Cheese and your body

If you search the internet, you'll find a lot of research pointing to why dairy products are unhealthy for human consumption. Whether you believe them or not, I ask you two questions...

1) If it was so great for you, why is there a national campaign (got milk) trying to convince you to eat more and more of it, begging you to think that it's incredibly healthy for you? You don't see commercials for broccoli out there. Why? People know broccoli is heathly, you either eat it or you don't, and there's not a huge investment made in its production. There is a huge dairy industry the US is trying to sell (just like corn and how corn syrup has infiltrated our food market to the demise of our nation's health). Question your food choices, and do your own research. (and from my research, I have found that plant-based foods are much better for your body than anything that comes from a cow!)

2) Human breastmilk is what we need in our most important stage of development - the first year of our life. Why would you consume something heavier than that, with more protein, after this period of development? How does that make sense? Cow's milk is meant to make a baby cow gain hundreds of pounds quickly. Why are you drinking the milk of an animal that grows to 600-2500 lbs?

And, an article about sinus problems and dairy.

Food Lion Chocolate Chips

I had forgotten to do this, but I wanted to put in a plug for Food Lion brand Semi-sweet Chocolate chips. I try to find mainstream, cheap options and so far had only found Ghiradelli for chocolate chips since Kroger and Harris Teeter didn't cut it. But Food Lion came through and has vegan chocolate chips as their store brand, at a much cheaper price. Try them out!

Mexican Food for the Dairy-free

So, I promised to write about Mexico and never did. So I will!

First off, my visit to the doc was uneventful in the allergy area :( but they did do a lot for my asthma, and have gotten it under control a lot better. Here's hoping, I have another appointment in May.

So, Mexico! The food in Mexico was great, and let me tell you why. They stick to natural, fresh, local ingredients. There was a place there that was our favorite for the homemade Pico de Gallo. This is a type of salsa that is tomato, onion, cilantro, lime juice, and Mexican magic (because I can not make it as good as it was there!!). Also, I had some very tasty guacamole while I was there. Some corn tortillas, guac, pico de gallo and lettuce and you have a filling, healthy, non-dairy meal. I ate many other delicious dairy-free meals there too, including a pork and pineapple dish, so good! I also got to gorge on fresh bananas every day (which in Mexico look like they just came off the tree ripe to eat, as opposed to the US where they are picked weeks early and are still green!)

Now, as most of you know I am a busy girl and I am not known for cooking much. So I try to find easy, cheap ways to eat well. So I want to draw your attention to Wholly Guacamole and pre-made Pico de Gallo. I get my Pico de Gallo from Food Lion. It's in the produce section, and I think it was a little over 3 dollars. Even Cricket likes it.

You can pair it with all types of things. It's great. Get some today.

I love guac, and I always have a hard time finding perfectly ripe avocados. Wholly Guacamole solves this problem for me. This package was around $4 I think, and it has 2 7-oz packets. Previously I would have though $2 a serving was a lot, but I have to say that my health and the time I save not having to make the stuff is worth that money!! The "pico de gallo" flavor means that it has little chunks of pico instead of being smooth, which is how guac should be anyway.

Also, it was not difficult to avoid cheese in Mexican food like I thought it was going to be. They add cheese to everything in the US to make the food more appealing to Americans but in reality, Mexican cooking is not as dependent on cheese as you would think, coming from America. Sometimes I would ask for something without the cheese on top, but in general I had no problem finding something that didn't have a dairy ingredient in it.

I am pretty sick so I'm going to go back to resting, but happy eating.

Doctor soon

I am going to the allergist Thursday for the first time in a year! I'm excited, and a little nervous to explore problems more. I always say every time you go to the doctor is like dating a new person - you have high hopes that things will work out this time and it'll all make sense, but you're usually left confused about something else in the end and just have a new problem to tackle.
I will write about Mexico and the food there later!

food and traveling

I went to NYC about a week or so ago and I found it hard to eat. Many places my mom took me made me sick and didn't have many dairy-free options. Also, I don't eat red meat and most seafood, so factor that in too. Basically I don't like meat that much, besides bacon and some ways of cooking chicken, and I can't eat dairy, so that significantly reduces the amount of things I can eat.

The whole trip I was hungry. When I got home, I went to my favorite diner and had french toast, hash browns, and eggs. It was so good. Hunger will drive you crazy.

Christmas was ok on the food front. I ate a good amount of ham and dressing. Ham biscuits are pretty much the greatest ever. I got a whole bag of Hershey's candy in my stocking, which is bad, because all their chocolates have milk in them. Even the dark. And I hate dark chocolate anyway.

I will be going to Mexico on a vacation in the near future and I am hoping that eating won't be took difficult there due to their obsession with cheese in so many foods.

The allergy I'm most irritated over for this trip though is my salt water and sweat allergy. No ocean, no swimming unless it's in a pool. No getting too hot. At least my friends are understanding. I just wish I could snorkel. Fish are totally gorgeous! Knowing me, I'll probably risk it once and will be like 'oh I'll be fine' and end up being a speckled spectacle.

Thanksgiving success

Thanksgiving was better food-wise than I expected. Everyone cooked with almond milk and best life butter.

I had:

• ham
• turkey
• scalloped potatoes made with manchego and pecorino cheese (both from sheep's milk)
• sweet potatoes
• dressing
• pound cake
  
• lemon chess pie
• chocolate cake (made by my mom's cook who made it dairy-free)

I had way too much left over and brought it in to work and had a second Thanksgiving for all my friends. Here are some pictures of the food. You can see my scalloped potatoes at the bottom right with the regular cheese kind on their left.

The pound cake (far left) was apparently a little difficult to make dairy-free. I think she had to make a second or third to get it to do right. We also had to cook the lemon chess pie (far right) longer than usual.

Dairy-free chocolate fondue

I meant to post this a while back but forgot so I should now! I made dairy-free fondue last month and it was great!

ingredients:

• Silk soy creamer
• Ghirardelli semi-sweet baking chocolate chips (chocolate without dairy!!)
• powdered sugar
• vanilla extract
• amaretto

First I put 1/2 cup of Silk creamer in the pot. I had a fondue pot so it heated up very quickly (don't let it burn!). Then add in the chocolate chips (I used a whole 12-oz bag, and it was enough for 6 people or so). Stir continuously. After the chocolate chips are melted, pour in a capful of vanilla extract. Then add in a few teaspoons of powdered sugar at a time to sweeten up the chocolate. Keep adding sugar to taste. Then mix in a little bit of amaretto, (slightly more than a splash) to add some flavor and also sweeten.

Get any dippers you like and go to town! I like to use bananas, rice krispy treats, and marshmallows.