoes
1 tablespoon fresh parsley, chopped
1/4 teaspoon dried basil
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
Dash of sea salt and black pepper

Directions:

1. After chopping the vegetables, add beef broth, meatballs, onion, garlic, carrots, celery, potatoes, tomatoes, parsley, basil, oregano, and salt and pepper into the crock pot and stir well. Cover and cook on high for four hours or on low for six hours. Go do something else and come back for dinner!