Ode to Dairy

Do you know how much I love dairy?  To me, nothing is more glorious than a stack of Oreos beside a cold mug of milk to finish off the end of my very tiring day.  One day, I will enjoy this perfectly crafted treat again, but for now, I have to rid my diet of all dairy.  A few days ago, Isla was making a mess in her diaper.  I went to change it and noticed the presence of blood.  Needless to say, it scared me to death.  After drying up my tears and nearly having a panic attack, I called the doctor and they had me make an appointment for the next day.  The doctor said that the blood is likely due to a cow's milk allergy.  They had me go home and take some samples which they will do further tests on, (gross mommy job #28739), but she said she is almost positive that this was just due to her being allergic to cow's milk and nothing else.  I was relieved to know that the problem is likely nothing too serious.  I know it may sound selfish, but it will be very hard to rid my diet of dairy.  You just don't realize how much dairy is in everything.  No lasagna, no cheese on my salad, no cheese on my burger, no coffee with cream, no cereal with milk, no yogurt, no desserts with dairy (there are not many without it), no alfredo sauce or any other sauce with cream or milk, no pizza, no sour cream, no cream cheese, no to many casseroles and other yummy dishes, no lotsofreallygoodthingsthatiliketoeatallthetime.  However, if I must give this stuff up in order for my baby to be healthy and happy, I will do it gladly.  Dairy, I love you very much, but we are going to have to end our relationship for now.  It's not you- you are wonderful and you will make someone else very happy.  It's me.  In time, I'm sure we can make things work again one day. 

Isla has been great during the day.  The nights are another story right now.  I do remember Adia going through something very similar at this age where she kind of hit a rough patch at night for a while.  We got through it though and she ended up doing great.  I do believe Isla will do the same.  This milk allergy may have also been bothering Isla's belly at night (remember- Oreos and milk at the end of my day?)  Now that I'm cutting out dairy, I'm hoping that Isla's belly will feel better and that she'll do better at night.  One can only hope, right?

As promised before, here are some recipes.  Try them out and let me know what you think!  The pound cake recipe has dairy.  I may try to do this recipe again sometime with a milk substitute like almond milk or rice milk and see how it goes.  If you have any recipes you think I should try that are dairy free, please share them with me.  :)

Maple Almond Butter

Ingredients:

1 and 1/2 cups or so of almonds

5 T. maple syrup (divided)

pinch of sea salt

1/2 t. vanilla extract

2 T. walnut oil or any light oil you may have (I used corn oil)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Mix almonds, 3 T. maple syrup, and pinch of salt in a bowl, then spread the mixture onto a baking sheet. (You may want to use parchment paper.)

3. Bake almonds for 15 minutes, flipping them half way through baking time.

4.  Allow almonds to cool.  (3-5 minutes.)  Then, put the almonds along with the rest of the ingredients in the food processor.  Allow them to process until the consistency becomes smooth.  (It took my processor about 15 minutes.)

Slow Cooker Pot Roast

Ingredients:

2-3 lb. boneless beef chuck roast

1 onion, cut up into quarters

5-6 golden potatoes cut in half

1 bag of baby carrots

1 envelope dry onion soup mix

1/4 t. ground black pepper

1/4 t. thyme

1/4 to 1/2 c. water

1/4 c. A1 sauce

Directions:

1.  Season the chuck roast with pepper and thyme.  Set aside.

2.  Mix all other ingredients in the slow cooker.

3.  Set seasoned chuck roast on top.

4.  Cook on low for 8 to 9 hours or until the beef and vegetables are fork tender.

Buttermilk Lemon Pound Cake



The last recipe I wanted to share can be found at this link:  http://allrecipes.com/recipe/buttermilk-pound-cake-ii/detail.aspx.  I did use fresh lemon when I made mine.  Since I'm having to go dairy free, the next time I make this, I will probably cut back some on the sugar and use rice or almond milk instead of buttermilk.  This pound cake is delicious!!