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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.

Salad

Orange and Sunflower Salad with Hearts of Palm

Veggies & Sides, , , , , , ,

Orange and Sunflower Salad with Hearts of Palm from dontmissdairy.com
Have you seen the beautiful citrus in the markets lately?

I know it’s harsh winter in many places, but where I am, there are trees everywhere absolutely bursting with oranges and lemons. In my excitement I bought a huge box of oranges. I need to eat them in everything!

Eating healthy is so easy when your food tastes amazing. That is this salad. I want to eat it over and over again. It’s healthy because the ingredients are fresh and simple: raw veggies, fruit, seeds, vinegar, and olive oil.

Orange and Sunflower Salad with Hearts of Palm from dontmissdairy.com

Has anyone noticed how obsessed I am with flavored olive oils? They make the simplest, healthiest, tastiest, and cleanest salad dressings. I can’t even buy bottled dressings anymore after topping salad after salad with delicious, light-tasting lemon and orange olive oils. Have you tried flavored olive oils, yet? You need to…right now!

The best way to find out your favorite oils? Go taste them! Sigona’s Farmers Market in Palo Alto is one of my favorite places to taste olive oils, but you can find them in many whole foods markets. You might be surprised, but citrus olive oils also make great marinades and even dipping oils for breads. Sourdough and lemon olive oil is a unique and tasty snack.

I need to get back to Jacuzzi Winery in Sonoma soon. They have one of the largest olive oil and vinegar tasting rooms I have ever seen. There are so many flavors and combinations, like lime olive oil and coconut balsamic.

I don’t miss dairy for a second in this salad. This is not a salad for dairy. 

If you are thinking that salads aren’t as good anymore since you’ve had to cut dairy, then it’s time to think outside the box! Citrus is the way to go for a flavorful, healthy salad. The sweet orange flavor is so tangy and crisp. It goes perfectly with the citrusy flavor of heart of palm. This is delicious, clean eating.

Orange and Sunflower Salad with Hearts of Palm
Serves 1
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Ingredients
  1. 2 cups raw spinach
  2. 1 navel orange, peeled and cut into 1 inch segments
  3. 2 hearts of palm, quartered lengthwise
  4. 2 tablespoons raw sunflower seeds
  5. 1 tablespoon chia seeds
  6. 1 teaspoon orange juice
  7. 1 tablespoon orange infused olive oil
  8. 1 tablespoon fruit infused balsamic vinegar
Instructions
  1. Place spinach on a large salad plate. Drizzle orange juice on the spinach either by squeezing a piece of orange over the salad or by peeling orange pieces over the spinach. Little drops of juice will add flavor.
  2. Layer on orange segments, hearts of palm, sunflower seeds, and chia seeds.
  3. Drizzle orange olive oil* and vinegar over the salad and add more according to preference.
Notes
  1. *Don't have orange olive oil? Extra virgin olive oil tastes great with this salad as well.
don't miss dairy https://dontmissdairy.com/

Orange and Sunflower Salad with Hearts of Palm from dontmissdairy.com

Orange and Sunflower Salad with Hearts of Palm from dontmissdairy.com

Cranberry, Walnut, and Chia Seed Spinach Salad with Lemon Balsamic

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Cranberry, Walnut, and Chia Seed Spinach Salad from dontmissdairy.com

Happy New Year!!!

I’ve taken a month hiatus from blogging for the first time in years, and I’m ready to get back into the swing of things with some healthy, simple, and delicious dairy-free recipes.

The month long break wasn’t intentional; December came at me like a charging bull, and it was keep up or get trampled. I think I might have gotten stepped on a few times.

During November, I finally finished the first part of one of the biggest goals of my life: to write a novel. I did it with the encouragement and motivation of NaNoWriMo, and I successfully completed 50,000 more words, adding to my start of 26,000. I now have a full-length fiction novel under my belt, with a great plot, ending, fully developed characters and everything.

After that, the onslaught of everything else in my life I postponed came at me, plus a series of other things. I put the novel on hold for a bit so I could catch my breath. I intend to start the rewrite now that I can breathe, but the whole catching my breath part lasted much longer than I expected.

The holidays are always busy, but the biggest time consumer this month was our move to a new apartment and the horrible cold I caught that resulted…from the stress of moving…before a strict time deadline…on the coldest day of the year.

On top of all that, I had to unpack and set up the whole apartment–you can guess how long that took! I just remember the painful task of searching in box after box for tea, honey, and a mug. My husband was amazing and took care of me so nicely, bringing me medicine, orange juice, and flowers. Thankfully, he didn’t even get sick.

Now I finally have my new kitchen set up the way I want it, my refrigerator full, and I’ve even started cooking.

I got some awesome new photography equipment for Christmas, so as soon as I learn how to use it properly, my pictures will get better and better! For this particular recipe, I used my brand new tripod, reflector, and remote for the first time. 

Cranberry, Walnut, and Chia Seed Spinach Salad from dontmissdairy.com

I’m starting this year off with one of my favorite salad combinations. I’ve never posted a salad before, but I’m trying to stay healthy by eating fresh, raw, colorful veggies. Soup and salad is the way to go right now.

This simple spinach salad is packed full of omega 3s and antioxidants. There’s nothing quite better than the light tasting yet flavorful combination of lemon olive oil with fruit-infused balsamic vinegar. I used fig-infused balsamic to be exact.

Cranberry, Walnut, and Chia Seed Spinach Salad from dontmissdairy.com

Store-bought salad dressings are a thing of the past for me! This salad has no added salt and makes you wonder how you could ever have eaten that iceberg lettuce and cheese combination with ranch. Would you like some lettuce with your fat?

Just kidding, if I could eat dairy I totally would. But this spinach salad is seriously delicious. It’s crisp, refreshing, and super healthy. Pair with a steaming bowl of soup.

Cranberry, Walnut, and Chia Seed Spinach Salad from dontmissdairy.com

Cranberry, Walnut, and Chia Seed Spinach Salad with Lemon Balsamic Dressing
Serves 1
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Ingredients
  1. 2 cups raw spinach, washed and drained
  2. 1/4 cup raw walnut pieces
  3. 1/4 cub dried, sweetened cranberries
  4. 1 tablespoon chia seeds
  5. 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
  6. 1/2 teaspoon nutritional yeast
  7. 1 tablespoon lemon infused olive oil
  8. 1 tablespoon fruit infused balsamic vinegar
Instructions
  1. In a medium size bowl with a lid, add spinach, walnuts, cranberries, chia seeds, pepper, and nutritional yeast. Close the lid tightly and shake until the ingredients are mixed.
  2. Transfer onto a large salad plate and drizzle on lemon olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Add more to taste, along with salt and pepper if you desire. Don't you feel so healthy?
don't miss dairy https://dontmissdairy.com/

Cranberry, Walnut, and Chia Seed Spinach Salad from dontmissdairy.com

Eggless, Dairy Free "Egg" Salad

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I’ve been eating tofu a lot lately, and it’s not because I need to. I love eggs and meat! Trust me, I am not going vegan. But I love the taste of tofu, and I love how light and easy it is to digest. It’s cholesterol free, very low carb, low in calories, and still packs protein. My stomach feels untroubled after eating tofu; I feel more relaxed and slim.

I was a little wary of tofu at first. It seemed foreign and tasteless. Then I realized it’s what you do with tofu that makes it delicious–just like the dairy free products I use. I started putting it in scrambled eggs and omelets, then added it to flavorful dishes like curry and soup. I really got crazy and made a recipe using tofu to make dairy free chocolate mousse. It’s pretty delicious. I love that Chipotle now has a tofu option for their burritos. I usually get chicken, but after trying the sofritas, I was completely sold. I noticed a huge difference in how my stomach and body felt after eating a burrito bowl with sofritas versus chicken. Tofu is just so much easier for the body to digest.

This tofu recipe is quick to mix up and full of flavor. Experiment with different spices to see what suits your tastes. Eric is adverse to this particular recipe because it has sweet relish in it–he hates vinegary things. But I love pickles. For a totally different flavor, I want to try it with curry next. The best thing about this tofu salad? No egg boiling, peeling, or slicing!

Ingredients:

1 12oz package silken tofu
1/4 cup vegan mayonaise
1/4 teaspoon turmeric
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon smoked paprika
1/8 teaspoon dry mustard
1/8 teaspoon sea salt
2 celery stalks, finely chopped
1/4 cup chopped yellow onion
2 tablespoons sweet relish
1 teaspoon chopped fresh parsley
green olives for garnish *optional

Directions:

1. Remove tofu from packaging, draining water, and place on paper towels. Pat dry. Mash or crumble the tofu into medium bowl.

2. In a small bowl, mix vegan mayonnaise, turmeric, pepper, paprika, mustard, salt, and then add to tofu.

3. Mix in celery, onion, relish, and parsley. Cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes. Serve on crackers as an appetizer, in a bowl as a veggie dip, or make an egg salad sandwich. It’s so delicious!