Splenda

Follow Me on Instagram

Instagram

Follow Me on Pinterest

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.

Splenda

Non-Dairy Creamer, or a replacement for Half & Half

More, , , , , ,

I used to drink half and half in my coffee every morning. No sugar, just cream. It really made the perfect cup of coffee. And I am a huge coffee drinker. When even a little bit of half and half made me feel sick, I had a hard time handling it. At first I just dealt with the discomfort, but stomach cramps finally led me to try other products.

Plain soy milk in coffee was just disgusting. Even Very Vanilla Soymilk didn’t really cut it for me. I tried Coconut Milk Creamer–totally gross. I didn’t want to do it, but for a long time I started using Coffeemate non-dairy creamer. That stuff is really terrible for you–it’s like drinking trans fat. I tried many different flavors that were tasty. My favorites were the sugar-free vanilla, which tasted like marshmallow to me, the peppermint mocha, and original, which was the closest taste to half and half that I could find. But they completely covered the taste of the coffee as well. That’s okay if you are drinking ground Foldgers, but not okay if you bought a new bag of fresh, whole bean Caribou Blend. What can I say? I love my coffee.

I realized that when I ordered a soy mocha or soy latte at Starbucks it tasted amazing. So why didn’t my coffee taste amazing when I added vanilla soy milk? The answer was in the steaming. I don’t know why, but heated soy milk in coffee tastes ten times better than cold soy milk in coffee. Especially when that soy milk is very, very sweet. The sweeter the better.

So after all of my experiments and attempts to find the perfect healthy replacement for half and half, I have finally found the answer. I wanted to pass along my knowledge, which is actually a small recipe.

Ingredients:

8ounce cup of coffee
1/3 cup Silk Very Vanilla Soymilk
1  teaspoon or packet of sugar

Directions
1. Mix the soymilk and sugar (I use Splenda or Truvia) in a microwave safe mug and heat for 30 seconds.

2. Pour in the fresh, hot gourmet coffee and find your happy place.

New Tip:

You can also substitute vanilla soy milk with soy vanilla ice cream–it’s a great cream alternative to your coffee and helps it cool down as well.

Coffee with soy milk.

Dairy Free Peach Cobbler

Desserts, , , , ,

 

Peach Cobbler

Even busy girls like to cook something more involved now and then, which is why I am supplying the full from-scratch recipe to my mom’s unparalleled peach cobbler. Putting this recipe together is fairly simple, but you can make it much easier on yourself by using already sliced frozen or canned peaches and a premixed flour mixture such as Bisquick Light. Just add the sugar, lemon, milk, egg, and oil blend. I do recommend that you make the dough from scratch, however, because the premix version just isn’t the same.

This is not the exact recipe–I’ve altered it to fit the dairy-free lifestyle and made it healthier by eliminating butter and substituting the sugar with Splenda. One cup Splenda instead of one cup sugar = a lot fewer calories. Likewise, 4 tablespoons of a non-hydrogenated solid oil blend like Smart Balance or Earth Balance eliminates an entire cup of unhealthy fats. You can use one cup of sugar and 1 cup of shortening (which is what the original recipe calls for), but my version is amazing and much less fattening. With the suggestion of my mom, I’ve also substituted peach schnapps for almond extract. The result is divine.

Ingredients:

3 cups sliced peaches
1 cup granulated Splenda
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon grated lemon zest (optional)
1/2 teaspoon of peach schnapps or almond extract

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
3 tablespoons sugar, divided
4 tablespoons oil blend like Smart Balance Light Buttery Spread
1/2 cup vanilla soy milk
1 beaten egg

Simple Preparation for Peaches:

  1. Open bag of sliced, skinned, frozen peaches. Rinse three cups worth under water to remove ice and set in bowl containing one tablespoon of lemon juice. If using fresh peaches, which is the tastier way to do it, the easiest way to skin them is by parboiling.

More Time Consuming Preparation for Peaches:

  • 6 large ripe yellow peaches
  • Large bowl filled with ice water
  • Large pot with enough water to cover peaches
  • Slotted spoon
  • Cutting board
  • Knife
  • Lemon Juice

Directions for Parboiling:

1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Meanwhile, rinse the peaches. Slice an “X” on each peach to create an easy opening for skin removal. Place peaches in the boiling water for one to two minutes depending on ripeness. Remove with a slotted spoon and immediately place in ice water to stop them from cooking. After they are cool enough to handle you can remove them from the bowl. Drain the ice water and replace it with one tablespoon of lemon juice. The skin from the peaches should come off easily as you start removing from the X. If you have trouble, just get the rest of the skin with a peeler. Peel the skin and pit the peaches, slice and add to the bowl with lemon juice. Ready to make your cobbler!

 

Remaining Peach Cobbler Directions:

2. To your bowl of sliced peaches and lemon juice, add Splenda, lemon zest, and peach schnapps. Stir peaches until evenly coated. Pour mixture into a 9inch square baking dish.

3. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit and place the peach mixture in the oven to warm while you mix the dough.

4. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and one tablespoon of real sugar.

5. Melt your 4 tablespoons of oil blend such as Earth Balance in the microwave for 20 seconds.

6. Combine soymilk, oil blend, and lightly beaten egg in small bowl, then add to flour mixture and stir until smooth. The mixture should be light and fluffy.

7. Take the peaches out of the oven, and spoon the dough on top, forming as even a layer as possible. Sprinkle the remaining 2 tablespoons of sugar on top.

8. Bake for 35 minutes, or until brown. Enjoy your peach cobbler warm by itself or with dairy free vanilla ice cream! Mmm.