I love, love, love cheese! Like, I have had a serious love affair with it ever since I can remember. In fact, back in highschool I would eat so much cheese that my mom finally grounded me from eating it for a while. That's the truth! And I was slightly jealous when my sister wrote me while living in France that there were rows and rows and rows of cheeses in the supermarket. ~ sigh ~
But some of us at our house are transitioning to a dairy free diet. I know there are various reasons out there why people do this, and I'm not going to go into it too much, but a friend of mine wanted some tips for someone who wants to go dairy free, so mostly this post will be about how to transition if you're new to this. The only justification I'm going to give is this:
Yes, you can totally get enough calcium from other sources!!!!
Ok, now that we have that out of the way, let's get down to business shall we? Hang on to your hats kids, this is going to be long!
First up, what do you do if you love to drink milk?
There are some alternatives you could try to replace your milk drinking habit. Most grocery stores sell soy milk these days, and some even come in exciting flavors {but you could always add your own cocoa to it yourself if you wanted, might even be cheaper too}. You could also try rice milk. I actually prefer rice milk over soy milk. It just tastes a little lighter and a little better to me.
You can also purchase shelf stable versions of both of these if you want to put some in food storage. I bought both of mine above from Costco.
Another option for milk drinkers is to make your own nut milk. These are super easy to make yourself and you can whip some up fresh in seconds.
Almond Milk Recipe
1 cup raw almonds {unroasted and unsalted}
3 cups water
1-2 dates, optional for sweetness
Basically you just throw the nuts and water in the blender. Blend. Pour into nut milk bag that is resting inside a pitcher or bowl. Squeeze / strain the milk out. Pour back into blender and add dates for sweetness.
How do I adapt a recipe if it has milk in it?
You can usually use any of the above listed milk substitutes in any recipe that calls for milk without anyone noticing it. Another alternative to any of those milks are to use a zucchini milk {which is a really great way to use up those zucchini sized baseball bats in the summer by the way!} It is super easy to make too, and is usually totally unnoticeable in any recipes {plus you can feel good about sneaking in another vegetable into your diet!}
Zucchini Milk Recipe
Peel zucchini and cut into chunks. Puree them in a blender until liquefied. Add water if needed.Will keep in the freezer for up to six months. Almost in time for you to start planting more zucchini!
But, but, but...I really love cheese! What do I do???
Cheese is a little trickier. There are always soy cheeses {or maybe they're called veggie slices?} you can buy that look like pre-sliced American slices if you really need some cheese. But you can also get a cheesy flavor by adding or sprinkling in some nutritional yeast.
Nutritional yeast is great because it has a nutty, cheesy sort of flavor to it. It's also an important ingredient for vegans because it provides some of the necessary B vitamins you need.
Nutritional yeast is different from Brewer's yeast and other yeasts at your grocery store. In fact, I never could find any at any of my local grocery stores ~ I had to go to the health food store. For any of my local peeps, I got mine from my friend Jared at
Vitality Nutrition in Bountiful ~ tell him I said hi! :D
Sometimes when you're craving something cheesy, what your body is really craving is something salty. So try a salty snack instead. But don't bust out the potato chips ~ go for a healthy salty snack instead!
What about yogurt?
Well lucky you should ask! Yogurt has a cousin named Kefir which can be made without any dairy products in it. It can be made with coconut water, rice milk, soy milk and so on, just be sure you don't get one made with real cow milk if you're trying to steer clear of all dairy. It will be marked on the package so you know what type of kefir you are getting.
Does it taste the same? Well...the ones I have tasted so far definitely taste
similar.
The way I explain the taste to people is usually that it tastes like carbonated yogurt. It has a slightly more tangy flavor to it.
Kefir has a lot of the same healthy bacterias that yogurt does plus some. You can purchase kefir at most health food stores in the refrigerated section. If you like it, you can also learn to make your own at home which would probably save you a lot of money in the long run.
What do you do about different spreads like
sour cream, mayonnaise or whipped cream?
Depending on the dish, sometimes all you need is to substitute with something else that is creamy. For instance, instead of mayonnaise on my sandwiches I usually spread hummus which can come in many different flavors {you can also make your own from scratch if you want}. Or instead of slathering sour cream into my fajitas or on top of my burritos I usually slather on smashed up avocados or guacamole. You can also just try omitting it altogether to see if you miss it . It's something you will have to play around with to see what works for you.
As for sweet toppings like whipped cream? Most health food stores have alternatives for this in their refrigerated sections that you could try.
What about ice cream?
This one is easy! There are so many types of delicious frozen treats that aren't made from dairy that you can use to replace a milk-based ice cream. Try sorbets, Italian ice, or frozen fruit pops. There are lots of ice cream recipes out there made with almond milk or frozen fruits. In fact, if you really love your ice creams then I suggest getting your hands on this book:
Need more ideas?
If you feel like you need a little more help or guidance as you are learning how to live without dairy then pick up a few vegan cookbooks. They're the experts at cooking without it, so why not learn from the best? You will find lots of alternatives for dips, appetizers, pizzas and other types of dishes that usually have dairy in them.
Both of these books feature very easy recipes which is especially nice when you're trying to learn a new way of cooking. Plus they don't use a ton of weird or hard to find ingredients.
Going dairy free really isn't that hard once you know a few of the alternatives you can use in its place. In fact, you probably won't even miss the dairy at all!
but a Vita-Mix
is great too ~ a regular blender may not get everything as smooth as you like ~heck, my old one before I got the BlendTec wouldn't even crush ice! ~ but it will still probably taste good}. Serves 2.
