A-Mazing Carrot Cake with Coconut Cream Frosting

Last week I was tasked with making dessert when some relatives came for dinner. Hmmm...I've made so many batches of peanut butter cookies and a ton of pies in the last few months that I really wanted to make something new. After a bit of hunting online and a lot of pondering, I decided to try making a carrot cake. And what's a carrot cake without frosting, you ask....well, at least that's what I asked. HA! In the "good ol' days" (i.e. when I could have dairy and soy), I usually topped my carrot cake with cream cheese frosting. That was definitely out. So a bit more searching, and I found an alternative - coconut cream frosting. Yum!

The cake and frosting turned out great, and I would definitely make both again. The cake was very moist, and the frosting has a really nice whipped cream type consistency. Not exactly diet food, but we're taking dessert here, so whatever. HA!
I will caution you on the frosting though - you must chill the cake and keep it in the fridge, or the frosting will melt.
OK. Enough talking, here's the recipe. Let me know what you think!

Carrot Cake
Adapted from Ashley Skabar's About.com recipe

• 2 cups white flour
• 1 ½ t. baking powder
• 1 t. baking soda
• 1 ½ cups sugar
• ½ t. salt
• 1 t. cinnamon
• ½ t. ground ginger
• 2 cups grated carrots
• ½ cup canola oil
• ¼ cup applesauce
• 3 large egg whites
• 1/4 cup plain rice milk (plain)
  
• 1 T. apple cider vinegar
• 1 t. vanilla

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F. Lightly oil and flour a 9” Springform Pan, tapping out the excess flour.

2. In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar, cinnamon, ground ginger and salt.

3. In another bowl, combine canola oil, applesauce, egg whites, rice milk, vinegar and vanilla until well combined. Add this mixture to the dry ingredients and stir in the carrots until evenly incorporated.

4. Pour batter into the prepared pan and bake, until a tooth inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean, about 40 minutes. Cool completely, and frost with coconut cream frosting (recipe follows).

Coconut Cream Frosting
Adapted from CassidyS' recipe

• 2 cups coconut milk, refrigerated at least 24 hours** (note that I used the Thai Kitchen brand that CassidyS recommended, and only chilled for about 2 hrs - worked great)
• 1/2 cup soy/dairy free margarine
• 1 Tbs vanilla
  
• 1/2 - 1 cup powdered sugar, to taste
• 1/2 tsp. lemon juice

Beat butter on high until smooth. Scoop out the coagulated cream from the coconut milk and beat with the butter until smooth (the longer you refrigerate the coconut milk the thicker your icing will be). Add in the vanilla, powdered sugar, and lemon juice.

Wait to ice the cake until the cake has cooled completely, to avoid melting your frosting, and keep the cake refrigerated. Best to serve the cake after refrigerating for at least and hour, to ensure the frosting has set up.

** Imperial Dragon brand coconut milk from Wal-Mart is not recommended, as it can be hard to get it to separate. The Thai Kitchen brand works great and requires only a few hours of refrigeration.

Finally, if coconut isn't your thing, you could try this dairy-free buttercream frosting recipe - although I haven't tried it yet, so I can't vouch for it. If you try it, I'd love to hear what you think!

The secret to awesome pancakes

A lot of folks have asked me about breakfast ideas, when you can't have dairy and soy. I for one, am not a fan of cold cereal with milk/soy alternatives. I like my cold cereal with milk. Period. So I pretty much don't do cold cereal anymore. I make a lot of baked oatmeal though, and have even gotten my 3-year old to eat it most mornings. I like it heated up with rice milk on top. She likes it cold, with no milk added.
Before I went back to being dairy and soy free for our second daughter, we used to make pancakes every weekend with our oldest. After the switch back to being d/s free, I tried substituting rice milk for the dairy in my pancake recipe. It tasted fine, but resulted in thin pancakes. The rice milk was just too watery.
Well, recently, I've discovered the perfect dairy substitute for pancakes, and in fact, my whole family has decided that it results in better pancakes then when we used milk in them. The secret?!?! OAT MILK. It's excellent for baking. EXCELLENT! So this weekend, try substituting Original Oat Milk (not the vanilla kind - too sweet), for the dairy in your favorite pancake recipe.
And in case you don't have a favorite pancake recipe, here's my old standby.....

Dairy and Soy Free Pancakes
Adapted from Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book

1 cup all-purpose flour
1Tbs. sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 beaten egg
1 cup original oat milk
2 Tbs canola oil

In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, powder, and salt. Make a wel in the center of the dry mixture, and set aside.
In another medium bowl, combine the egg, oat milk, and canola oil. Add egg mixture all at once to the dry mixture. Stir just until moistened - batter should be lumpy.
Pour about 1/4-1/3 cup batter onto a lightly greased griddle (I use an electric griddle sprayed with canola oil - but a nonstick pan would be great as well). At this point, feel free to add a few blueberries to the tops of the pancakes, if you want blueberry pancakes.
Cook over medium heat for about 2 minutes on each side, until golden brown, turning to second sides when pancakes have bubbly surfaces and edges are slightly dry.

Makes ~8 pancakes.

Quick, Delicious, Dairy and Soy Free Indian Food

First let me start by saying I'm sorry I haven't had time to take pretty pictures for my posts. The fact that I'm able to find time to post still amazes me, given that I'm juggling so much at home these days. That being said, I'll try in the future to get some good pictures of the food I make, as that's one of my favorite things about looking at other blogs. HA!

But back to the subject of this post....Indian food. I love it. I've never cooked much at home, but I like going to Indian buffets a lot. At least I used to. Now that I'm dairy and soy free, I don't dare, since most Indian food has yogurt in it, and you can never be sure at a buffet what's in the food you're eating. So last week I was shopping at Costco with my father, and started perusing products looking for things I could eat...and boy did I hit the jack pot. In the refrigerated section where they sell pesto, salsa, etc. I found Maya Kaimal Indian Cocount Curry Simmering Sauce. It's dairy and soy free (not that the ingredients list on their web site says it contains vegetable oil (which is usually soybean oil), but the ingredients on the actual package say canola oil, so it's OK).

Tonight, we tried the sauce, along with homemade roti (a sort of Indian flat bread) that I made from scratch. It was AWESOME!!! If you like Indian food and have a Costco near you, run run run out and buy this sauce. It's super tasty and really fast to throw together for dinner. Here's the rundown....

Indian Coconut Curry with Chicken and Green Beans

Serves 3-4

1/2 container Maya Kaimal Coconut Curry Indian Simmer Sauce

1 1/5 lbs. skinless boneless chicken breast, cut into bite-sized pieces

1 cup fresh green beans, trimmed
Canola oil

Salt and pepper to taste

Lightly coat the bottom of a nonstick pan with canola oil, and cook the chicken until it's mostly done. Pour the coconut curry sauce into the pan with the chicken, and simmer for 5-6 minutes. Add the trimmed green beans, and simmer until the beans are just slightly tender and the chicken is cooked through. Season with salt and pepper as needed.

Serve over white rice, with Roti on the side (I used this recipe for roti, following it exactly, except I used canola oil instead of vegetable oil).
Next time I'm going to toss in some cauliflower too - and potatoes would also be awesome.

Quick Tip: Make your own cooking spray

Today I thought I'd share a great tip that really helps make cooking dairy/soy free easier - especially baking.

As many of you probably already know, cooking sprays, such as PAM, contain soy lecithin, so they're off limits. This is a real bummer, since most baking recipes call for cooking sprays to grease the pans.

Well, no problem! Simply invest in an inexpensive oil sprayer, like the Misto, and fill it with canola oil, and you're good to go. These sprayers aren't great, but you can get one for under $10, so who cares if they break or don't work perfectly. Other than having to pump mine repeatedly to coat a large area, I've been happy with mine. So happy baking!

Dairy/Soy-Free Blueberry Cinnamon Rolls

Sorry for the delay in posting - life has been crazy. Baby is now 2 months old, and my 3 year old just started preschool last week - it's been hectic to say the least. HA!

So, I found this awesome recipe online for vegan blueberry cinnamon rolls, and I've kitchen tested it twice now. It's AMAZING! A great way to use blueberries (although you can easily substitute a different fruit - I'm thinking applies or other berries would be great - although I would NOT use frozen, as they would give off too much liquid when cooking and make the dough soggy).

Anyhow, I had to share here, and encourage you all to try this recipe. It's actually really easy (only one dough rise) so if you haven't made bread or worked with yeast dough before, don't be scared off. And I've been given the thumbs up from various folks who can have dairy/soy, and they've all loved the end result (took these to a brunch party), so don't be scared by the fact that they are vegan. These ROCK!

Blueberry Cinnamon Rolls
makes 8 rolls
adapted from Healthy Food for Living

Ingredients:

1 cup vanilla almond milk, heated in the microwave for 45 seconds or until it reaches around 100 degrees F
2 1/4 tsp (or 1 0.25 oz packet) active dry yeast, at room temperature
1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
2 1/2 cup flour (plus up to 1/4 cup for kneading and rolling)
1 Tbsp baking powder
2 Tbsp granulated sugar
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 Tbsp ground cinnamon
2 Tbsp soy/dairy free margarine, melted
1 1/2 cups blueberries (honestly, I didn't measure - just put what looks good in)
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 1/2 Tbsp almond milk (I used vanilla)
splash pure vanilla extract, about 1/4 tsp

Directions:

Coat an 8×8 inch square baking pan, or 9-inch round cake pan, with canola oil baking spray. Set aside.
Scatter yeast over warmed milk and allow to activate for about 10 minutes, or until frothy (you may need to help out the yeast a bit by gently pushing it into the milk, but don’t stir the mixture quite yet).
Meanwhile, whisk together flour, baking powder, granulated sugar, 1/2 tsp cinnamon, and salt in a large bowl.
In a small bowl, stir together the brown sugar, 1 Tbsp cinnamon, and melted margarine. Set aside.
When yeast and milk mixture is bubbly, stir in the applesauce. Add wet ingredients into the dry and mix just until incorporated. Transfer dough onto a clean lightly floured surface and knead until soft and smooth, adding enough extra all-purpose flour (up to 3 Tbsp) to keep dough from sticking, about 2 minutes. Let rest for 5 minutes.
Lightly flour work surface again and roll dough out to about 1/4-inch thickness, about a 12-inch x 9-inch rectangle.
Sprinkle brown sugar, cinnamon, and margarine mixture evenly over the rolled-out dough, leaving about a 1-inch border around the perimeter.
Scatter blueberries evenly over the top. Gently push berries into dough.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Starting at a short end, carefully & tightly roll the dough jelly roll-style, making sure the filling doesn’t come out at the sides. Gently pinch seam closed. Cut the roll into 8 even pieces and place in prepared pan. Cover with a clean kitchen towel and let rise in a warm place until doubled in size, about 1 hour. (at this point you can refrigerate, covered, overnight or proceed on with the recipe.)
Remove the towel and bake rolls at 350 degrees for about 25 minutes, or until golden brown on top.
While cinnamon rolls are baking, prepare the glaze by stirring together the powdered sugar, 1 1/2 Tbsp almond milk, and vanilla extract.
Remove rolls from the oven and let cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Transfer rolls to a wire rack, drizzle with glaze, and let sit for an additional 15 minutes before serving.

Dinner ideas: Thai Chicken Curry

One of the challenges I've found about being dairy and soy free, is coming up with ideas for dinner. There are tons of non-dairy, non-soy dinner ideas out there, but I get so hung up on what I can't have, that I have a hard time coming up with ideas for dinner. Not sure if you all have had that same challenge, but I thought I'd start a series with ideas for dinner, in case you find it helpful too.

Tonight I had some leftover roasted chicken, and not a lot of time to make dinner. I also had a can of coconut milk in the pantry. I did a quick online search and decided to try making coconut curry with chicken. It was fast, easy, and tasted great. You can easily add more veggies and/or leave the chicken out, depending on your tastes.

Thai Chicken Curry

recipe adapted from Epicurious.com.

• 1 14-ounce can unsweetened coconut milk, whisked to blend
• 1 1/4 teaspoons Thai curry paste
• 1 large red bell pepper, cut into 1/3-inch-wide strips
• 1 medium onion, thinly sliced
• 1 pound chicken, cooked and shredded (I used leftovers from a roasted chicken)
• 1 tablespoon (packed) brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon fish sauce
• 1 cup chopped seeded tomatoes
• 1/3 cup thinly sliced fresh basil
• 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
• Salt, to taste

Bring 1/4 cup coconut milk and curry paste to boil in large skillet over medium-high heat, whisking constantly. Add bell pepper and onion; sauté 5 minutes. Stir in chicken, remaining coconut milk, sugar and fish sauce. Heat through, stirring often, about 5 minutes. Stir in remaining 3 ingredients and simmer 1 minute. Season with salt. Server over rice.

You can also add other veggies - I through some sliced zucchini in with the tomatoes and it added a nice pop of green color and tasted great.

Tasty Scones

This weekend I had some leftover sweetened MimicCream that I wanted to use up, so I decided to try it out in baking (something I hadn't done before). I wanted to substitute it 1:1 with cream in a recipe, to see how it tasted, and I needed it to be in something sweet, since the MimicCream was the sweetened version. I decided to make scones, and after some looking online, I found an Alton Brown recipe with good reviews. My 3-year-old and I whipped up a batch with minimal modifications. The end result - really tasty scones that I would definitely make again! In fact, I had my husband try one, and he really liked it. And I should note that he hates nuts, and confirmed that you could not taste the almonds or cashews in the MimicCream.

Overall, I was really impressed with the baking ability of the MimicCream. The only disappointment was in the recipe itself - these are not traditional scones - they really seemed more like a sweet biscuit, but they were still really good hot out of the oven, and heated up in the toaster oven the next day.

Note: I have found MimicCream at Whole Foods. If you can't find it locally and want to give it a try, you can get it from Amazon.com.

Dairy and Soy Free Scones

recipe adapted from Alton Brown's Scone recipe

Ingredients

• 2 cups flour
• 4 teaspoons baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 6 tablespoons Spectrum brand shortening
• 3/4 cup Sweetened Mimic Cream
• 1 egg

Directions

Heat oven to 375 degrees.

In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, baking powder, and salt. Mix well. Cut in shortening. In a separate bowl, combine Mimic Cream with beaten egg then add to dry ingredients. Turn dough out onto a floured surface. Roll dough out and cut into biscuit size rounds. Bake for 15 minutes or until brown.

Take Two

It's been awhile since I blogged on here, and that's primarily because my daughter is now 3, and thankfully back on dairy and soy. After a year of breastfeeding, we tried her on milk, and she was fine. In fact, it's now one of her favorite things. So there is hope. Hang in there.

That being said, I'm back on the blog, as we just had our second daughter (3 weeks ago) and it appears she may be allergic to dairy and soy too...so I'm off both until further notice.

I'll be updating the blog with more ideas, recipes, and reviews, as I get back into the whole dairy/soy free business again. So check back soon.

In the mean time, I will say that I'm surprised at how many new options there are, just 3 years later, in the dairy/soy free product market. So while I'm bummed, I'm also hopeful that it will be easier this time around.

Stay tuned!

Moist and Yummy! Chocolate Chip Banana Bread!

Recently I ended up with a bunch of over ripe bananas - I'd bought too many for my daughter and they got ripe before she could eat them. My old standby in banana bread recipes is awesome, but it's so good because it has buttermilk in it, to make it moist. So I went online to try and find a good substitute recipe. I found one on the Food Network site, that worked with a few modifications. We enjoyed it, so I thought I'd share.

Be sure to try toasting a thick slice in the toaster over - it remelts the chocolate chips - YUM YUM YUM!

Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

Ingredients:
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 cup sugar
4 very ripe bananas
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup plain unsweetend apple sauce
1 teaspoon cinnamon
dairy/soy free chocolate chips, such as Enjoy Life semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a medium bowl combine flour, baking soda and powder, salt. In a large bowl cream together eggs and sugar. Stir in mashed bananas, vanilla, apple sauce, and cinnamon. Stir in flour mixture, a third at a time, until just combined. Add chocolate chips. Divide batter into two 9x5 loaf pans. Bake for about 1 hour or until knife inserted in center comes out clean (minus any gooey melted chocolate!). YUM!

RICE PUDDING!!!!

Before I cut dairy and soy from my diet, I was a total rice pudding junkie. I made it several times a week and ate it for breakfast, dessert, and snacks. I was addicted. And my favorite (only) version was Dave Lieberman's. So when I had to stop eating diary and soy, I searched and searched for a decent rice pudding recipe that I could substitute nut or coconut milk in. Saddly, nothing compared to my good Dave Lieberman standby.
Now fast foward to a recent Whole Foods shopping trip....while in the "dairy" section, I came across a product I hadn't seen before...MimicCreme.
The product claims you can substitute it where ever you would use cream...in your coffee, in recipes, to make ice cream, etc. It's made from almonds and cashews, but unlike the other nut milks, it doesn't have a strong nut flavor (in my opinion). I got the unsweetened, but it also comes in sweetened and sugarfree sweetened.
Last night I tried my Dave Lieberman rice pudding recipe, subing equal parts unsweetened MimicCreme for the milk. It came out GREAT! My only complained about MimicCreme is it's color...it's a bit dirty looking, and my rice pudding ended up looking a bit gray...but it tasted FANTASTIC!

Here's the recipe, with my minor modifications for a dairy/soy-free diet...enjoy!

Dave Lieberman's Rice Pudding

1 cup water
Pinch salt
1/2 cup Arborio rice
2 cups unsweetened MimicCreme
4 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Few dashes ground cinnamon
Plain rice milk, for thinning (if serving cold)

Directions
Bring water and salt to a boil in a medium saucepan. Add the rice, return to a boil, and then reduce the heat to the lowest setting. Shake the pan occasionally and cook until rice has absorbed the water but it still al dente, about 15 minutes.
Bring MimicCreme, sugar, vanilla, and a few dashes of cinnamon to a simmer in a separate saucepan. Add the cooked rice and cook at a simmer over medium-low heat until rice absorbs most of the liquid and mixture starts to get thick and silky, about 10 to 15 minutes.
Transfer pudding to a large bowl and cool to room temperature. Place in refrigerator until cool and set. Pudding will thicken in the fridge - so thin it with some plain rice milk when you're ready to eat it. Tastes great served with fresh raspberries or blueberries (or mix in some frozen ones). YUM!

Impatiently waiting....

There are a bunch of new dairy and soy-free products about to hit the market that I'm REALLY excited to try. The two biggies include a new yogurt called Nu Lait.

They have 5 flavors, 4 of which are coconut-based and 1 that is nut-based. The flavor combos sound really interesting. They have a Web site, but it's still under construction. You can read a review by an early taste tester here.

The other product I'm incredibly excited about is a soy-free margarine by Earth Balance. As you probably have already discovered, there really isn't any version of margarine avaliable to soy-free folks. Being able to cook, bake, or simply add a pat of "butter" to a baked potato is going to make life so much better! I know it sounds silly, but it's easy to feel sorry for yourself when you can't butter your toast in the morning.

This soy-free Earth Balance is suppose to hit stores in May, so keep your eyes peeled! I'll be stalking the local Whole Foods until it turns up!

The Good, The Bad, The Ugly - My Thoughts on Hemp Milk

I'd been hearing a lot about hemp milk as an alternative to soy milk and dairy, so I finally got around to buying a box and giving it a try. I'll be honest. I thought it was completely undrinkable - tasted exactly like drinking chalk...OK, I've never actually consummed chalk, but at least it tasted like what I imagine drinking chalk would taste like. I threw the box away, discouraged and alittle irritated, since it was dang expensive!

Then the other day I was on a shopping adventure in the local Whole Foods. I don't usually shop at Whole Foods, but when I want to load up the pantry and fridge with dairy/soy free stuff, I drag myself over there since they have a great selection.

Anyhow, I was perusing the frozen food section when I stumbled upon a new product...Tempt by Living Harvest. It's ice cream made from hemp milk.

Now, I realize I just finished saying how nasty hemp milk is, but I've been on a quest to find a good alternative for vanilla ice cream. The coconut-based ice creams make vanilla, but they have a pretty distinct coconut flavor that just doesn't work when you're looking for a pie a la mode experience. And most rice milk based ice creams contain soy. So I was willing to give hemp milk another try. Even the guy bagging my groceries was excited by Tempt. He hadn't seen it on the shelves yet and wanted to know what I thought. So grocery bagging guy, if you're reading this, here's what I thought....vanilla hemp milk ice cream by Tempt is....YUM!

It is really the closest thing I've found to vanilla ice cream. It's got a good creamy taste and texture, and there aren't really any strong flavors coming through, other than vanilla. Managed to get the hubby to taste a tiny bit (he was resistant), and he said it was actually decent, although perhaps a bit thick for his tastes. But that's pretty high praise, since I can't even get him to sniff the coconut and rice milk based ice creams. HA!

I had some with a piece of pear pie and it was really good. I'm going to try it in a root beer float this weekend. I've been craving one of those for months now!

So long story short, I'd steer clear of hemp milk for drinking, but if your local grocery store happens to carry Tempt, I'd encourage you to give it a try. I've heard hemp milk is good for cooking, but I haven't tried that and if I'm honest, I probably won't. Sorry.

Cupcakes that might REALLY take over the world!

So I've been craving something for dessert that's safe and really good. I was looking around online for recipes and I came across this great Web site: http://vegancupcakes.wordpress.com/ I was inspired and got her cookbook from the library. It's called Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World. Last night I made her basic vanilla cupcakes (subing rice milk for the soy milk in her recipe). They were AWESOME! I mean it. They were simply divine. Moist, light, and super flavorful.

The hubby, who is not dairy/soy free ate one and announced "These are the best cupcakes I've had in my entire life." Wow. That's pretty high praise, and I'm inclined to believe him. Plus, I was pleased with myself for whipping them up so easily. HA!

If you're looking for soy/dairy free treats, you should definitely check out this book. It has a lot of soy products in the recipes, since soy is vegan, but you can easily sub rice milk for most instances of soy milk, and shortening or canola oil for vegan margarine. There are a few recipes that won't work with easy substitutions, but there are enough that will to warrent checking this out. I'm telling you, you won't be sorry! And who cares if you're not vegan - you're still allowed to eat these! Yum. I think I need to make another batch. Perhaps I'll try the chocolate ones this time......

Really Good Chocolate

I've found that treating myself is even more important, now that I'm dairy and soy free. I just need that extra little something decadent. Finding dairy-free chocolate isn't that hard, but finding chocolate that also happens to be soy-free can be challenging. Lucky for us, there is some excellent, organic, and fairy traded chocolate bars that fit the bill. Introducing Equal Exchange Chocolates!
Not all of their chocolate bars are dairy and soy free. Of course you have to avoid the milk chocolate varieties. But they do have a good selection of "safe" chocolate. My personal favorites include:

• Dark Chocolate with Almonds
• Dark Chocolate with Pure Cocoa Nibs
• Chocolate with Espresso Beans

Go ahead - have some chocolate!

Purely Decadent and Soy/Dairy Free!

One of my biggest hurdles with a dairy/soy free diet is that ice cream is off the menu. I LOVE ice cream. When I was pregnant with my daughter, it was one of my biggest cravings...cliche, I know, but true. So giving up ice cream was hard. Still is. I miss it. Thankfully, life as I know it is not over because...drum roll, please....there are alternatives.....

First let me say that it is absolutely imparative that you read labels. Things that seem like they might be safe are not always. For example, there are a lot of rice milk-based ice creams on the market. They taste pretty good and there are a plethora of flavors to satisfy most cravings. But many of them contain soy. So always check. I think that should be my motto. HA!

In any case, this post is suppose to be a product review, so I'll get to it.

The best alternative I've found to dairy ice cream is coconut milk ice cream. It's actually really good, although not exactly the healthiest of choices...but hey, who ever said ice cream was healthy? Am I right?

Purely Decadent has several coconut milk ice cream flavors. My favorite is their chocolate.

They also have vanilla bean (which has a pretty strong coconut flavor, in my opinion), coconut, passionate mango, and mocha almond fudge, which is quite good. If you don't like coconut, this product is probably not for you. The chocolate and mocha almond fudge flavors have a pretty subtle coconut flavor, but if you're a coconut hater, like my husband, you will taste it.

Now back to my motto - always check the labels! Purely Decadent makes a few delicious sounding coconut ice creams that DO contain soy...the above mentioned flavors are safe though. OK. 'Nough said. Happy ice cream eating!

Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Cookies That Won't Give You a Heart Attack

So I love cookies and it's been hard to find recipes that don't call for butter (or any butter substitutes, since those all contain soy). I have found a few recipes for chocolate chip cookies that call for shortening, and you can safely use Spectrum All Vegetable Shortening in those. My big problem with this route is that Spectrum shortening is 100% palm oil, which is not exactly healthy. Don't get my wrong, this will do when the cookie monster strikes, and it works great in other products (i.e. PIE CRUST!!!), but sometimes I don't want to be feel sooo guilty when I enjoy a treat. My other issue with subing shortening for butter in cookie recipes is that it makes the cookies crispier. If you like crispy cookies, well, then you're in luck! I like soft cookies, so here I am.

But I digress...this post is really about a great Web site I discovered called Cookie Madness. This blogger has some seriously good looking cookies on her site and about a million recipes. You could spend days perusing all the choices. But let me save you some time....I found one of her recipes and tried it out tonight. YUM! Had to share. These are soft, tasty, and dairy/soy free (with a few modifications, of course). HA! And they're not terrible for you because they use apple sauce...which I swear you can't taste in the final product. I should also mention that these happen to be vegan, if that appeals to you. So here's my take on the Cookie Madness Genius!

Oatmeal-Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

• 1 cup quick cook oats


• 1/2 cup plus 4 tablespoons flour


• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda


• 1/4 teaspoon salt


• 4 tablespoons canola oil


• 1/2 cup (packed) golden brown sugar


• 4 tablespoons granulated sugar


• 4 tablespoons applesauce


• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla


• 1/2 cup natural type peanut butter


• 1/2 cup dairy/soy free chocolate chips (there are several brands, check Whole Foods and read labels) or chop up an Equal Exchange Chocolate bar
  
  Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
  In a medium bowl, combine oats, flour, baking soda, and salt.
  Stir oil and both sugars together in a medium bowl. It’s okay to do this with a spoon – no need to pull out the electric mixer. Beat in applesauce, peanut butter, and vanilla. Add flour mixture and stir until blended. Stir in chocolate chips.
  Using about 2 tablespoons of dough, form dough into balls and place on ungreased baking sheet. Flatten slightly. Bake until edges are golden brown, about 9-10 minutes, Cool on sheets 5 minutes. Transfer to racks; cool completely. Cookies will firm up as they cool.
  
  Makes about 16-18 cookies

Product Review: Lake Champlain Mocha Hot Chocolate Mix

I mentioned this product in my post on making iced lattes and mochas. So if you haven't read that post, be sure to check it out.

As you may have already discovered, it's hard to find a hot chocolate mix that doesn't contain dairy or the ever evil soy lechtin. Recently, I discovered this great brand at Whole Foods: Lake Champlain Mocha Hot Chocolate Mix

I tried making hot chocolate with it, using both rice milk and oat milk, and neither was particularly appealing. Rice milk works OK, but it doesn't mask that rice milk flavor - if you've tried using rice milk in lattes, you know what I mean. :)

However, I have found a great use for this product! It's excellent added to your morning cup of coffee. I find oat milk makes a nice replacer for half and half, so if you want a good cup of coffee, make a nice strong cup with your favorite beans, add some oat milk, and a heaping spoonful of this mocha hot chocolate mix. Yum! Definitely a good way to start the day.

You CAN Have an Iced Latte/Mocha - Starbucks Style!

I live in Seattle, and I'll admit it. I'm a coffee snob. So when Starbucks came out with their new instant coffee, called Starbucks Via, I was completely confused....it seemed like brand confusion to me. Why would Starbucks want to market instant coffee next to their ultra expensive designer lattes? And no one can tell me that instant coffee is as good as freshly ground beans. Sorry. I don't get it.

So you might be wondering why I'm writing a blog entry about them in a blog on being dairy and soy free. Well, as much as I think Starbucks is seriously confused for introducing this product, I have to say that as a coffee-loving, dairy and soy free individual, these handly little pouches of caffiene have made a nice addition to my beverage menu. When I first gave up soy and dairy, I realized it put a serious crimp in my coffee drinking. I miss going to Starbucks in the afternoon for an iced latte or mocha. But with the introduction of Starbucks Via, I'm now able to enjoy an iced mocha or latte that's pretty dang good.
If you live in Seattle or Chicago, you can buy Starbucks Via at any of their stores. Otherwise, you have to order off their Web site. A pack of 12 costs $9.95 and each packet makes one drink.

Iced Dairy/Soy Free Latte (or Mocha)

1. Mix one packet of Starbucks Via in a tall glass with 8 oz. cold oat milk.
2. Stir until the coffee completely dissolves.
3. Add sugar if you like your lattes a bit sweet, or to make a mocha, add a heaping spoonfull of your favorite dairy and soy-free cocoa mix. I've found Lake Champlain Mocha Hot Chocolate at Whole Foods works well. Read labels - it can be hard to find a hot chocolate mix that's dairy and soy free.
4. Add some ice and taste. Depending on how intense you like your coffee, you may need to add some more oat milk if it's too strong.

That's it. Grab a straw and enjoy!

Baked Oatmeal - I Promise it's Good!

I'm a busy mom. But I just don't have time to spend a lot of energy in the kitchen in the morning, and I need a breakfast that's fast, easy, tasty, and good for me. Recently, I did some Web browsing in search of something that would fit the above requirements. Thanks to a genius named Tracy, who posted a recipe on www.allrecipes.com, I was able to find the perfect breakfast fare...with some tweaking and revisions, of course, to make it dairy and soy free!

The beauty of this recipe is that you whip it together the night before, stash it in the fridge overnight, and toss it in the oven for 35 min. while you're showering and dressing in the morning. It's great when you have company (just tried it with the in-laws over the holidays), and it heats up beautifully for a snack or a second day on the breakfast table.

So without further ado, here is my take on lovely Tracy's baked oatmeal.....

Baked Oatmeal with Fruit
Prep time: 10 min. (the night before)
Bake time: 35 min. (the next morning)

Ingredients:
1/2 c. vegetable oil (or apple sauce)
1/2 c. sugar
2 eggs
1 c. rice milk
1/2 tsp. salt
1 T baking powder
3 c. quick cooking oats
1/2 c. fresh or frozen fruit of your choice (blueberries, raspberries, peaches, etc.)
1 apple, grated (no need to peel)
1-2 generous dashes cinnamon

Mix the oil and sugar in a bowl. Add the eggs, milk, salt, and baking powder, and mix well. Add the oats. Add the fruit, grated apple, and cinnamon. Mix. Pour into a square pyrex pan or pie pan. Cover and refrigerate overnight. In the morning, preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Bake the oatmeal, uncovered for ~35 min, or until it's slightly brown around the edges and soft/firm to the touch in the center.

To serve, cut or spoon a portion into a bowl and pour warm milk rice milk over the top. Note that my husband likes it dry (without the milk). So you could try that too!

Comfort Food...All Grown Up

Last night we whipped together a great comfort food dinner, but thanks to the dairy and soy free diet restrictions we ended up classing things up a bit. On the menu....Fancy Chicken "Fingers" with Not-So-Poor Poor Man's Pasta. Sounds good, doesn't it?!?! HA!

As you may have already discovered, those easy store-bought Italian bread crumbs that made baked chicken so easy are packed full of dairy and soy, along with a host of other not-so-tastey additives. But never fear, there is an alternative that's even better...panko! Panko is the Japanese version of bread crumbs, and they have an extra nice crunch to them that you just don't get with run-of-the-mill breadcrumbs. You'll find panko next to said breadcrumbs in the grocery store.

Poor Man's Pasta is a great, fast recipe that my friend Emily shared with me. It's called Poor Man's Pasta because it calls for very few ingredients, of which you likely have in your pantry. The best thing about this recipe for the dairy and soy free diet is that it uses breadcrumbs instead of parmesan cheese, which ends up giving you the feeling that you're eating pasta with parmesan cheese, when of course you're not...and parmesan cheese is something I miss dearly. The reason my version is a not-so-poor Poor Man's Pasta is two-fold...1)I use panko, instead of basic breadcrumbs, and 2)I like to add fresh green beans or peas for a nice fresh crunch.

I apologize in advance for the lack of measurements for these recipes, but it truely does depend on how much you're making. Feel free to post comments if you have questions.

Grown Up Chicken Fingers

Skinless boneless chicken breasts

Panko breadcrumbs

Dry spice rub of your choice (I recommend Napa Style Toasted Spice Rub)

BBQ Sauce for dipping (I recommend Tom Douglas Redhook Brewery BBQ Sauce)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Put the chicken between plastic wrap and pound thin using a mallet or rolling pin (about 1/2 inch thick or less). The thinner the chicken, the fast it will bake. Cut the chicken into strips. In a small bowl, mix the panko with the spice rub. Don't skimp on the spices - you want some good flavor here. Press both sides of the chicken into the panko spice mix and place the coated chicken on a cookie sheet. Bake in the oven until the internal temperature of the chicken is 165 degrees and the coating is lightly browned. Serve with BBQ sauce for dipping.

Not-So-Poor Poor Man's Pasta

Spaghetti or linguini noodles

Fresh green beans or pea pods, cut in half

4-5 cloves of garlic, minced

Olive oil

Black pepper

Panko breadcrumbs

Blanche the green beans or pea pods in boiling water until just tender (about 2 min. for beans and 30 sec. for the peas). Set aside in some ice water to help keep their bright green color. Bring a large pot of heavily salted water to a boil. Add the spaghetti and cook until al dente. While the pasta cooks, heat a small skillet over low/med. heat. Add several good "glugs" of olive oil (enough to coat the pasta). Add the garlic and saute until fragrant, being careful not to burn. Remove from heat. When the pasta is done cooking, drain and add back to the pot. Add the garlic and oil, and the beans or peas. Add a generous amount of panko breadcrumbs and several grinds of fresh black pepper. Serve with the chicken fingers.