Cravings!!

I've been wanting sweet things for weeks now. Instead of grabbing a deliciously cold and crunchy Dairy Queen Peanut Butter Cup Blizzard, I decided to bake something again. Not a big deal for most people, but I'm not big into baking. I don't know if it's my lack of experience or adapting to high elevation, but sometimes my "from scratch" recipes are a little disappointing.

Here is the latest: Blonde Brownies!

1 c flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/3 c dairy-free margarine
1 c brown sugar
1 egg, beaten
1 tsp vanilla
1 T hot water
1/2 c chopped nuts (I didn't have any) :(
1/2 c chocolate chips (dairy free) (I used 2 blocks of semi sweet baking chocolate)

In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In a separate bowl or pan, melt dairy-free margarine. Combine melted dairy-free margarine, brown sugar, egg, vanilla, and hot water, and beat until well blended. Combine wet mixture with flour mixture and add chopped nuts. Spread in 9"x9" (I used 8"x8") pan, greased.
Sprinkle with 1/2 cup chocolate chips, press into dough.
Bake at 350 F. for 20-25 minutes. Yield: 6-8 servings.
*Recipe from one of the new books I bought: "The Milk Allergy Companion & Cookbook" by Juventa Vezzani

Taco Salad

My husband devoured this dinner!

BBQ Chicken

Tonight I made a quick and easy dinner: BBQ chicken (in the oven), garden salad, and stuffing. I'm not sure if the stuffing is dairy free (I didn't have the box anymore), but I used dairy free butter with it.
My husband really enjoyed it. It's always nice to have a satisfied customer! Stay tuned for delicious dessert recipes!

New Discovery!

I am so excited! I can eat our scrumptious chicken pockets still...well as long as I find a good substitute for cream cheese. Anyone know what I can put inside of these crescent rolls with chicken instead of cream cheese???? I may try a gravy or something...not sure.I thought for sure that these would have some kind of dairy in them, but they don't!
They were so fluffy and delicious! I am so excited.

Things I Can Eat!

Yesterday, I discovered this milk free bread that I can eat. It is Aspen Mills Honey Whole Wheat. This morning I ate a piece of toast with Smart Balance (butter) and some apple sauce for breakfast.
It is quite delicious. Almost tastes like I made it myself.
I'm sure most of you already know this, but Smart Balance light is what I use instead of butter. It really is great. It gives a similar effect that butter does.
I'm also enjoying applesauce again.

The best thing is that I can still eat oreos!! Yay! It almost satisfies the chocolate craving and has no dairy in it. When we heard about this, it surprised us. I know it's not healthy, but I can't go completely junk food free. I even dunked them in soy milk. I hate drinking milk plain anyways, so soy milk didn't change that either. However, we heard that the reduced fat oreos do have milk. I haven't checked this out myself yet, so look at the ingredients. Crazy huh?

How does one say no to Italian Food?

Recently, I had a big milestone in this journey. We had a room full of friends over for an Italian themed pot luck dinner. Italian! Can you believe that? I wasn't too hopeful that I would be able to eat anything dairy free, so I ate Teriyaki Chicken and Soy Ice Cream before they came. Plus, we made a garden salad that I could eat. Some of the temptations were homemade pizza, meatballs (made w/ milk), 2 different types of homemade bread, pasta salad, cake w/ cream cheese frosting and cheesecake! Oh yum, yum!!! Well, until it fires back at you of course. Weeks ago, I would have eaten it, taken pills, and had a small reaction. But this time, I resisted the dairy temptation!! Yay! It was hard, but I did it.

YAYAYYAYYAYYAYYAY!

I can have pizza again!! It's been almost 3 hours since I ate pizza and I feel gggrrreeeaaattt! Not all bubbly and nauseous like I usually do.

I am very excited. Tonight, I did my research and looked up Papa John's nutritional/allergy info. I discovered that ONLY the thin crust had dairy in it. The Original, Pan, and Wheat Crusts should be just fine. I was pretty excited about that because I wasn't too hopeful that I could even eat pizza.
My husband and I ordered a pan Hawaiian BBQ chicken pizza. 1/2 with no cheese on top and half with cheese.
I didn't know how'd I feel about pizza with no cheese, but I didn't think it would be a big adjustment since I take off some cheese if it's really thick anyways.
To my surprise, it was delicious!! The BBQ sauce has this spicy kick to it and there are enough toppings on top to not really miss the cheese too much. I am so happy that I can enjoy pizza when I feel like it.