Tell this picky eater what to cook!

[rhiOrion]

Okay, judging by the day I'm having, and the fact that I put some margerine on my pancakes last night, I guess I'm going to have to be more careful about this whole dairy thing.

Problem is that I *love* dairy. Especially cheese.

Add to that a colicky baby, and a husband who doesn't get home until about 7 pm, and you've got a recipe for pretty much... well...that's the problem, I don't have a recipe at all!

I need meals that are easy, fast (or prep can be done in the morning during DD's longest nap), and of course, yummy.

I've never been a big fan of the really good-for-me veggies unless they have some sort of dairy sauce on them

I don't like beef or seafood.

Let me give you an idea of my favorite things: lasagna/manicotti, burritos, pizza, breakfast foods, baked potatoes, caprese salad, and variations of those (this isn't an all-encompassing list- i'm not that picky). I usually get my veggies by adding them to those types of things (so, spinach lasagna for instance).

i'm in a dairy-free food rut and i have an infant (so ingredients need to be easy to find).

help!

[blumooned]

How about spaghetti? You could buy pre-made sauce or make your own. Put some veggies in the sauce (bell peppers, celery, zucchini, mushrooms, onion would all be good). No need for dairy. You could even add garlic bread made with olive oil instead of butter.

Stir-fry? saute some chicken (or other meat or no meat) in a little oil, add veggies - whatever you want - all the ones above would be good, or carrot, bean sprouts, peas, broccoli . . . season with some soy sauce or you can buy pre-made sauces in the Asian food section. Serve over rice or noodles.

pasta salad? toss cooked pasta with veggies, olives, cooked, diced meat if you want; for the dressing use olive oil & red wine vinegar with a little seasoning or you could use your favorite store-bought salad dressing.

roasted veggies are good - potatoes, peppers, onion, zucchini, asparagus, mushrooms all work well for this. spread them on a baking tray with olive oil, salt, pepper, and whatever seasoning you want. roast in oven (~450) for 20 min or so - potatoes take longer.

I hope these help or at least inspire you with some new ideas!

[tinybutterfly]

Some of your favorite foods you listed can be made without any dairy...not the same, I know, but maybe still good. When ds#1 was having dairy issues, we often ordered pizza with no cheese, extra toppings. It was actually pretty good.

I would guess you could do burritos, lasagna manicotti, etc. with extra veggies, no cheese...if you are okay with trying it, there are vegan cheeses that might give you some of that creaminess that dairy cheese has. I've not tried them, but lots of people eat them. Also you can add tomato sauce or marinara sauce or maybe salsa in place of dairy?

Do you like lentils? There are whole threads full of lentil recipes on MDC and I know the honeybaked lentil recipe is especially good ( and easy.)

[jenfl]

Do you have a slow-cooker? It's pretty easy to find dairy-free slow-cooker recipes, and you can throw things together during L's nap.

Special bonus -- the house smells fabulous!

My favorite slow-cooker recipe is from America's Test Kitchen -- their curried chicken with peas and potatoes. I make rice, buy some naan at Target.... yum!!! (You can PM me for the recipe.)

[Jaesun's Dad]

I actually had a vegan german chocolate cake from whole foods the other day. I'm not a vegan, but it looked good. I was kinda laughing with Jaesun in the store about the irony of the vegan cheesecake next to it when I saw the chocolate cake and it just looked too yummy to pass up.

Lanesplitter Pizza does a vegan pizza that's pretty good too.

There's endless vegan recipes online, there's many at allrecipes.com which is a site I use a lot, but you can find a lot of creative and delicious ideas just typing things like "vegan burrito" into google. When DP was borderline gestational diabetes and I found a lot of delicious recipes just searching "diabetic friendly recipes" .. sadly I have dozens of cookbooks now but I just use the Internet most of the time I want a recipe.

[Alyantavid]

Honestly, I wouldn't try to replicate stuff you really like without dairy. It'll be very obviously different.

I second the suggestion for vegan recipes. I've found alot and they turn out really good and it's easier than trying to sub for the dairy. I've posted this recipe so many times, but it's really amazing.

[damona]

i'm curious as to why you're cutting out dairy. is it your own trouble with it or does it bother your lo (if you're nursing?)? i'm asking, b/c i was wondering if you've tried goat or sheep cheeses, or buffalo mozzerella. my 7yo ds is cows milk dairy intolerant, but he can have a small amount of goats milk cheese without adverse effects, and i can use goats milk in baking, although he can't drink it plain.

nutritional yeast has a cheesy kind of flavour, so i add a bit of it to things like spaghetti sauce. it's also good on popcorn.

i'll try to come back later when i'm a little more awake and give you some other ideas

[rhiOrion]

Originally Posted by damona

i'm curious as to why you're cutting out dairy. is it your own trouble with it or does it bother your lo (if you're nursing?)? i'm asking, b/c i was wondering if you've tried goat or sheep cheeses, or buffalo mozzerella. my 7yo ds is cows milk dairy intolerant, but he can have a small amount of goats milk cheese without adverse effects, and i can use goats milk in baking, although he can't drink it plain.

nutritional yeast has a cheesy kind of flavour, so i add a bit of it to things like spaghetti sauce. it's also good on popcorn.

i'll try to come back later when i'm a little more awake and give you some other ideas

Yep, b/c DD seems to have a hard time with it. I'm going to try goat cheese soon, b/c that would be awesome. I have heard that buffalo moz is usually a no-go... anyone else have luck with it?

[krismarie]

rhi- i'm dairy free right now too (b/c of babe)... i've been experimenting with pizzas with extra toppings... my most recent one is sauteed greens and onions, sliced garlic, pinenuts and course sea salt and once it's done baking, adding olive oil. it's really good.

i also have been loving coconut milk... use it in coffee, smoothies, etc.

i've been making things like hummus and eggsalad for a quick lunch thing for myself (and the boys).

maybe some wraps--if you like some meats you could make wraps with tortillas, a protein that you like, veggies and a dairy-free dressing. that could be a quickish meal.

what about picking up a vegan cookbook to get some ideas... i have found some good vegan recipes that i never would have thought of without the book!

[Crafty]

If you and your dd can tolerate soy, I've been hearing some really wonderful things about Daiya vegan cheese- it even melts! If you can track some of that down, it might work to fill in some of your dairy cravings.