I'm Going Dairy-free
 

Well, although my doctor thought I was initially a little crazy when I told him I thought I might have a milk allergy, the blood test shows that I am. Therefore I am trying to do my best to cut dairy out of my diet. My new diet seems to be trending toward a crazy cross between meat eating vegan and Kosher. It’s amazing how many things actually have milk, or milk proteins in them. Ranging from McDonald’s French fries to most of the SOY cheese. Thankfully I have found a milk substitute that I can deal with (Rice Dream’s rice milk), and they have an ice cream too. :)

I was wondering if anyone here was also trying to go dairy-free, or if anyone has any tips or suggestions on good Vegan cheeses, or anything related to living dairy-free.

To me, soy cheeses are just disgusting, i'd rather have paste than a soy cheese. it doesnt have the texture, the consistancy of real cheese.... I looooove cheese... and soy just doesn't cut it...

Have you tried goat's milk cheese- -i've had some very good goat's milk bries and other cheeses --

From what I understand, most people wiht milk allergies are generally only allergic to cow's milk... .and goats milk is ok.

well are you lactose intolerent or is it actual milk alergies?
because i'm lacose intolerent and i eat frozen yougourt, lactosefreemilk, etc.. theres a ton! but no cheese. that's just not good.

Be sure to try all the different brands of soy milk until you find one you like. They all seem to taste very different. I also like to use this series of books for baking desserts and other stuff. Great non-dairy recipes and even more tips for dairy-free living.

It's actually a milk allergy (I believe related to the milk proteins)

It's funny, but most of the soy cheeses I looked at, actually contain milk proteirn to help the melt better... I'll have to check out some goat products... thnx..

thnx for the link, I'll check it out... I'm very happy with Rice Dream, rice milk (It's something I can cook with too...)

I would rather die then give up cheese

Keep us posted on your progress.

Several people I know are stuck with the same problem and they are much healthier and happier without dairy.

lol... It hasn't been too bad.

I'm actually ok with going with out cheese and dairy for most things. For a lot of things it's just paying attention to what you buy. Some pretzels have dairy, some don't, type of thing.

A couple of things that I was thinking I would miss are Nachos and Pizza, but I have been experimenting with the Vegan cheeses, and sometimes just omitting the cheese.

I made a cheeseless pizza last Friday. (Non-Dairy dough and sauce, covered with hot italian sasuage and peperoni. Nice to know I can still clog my arteries, while remaining dairy free... :crazy: It was yummy though... )

Go to a Whole Foods if you have one and ask for help. They have some great people and many products that will work well with your lifestyle.

You can make a pretty good white sauce with soy milk or rice milk. Recipes are out there. A good creamy white sauce, especially if you flavor it, can really make up for the loss of cheese, especially on pasta, in casseroles, and so on -- especially if you can combine it with meats (even crumbled bacon) whose own fats bring a more buttery feel to the entire dish. In other words: milk-free gravy!

If I was in your shoes, I'd probably make a nice thick soy white sauce, mix in some crumpled bacon (and some of the drippings), toss it with pasta (maybe add some cubed, cooked chicken, too), and never miss the cheese. Here's a link to one soy/rice white sauce recipe:

http://www.pccnaturalmarkets.com/hea...hite_Sauce.htm

And learn to love dark chocolate; it's the best, anyway, and the real thing should have no milk. And if you have a good candy shop in the neighborhood, ask them to recommend milk-free goodies. A good shop knows all about peoples' dietary restrictions, and caters to them.

My ex girlfriend is intollerant to lactose, less so now, was very badly intollerant a little while ago. But yeah, when i was with her, my dairy intake dropped a surprising amount :P

She drank Rice Dream, but not very often, didn't really need to use milk all that often - no cereals or anything like that due to being intollerant to gluten also :S.

But yeah, not as hard as it would seem. You may miss cheese (i would :<) and chocolate, but as stated, there are other means.

And learn to love black coffee and herbal teas. Never used to drink either of them, now i can't have my coffee any other way and love herbal teas so, so very much - here we have a lovely moroccan mint tea by dilmah, damn good. Miso soup is great too :D

I'd really miss camembert cheese :<

There aren't any Whole Foods in the immediate area. Going to try Trader Joes this weekend to see what they have.... thnx

Mmm That sounds good, thanks for the suggestion..

I already drink my coffee black, so that works... :) I'm not a fan of mint, are there any other herbal teas you would suggest? Miso soup sounds very good. Did she make her own, or just buy it premade?


Thanks for all the great suggestions...

Smart Balance Organic Spread is a Vegan butter replacement... It's very tasty, and cooks well... I like it much better than the Land o lake margarine we used to use...

Someone has suggested I try vegan sausage and Turkey peperoni on my pizza. Has anyone had either of these? Any brands to suggest trying?

Here is an interesting link that I found... vegetarian restaurants

The site is useful for finding Vegetarian stores and resturants in an area you live or will be visiting...

Vegan sausage? Well, it's not like the real thing. The best I ever had was Yves brand vegan hotlinks; they were okay, mainly because of the hot pepper. They might work on a pizza. But when I want flavor on a pizza without the meat, I go with a mix of one or more of jalapenos, onions, garlic, olives, and fresh tomato. You'll know you've been in a fight :-).

Out here on the left coast, you can get various chicken and turkey sausages, but they're usually made by local or regional sausage makers; you don't find often find them shrink-wrapped on the deli shelf, you find them in bulk in the meat department or the butcher's. I've had various chicken sausages (chicken-apple is a fave) and a pretty good turkey linguica. Look for such things in a good high-end butcher shop, a high-end grocery story with a good meat counter, or a natural foods store that includes a meat department.

Well it's been about 9 months now. I have to admit that going dairy free hasn't been hard, although dairy is in a lot more places than I would have thought it would be... The easiest way to find things is to look for the Kosher parve labelling. Athough not everything is marked kosher, I is internally and was helpful on a trip to Canada... :)

All in all I find that I am cooking more, and need to plan a little a head, but all in all it's very manageble. Making Brownies from scratch is my next adventure, and the I want to make fudge... lol I have the recipes, it's just a matter of making the time...

On the good side, I have managed to go with taking medication twice daily for a couple of months now. In actuality I think I have only taken two doses of meds in the last 3 months. (I can certainly tell when some dairy slips though, i end up getting all itchy...) Also not having dairy has benefitted me by making me lose some weight. The up side of saying "No I can't eat that cake, or creme brulee, or chocolate, or.... "

Finally... For the record, even the soy cheeses have dairy, and yes Mal, they do suck... But pizza with sausage and peperoni is just fine without cheese... :)

ttfn

Amen! I'm just lactose intolerant, but it makes it sooo easy to say no to cake. :thumbsup: Are you getting enough calcium by the way?

I take a daily calcium suppliment, and my Orange Juice also has Calcium... Considering I wasn't much of a milk drinker before, I think I've upped my Calcium intake... ;)

I am lactose intolerant and I used to eat pizza, ice cream and chocolate for a long time. I thought I could build up a tolerance to dairy one day, but after reading several articles about Lactose Intolerance, I discovered I do not have the enzyme lactase. So, after reading the articles and for health reasons, decided not to consume pizza, ice cream and most chocolate and now I feel great.

I used to drink Vitamite Milk, which is one brand of soy milk, but a year ago the company decided to stop making the product, probably because it became to expensive, since it was $4.00 for a half gallon. I no longer drink milk and feel no need for finding another soy milk.

I'm lactose intolerant and thus far have not been able to put up the will power to completely cut cheese out of my life. I love cheese! For myself I've found that the softer the cheese the more it affects me. So I can have pizza from that fancy pizza place that uses asiago, romano and parmesan cheeses but no Domino's with it's cheap mozzarella. I'm also okay with small amounts of ice cream and yogurt because of the enzymes in it. Unfortunately I can't eat soy so I usually use the Rce Dream products.

Good for you for being able to go without the dairy! As for the chocolate, there's always dark chocolate. Mmmmm....

Heya! I'm vegan, so I don't eat any dairy or other animal products. Check out this website: http://www.vegweb.com for some awesome recipes. :)

Very cool.. I think their's a Super Moist Chocolate Cake in my future... ;) thnx

PM me if you like...I am a vegan. I agree it is pretty easy.