Dairy Free

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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.

Dairy Free

Buffalo Chicken Pizza with Soy and Goat Cheese

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

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.

Sweet and "Creamy" Pumpkin Soup

Pumpkin soup with sage sprinkled on top.

I’m always disappointed by ready to serve butternut squash soups when I read the label and find out they are made with milk or cream. Recently I found one at Whole Foods that was made with soy milk, but I have to say it was a little bland. The taste of soy took away from the delicious sweetness of the butternut squash. So I had a go at creating my own “creamy” soup, and I used canned pumpkin since it was so readily available. The vanilla soy milk I used made it so thick and sweet that my husband and I devoured it! The sage and black pepper balances out the sweetness so it doesn’t taste like you are slurping pumpkin pie. It makes a great compliment to an entree of chicken or turkey. I will probably make this again for our Thanksgiving dinner feast!

Ingredients:

1 15oz can pumpkin
5 cups Silk Very Vanilla Soymilk (I measured using pumpkin can: 2 1/2 cans of milk)
1 teaspoon ground sage
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon sea salt

Directions:

1. Empty pumpkin into a 2 quart saucepan and place burner on medium heat.

Pureed pumpkin in pot.

2. Measure the soy milk in the empty pumpkin can. Slowly stir in Very Vanilla Soymilk until evenly blended.

Soy milk added to pumpkin puree.

3. Add sage, ginger, nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves, black pepper, and sea salt and heat until almost boiling, stirring often.

4. Ladle in a bowl, sprinkle with ground sage, and serve with buttery crackers. We like Social Snackers from Trader Joes; they are dairy free and contain no hydrogenated oils, yet still maintain that buttery taste that is so addicting.