There's a reason it's hard to give up dairy. Cheese is actually addictive. It's no wonder it took me so long to admit it was an issue for me when my reaction to it was not immediate. Unfortunately, when that was the only major thing I cut out, the evidence was undeniable. My skin cleared up, my digestion improved and I lost the 10 pounds I had gained when work started back in the fall.
The idea of never eating cheese again seemed terrible. I immediately got an Artisan Vegan Cheese Book. Unfortunately many of the recipes are pretty time intensive, and I don't have a lot of time to spare these days. I'm sure I will get to experimenting with the recipes some time, maybe this summer, but in the mean time there are some easy recipes I've tried when cutting out dairy in the past, and a few new ones I'd like to try.
Almond and Coconut Milk - One of my biggest vices is a nice creamy and sweet cup of coffee. I've gotten to the point where I usually limit it to one time a week, if I have something like teechino instead. Still, I like it sweet and creamy. I'm not a fan off soy milk (or really any soy that's not fermented). My local coffee shop Di Tazza makes me a great almond milk latte with maple syrup. They even went out and bought almond milk when I asked for it. I find though that too much nuts can be overload on the system, so at home I often make my own coconut milk by putting one cup shredded coconut in a blender with two cups of water. For almond milk I use about twice as much water. With my Vitamix, I just blend on the smoothie setting and strain through a nut bag. With a standard blender, I boiled the water first and blended for a whole 10 minutes before straining. Coconut works well for me in coffee, but if I want to make hot cocoa for myself and the boy, almond is more creamy. Next time I think I'm going to try to combine the two!
Banana Ice Cream - My favorite healthy ice cream substitute is simply a frozen banana in a blender or food processor. It's great alone or with added cocoa, nut butter, cherries or anything else you can dream up! I take any extra and put it in push pop molds for future consumption.
Almond Cream Cheese - When I first went paleo, I made a grain free pumpkin bread with this cream cheese substitute. It was super tasty and a big hit at parties, but I realized I was going overboard on the nuts so now its an occasional thing. I also tried it as a substitute for sour cream to make a tasty dip.
Nacho Cheese Dip - This one was surprisingly tasty. When I stopped eating a lot of grains and beans, I haven't really used it, but I think I will try it again. It might also be a good cheese sauce in some sort of casserole or Mac n' Cheese like recipe.
Cashew Parmesan - Another deceptively simple one. I just combined cashews, salt and garlic in the food processor and blended until the texture of Parmesan cheese. I even put this on one of our attempts at grain free pizza. The "cheese" tasted better than the crust.
Cauliflower Ricotta - So many cheese substitutes involve nuts or other foods you probably shouldn't consume in large quantities, so I was super excited to find this substitute for ricotta that mostly consisted of cauliflower! I even made an easy lasagna by layering sauce, gluten free lasagna noodles, "ricotta", ground meat and sauce two times and then topped with Daiya cheese.
The idea of never eating cheese again seemed terrible. I immediately got an Artisan Vegan Cheese Book. Unfortunately many of the recipes are pretty time intensive, and I don't have a lot of time to spare these days. I'm sure I will get to experimenting with the recipes some time, maybe this summer, but in the mean time there are some easy recipes I've tried when cutting out dairy in the past, and a few new ones I'd like to try.
Almond and Coconut Milk - One of my biggest vices is a nice creamy and sweet cup of coffee. I've gotten to the point where I usually limit it to one time a week, if I have something like teechino instead. Still, I like it sweet and creamy. I'm not a fan off soy milk (or really any soy that's not fermented). My local coffee shop Di Tazza makes me a great almond milk latte with maple syrup. They even went out and bought almond milk when I asked for it. I find though that too much nuts can be overload on the system, so at home I often make my own coconut milk by putting one cup shredded coconut in a blender with two cups of water. For almond milk I use about twice as much water. With my Vitamix, I just blend on the smoothie setting and strain through a nut bag. With a standard blender, I boiled the water first and blended for a whole 10 minutes before straining. Coconut works well for me in coffee, but if I want to make hot cocoa for myself and the boy, almond is more creamy. Next time I think I'm going to try to combine the two!
Banana Ice Cream - My favorite healthy ice cream substitute is simply a frozen banana in a blender or food processor. It's great alone or with added cocoa, nut butter, cherries or anything else you can dream up! I take any extra and put it in push pop molds for future consumption.
Almond Cream Cheese - When I first went paleo, I made a grain free pumpkin bread with this cream cheese substitute. It was super tasty and a big hit at parties, but I realized I was going overboard on the nuts so now its an occasional thing. I also tried it as a substitute for sour cream to make a tasty dip.
Nacho Cheese Dip - This one was surprisingly tasty. When I stopped eating a lot of grains and beans, I haven't really used it, but I think I will try it again. It might also be a good cheese sauce in some sort of casserole or Mac n' Cheese like recipe.
Cashew Parmesan - Another deceptively simple one. I just combined cashews, salt and garlic in the food processor and blended until the texture of Parmesan cheese. I even put this on one of our attempts at grain free pizza. The "cheese" tasted better than the crust.
Cauliflower Ricotta - So many cheese substitutes involve nuts or other foods you probably shouldn't consume in large quantities, so I was super excited to find this substitute for ricotta that mostly consisted of cauliflower! I even made an easy lasagna by layering sauce, gluten free lasagna noodles, "ricotta", ground meat and sauce two times and then topped with Daiya cheese.
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| It's not super pretty, but it was super tasty! |
