Head over to Toni’s blog and check out all of the wonderful projects and be sure to check out the link to my Bullet Journal post! Just click the button below to check out the link party!
Cooking
Crockpot Pumpkin and Crab Soup
What you have here folks are the ingredients for the most delicious crockpot soup I’ve made to date; crockpot pumpkin and crab soup. The name is a bit misleading because its not as simple as dumping everything in the crockpot. There’s some stove top cooking that needs to be done first like sautéing and simmering, but nothing that would stop me from making it again. I found the recipe on Pinterest and you can get it here.
With anything new, I was mentally prepared to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for my two year old when he refused to eat it, but he lapped it right up. It was absolutely delicious and had the most amazing flavor. Best of all, it was dairy free!
Give it a try, you won’t regret it!
Tuesday Morning Link Party
Another link party post! Head over to check out all of the projects and recipes linked up at A Bowl Full of Lemons and while you’re there, check out my previous post about “Cheesy” Crab Alfredo linked up at #170!
“Cheesy” Crab Alfredo
One of the things I miss most about being able to eat dairy is the cheesy goodness of Italian dishes. After mastering the dairy-free cheddar cheese sauce, I thought I’d try to extend it further. Allow me to present to you my take on a dairy-free Alfredo.
This was so easy to make and it turned out great, however I will suggest some changes that I would make next time.
“Cheesy” Crab Alfredo
-4 cups elbow pasta
-8 oz. chicken stock
-8 oz. Phillip’s Premium Crab
-3/4 teaspoon Morton’s Season Salt
-1/2 teaspoon McCormick’s Basil Leaves
-1/4 teaspoon McCormick’s Onion Powder
-1/2 teaspoon McCormick’s Garlic Salt
-1 bag Daiya Mozzarella Style Shreds
1. Cook the pasta according to the package directions.
2. Heat the chicken stock until hot but not boiling.
3. Add the crab to the chicken stock and let simmer as the stock heats.
4. Add all of the spices and stir.
5. Add the bag of Daiya and stir constantly until melted and blended.
6. Pour the sauce over the pasta and serve.
Here are a couple of things I would do differently next time. I would spring for the claw meat. I think it would be chunkier and more flavorful. I would also try to incorporate Old Bay seasoning into the sauce for flavor, but all in all this turned out well and my husband and son both enjoyed it!
Crockpot Chicken Tacos
Being dairy free isn’t always easy, or appetizing for that matter, so when I find a tasty recipe that my family loves I get excited!
While browsing Pinterest, I found a recipe for crockpot chicken tacos. It was so easy! You can find the recipe here.
I’m a fan because it only called for four to six chicken breasts, one sixteen ounce jar of salsa, and one pouch of taco seasoning. I went with four chicken breasts, Ortega reduced sodium taco seasoning, and Newman’s Own medium pineapple salsa. After seven hours cooked on low, it looked like this…
It appeared to be a little soupy. I then shredded the chicken which was so easy. It basically fell apart when I stirred it with a fork. It soaked up all the yummy juices and looked like this…
We used the chicken in soft taco shells and garnished them with Daiya’s dairy free cheddar style shreds, shredded lettuce, and guacamole. They were absolutely delicious! I’m always excited when I make something for dinner that my son likes and he ate an entire taco! Although, come to think of it, he’s never met a food he doesn’t like!
Give the recipe a try and let me know what you think!
Master of the dairy-free cheese sauce!
Image Courtesy of freedigitalphotos.net
The picture says it all. I love cheese. That’s the main reason having to go dairy free has been difficult. Well, that and chocolate, but that’s another story.
Luckily both my husband and toddler are on this journey with me. Sure every once in a while they’ll get a pizza and I’ll have to order something much less exciting, without cheese. But it’s nice for us all to share a meal so we’ve come up with some of our own tricks along the way.
I have good news for all of your cheese lovers who cannot eat dairy; I have mastered the dairy-free cheese sauce! It’s so easy too! It reminds me of Velveeta and we use it on everything. I make a dairy-free chili mac with it as well as a Mexican beans and rice casserole. Although it’s not real cheese, it’s as close as I can get right now.
Dairy-Free Cheese Sauce
-1 cup chicken stock
-1 bag Daiya cheddar style shreds
-1/2 teaspoon salt
1. Heat the chicken stock in saucepan until hot, not boiling.
2. Add the bag of Daiya and stir until melted and blended.
3. Add the salt and stir.
4. Pour over your favorite noodles, casserole, or mix with salsa and enjoy with dairy-free tortilla chips!
Friendship bread is baked!
I posted earlier, on day six of my starter, about why I was baking friendship bread. Well, day ten fell on last Thursday and it was time to bake!
I had all intentions of baking while the kids were still awake, but things got kind of crazy so it had to wait until after bedtime.
When I started to bake, I realized we were out of milk, I only had one bread pan, and I would need more flour. Thankfully my wonderful husband volunteered to trek to the grocery store for the needed supplies. By the time we started mixing the first batch it was after 8:30 pm. We wrapped up after 11:00 pm, which is way past my bedtime!
I decided to make two different variations. The loaf on the left is a coffee toffee flavor and the loaf on the right is a cherry cheesecake flavor. You can find all kinds of recipes for friendship bread starter here at the Friendship Bread Kitchen
Now, as you remember, I can’t eat dairy so I’m not sure how they turned out, but I can tell you that both my husband and son love the cherry cheesecake flavor and the loaf of coffee toffee friendship bread that I took to work was gone by 9:00 am.
I really enjoyed everything about my experience from reading the novel, caring for the starter, baking the bread, and sharing the starter with friends.
My next mission; to make a dairy free starter so I can partake in the bread too!
Friendship Bread
You may have seen my mention of my favorite blog, A Bowl Full of Lemons in an earlier post. The creator, Toni Hammersley, recently started a book club that you can learn more about here.
The last book we read, Friendship Bread by Darien Gee, inspired me and a couple of girlfriends to get our own starter going. My friend Carly took the ball and ran with it!
I am currently on day six of my starter. Now unfortunately, it was made with milk so I won’t be enjoying the fruits of my labor, but the boys will! I’ll be baking on day ten and making two variations to keep; cherry cheesecake friendship bread and coffee toffee friendship bread. After that’s done and the starters are handed out to friends and family, I plan on making my own starter using almond milk so it’s dairy-free.
Stay tuned for another post when the baking fun happens!
If you’re interested in reading the book and making your own starter for friendship bread, you can purchase the book here.
Delicious Dairy Free Dinner
Last night we tried a new recipe. We made taco steak salad with ginger lime dressing. It was so good that I forgot about my dairy-free sadness.
The steak was delicious! It was rubbed with cayenne pepper and cinnamon of all things. I never would have thought to use cinnamon on steak, but it smelled so good as it was cooking and had really good flavor.
My favorite part of the salad however was the “salsa” you make to top the salad. It’s made from cilantro, avocado, cucumber, red onion, and lime juice. It was almost like a guacamole, but not blended.
You can find the recipe here. Give it a try and let me know what you think!
A blessing in disguise?
So after many days of abnormal poop, we took my eight week old daughter to the doctor. Deep down I knew what they were going to say before they even said it; I have to go dairy free.
I don’t know if you all are aware, but everything that tastes good has some kind of milk or dairy ingredient. I can no longer enjoy cheese, chocolate, and pizza among many other things. Luckily for me, I have wonderful friends who also had children with a milk protein intolerance and they’ve been really supportive and gave me so much information.
I know this is going to be tough, but I think it may be a blessing in disguise. My biggest gripe since giving birth has been my weight and my inability to fit in my clothes. After some research, I realized that going dairy free inherently means eating healthier. I can’t sit around and eat my Hershey’s Drops or macaroni and cheese. In my quest to stay positive and grab the bull by the horns, I celebrated by buying a new pair of running shoes. Lets be honest here, I’ll probably do more walking than running, but hey, at least my feet will look good doing it!
The Velvet Hand Behind the Throne 