Vegetables

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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.

Vegetables

Mom’s Salsa

Snacks & Dips, , , , , , ,

Mom's Salsa from dontmissdairy.comI was on the phone with my mom while shopping for Super Bowl snacks at Trader Joe’s, and she mentioned this salsa recipe she had made up.

It’s no mystery where I get my recipe experimenting skills from. 😉

She had me looking for fire-roasted diced tomatoes with chiles and frozen sweet white corn. She said I could use Ro*Tel, but she liked the Trader Joe’s brand.

I was surprised at how it came together since it’s so simple. And after my husband and I ate the whole batch as the Seahawks won the Super Bowl I thought, what an awesome dairy free recipe for a blog post. I then asked her for her permission to publish it, which she granted, as long as I named it after her.

Mom's Salsa from dontmissdairy.com

I was talking to my mom, Donna, on the phone instead of shopping with her because she lives in Pittsburgh, PA, which is about a billion miles away from California.

Since my family is so far away, I miss my mom a lot. Thank goodness for cell phones, unlimited minutes, and Google Hangouts.

I’m missing my mom even more today, because she just came to visit me in California. I don’t know what she wanted more, to see her daughter, to escape Pittsburgh’s endless snowfalls, or to have a vacation. 

Though California needs the rain desperately, I was glad to have some warm, beautiful days for her visit. She needs a reason to come back, right?

She escaped the cold, snowy east coast for a week and got to experience blossoms, birds, and citrus trees, walks without a jacket, and sunning on the patio…in the middle of February.

We went shopping, ate vegan ice cream, and went wine tasting. We had a great time and she spoiled my puppy. The only thing I regret is not getting a good picture together during the whole trip. We had every intention of setting up the tripod and getting pictures at the ocean, but when we got to the coast the weather was overcast, windy, and freezing. Bummer.

The week went too fast and now it is too quiet in my apartment. So I am thinking of her as I type up her recipe.

It’s super simple and easy by the way. There’s no chopping required (yay!) and it’s fast to throw together. It’s also free of gluten and dairy.

Don’t leave anything out. You’ll be glad you made a trip to the store for fresh limes and cilantro. Yummy!

Mom's Salsa from dontmissdairy.com

Mom's Salsa
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Ingredients
  1. 1 can organic fire roasted diced tomatoes with green chiles
  2. 1 cup sweet white corn, defrosted if frozen and drained of any liquid
  3. 1 cup black beans, rinsed and drained
  4. Juice of 1/2 lime
  5. 4 sprigs fresh cilantro leaves, torn or chopped
  6. 1/8 teaspoon sea salt
Instructions
  1. Combine tomatoes, sweet white corn, and black beans together in a medium size bowl with a lid.
  2. Add juice of half a lime, sea salt, and chopped or torn cilantro leaves. Mix together, then cover and refrigerate for 1 hour. Serve with salted tortilla chips.
Notes
  1. Try with chopped avocado!
don't miss dairy https://dontmissdairy.com/

Mom's Salsa from dontmissdairy.com
Mom's Salsa from dontmissdairy.com

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

Easy Mini Quiches

Breakfast, , , , ,

Easy Mini Quiches from dontmissdairy.com
I’m always looking for easy, dairy-free breakfast options. I envy the people who can just pop a hot pocket into the toaster oven and call it a day.

I’m also big on BIG breakfasts.  

I need something substantial AND healthy AND delicious in the morning–cereal just doesn’t cut it. My husband loves healthy cereals like Kashi, but I think they taste like cardboard. I’m reminded of that Willy Wonka quote from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory: “Do you have any idea what breakfast cereal’s made of? It’s those little curly wooden shavings you find in pencil sharpeners.” Yep, pretty much. Sorry cereal lovers.

Usually, I’ll make a spinach and egg scramble in the morning. The whole process only takes five to ten minutes, depending on if I’ve had my coffee or not.

But here’s the thing–I also crave variety. When you are absolutely forbidden from having something in your diet, you need variety to make up for the the lack of it. So I changed up my spinach and egg scramble the other day to include some yummy crescent rolls, making pretty, tulip-shaped mini quiches that are perfect for on-the-go breakfasts.

Easy Mini Quiches from dontmissdairy.com

These take a little extra time in the morning–but not much. They are super easy to make and fun to share. They would be a great addition to a weekend brunch!

I do my best to stay away from Pillsbury dough, because it usually contains dairy and hydrogenated oils. You can find dairy-free and trans-fat-free crescent rolls at Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods.

Easy Mini Quiches from dontmissdairy.com

See? Easy!

You can customize this recipe by adding your favorite veggie combination. Just make sure to not overfill each quiche. As you can see in the above picture, I added just a tiny bit of filling to each quiche cup and added egg to just below the edges of the dough. The egg mixture will rise. If you are adding tomatoes, make sure you press the liquid out of them on a paper towel, or else your quiche will be too watery. It’s up to you if you’d like to cook the veggies beforehand. I needed to sauté the spinach to fit in the quiche.

I plan on making these again soon with bacon and potatoes, yum!

Easy Mini Quiches from dontmissdairy.com

Easy Mini Quiches
Yields 6
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Ingredients
  1. 1 can dairy-free crescent rolls
  2. Cooking spray
  3. 2 large eggs
  4. 1/8 teaspoon black pepper
  5. 1/8 teaspoon sea salt
  6. Cooked spinach, about a 1/4 cup (1 cup uncooked)
  7. 6 grape tomatoes
  8. 1/8 cup vegan cheese
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
  2. Roll out the crescent roll dough onto a cutting board and seal the seams so it it is one seamless sheet of dough. You can use a rolling pin, but I just pinched the seams together with my fingers.
  3. Cut dough into six equal squares.
  4. Spray six cups of a regular size muffin tin with cooking oil.
  5. Place a dough square in each tin, making sure to center it so an even cup is formed. All four corners should be lying outside the cups.
  6. Add your choice of veggies. I quartered 6 grape tomatoes, then pressed them into a paper towel to absorb excess liquid. I sautéed a handful of spinach in a little olive oil and salt so it would fit in the quiche cups, then distributed all veggies equally.
  7. Add a sprinkle of vegan cheese, or another yummy ingredient, like fresh herbs or bacon.
  8. In a small bowl, whisk two large eggs together with salt and pepper. Pour a very small amount of egg mixture into each quiche cup and overtop of veggies, being careful not to overflow. Two eggs will distribute perfectly into the six quiche cups.
  9. Bake for 16 minutes, or until eggs are set. If needed, a couple extra minutes will not burn the dough, and eggs will set unless filled too full.
don't miss dairy https://dontmissdairy.com/

Easy Mini Quiches from dontmissdairy.com