"Good" margarine?

[sexysisam]

Okay, so I KNOW that margarine is very bad. But my 2 little boys are extremely lactose intolerant. After about a week of consuming pasteurized dairy, they throw up.

Is there ANY good margarine out there? I need it for baking cookies & cakes, making mashed potatoes, etc.

We do use clarified butter, coconut oil, palm shortening, etc. But all of those make my baked goods turn out disgusting and the clarified butter is way too expensive to use cups at a time.

Thanks.

[cristeen]

Originally Posted by sexysisam

We do use clarified butter, coconut oil, palm shortening, etc. But all of those make my baked goods turn out disgusting and the clarified butter is way too expensive to use cups at a time.

Thanks.

Describe "disgusting" - maybe we can help you troubleshoot the problem. AFAIK, your choices of solid fats are pretty limited to what you've listed + animal fats.

[mbravebird]

You can try using home-rendered lard. It makes the best pie crust in the universe. I usually mix it with butter to cut down on the savory taste, but in a sweetened baked good, you might not be able to taste it at all anyway.

[sexysisam]

For example: I made a cake with the palm shortening. It turned out flat, sunken, greasy, and when it cooled it got gummy instead of airy and fluffy.

I forgot to mention that I do have lard and tallow. I tried to make a pie crust from the lard, but it made the whole house smell like bacon. I ended up throwing it out to the chickens (they loved it).

Also we are a gluten-free family - 3/4 of us have celiac disease. Which also affects EVERYTHING.

[FairyRae]

I'm betting the gluten free factor is impacting your baked goods more than the fats/no margerine issue. (I know from experience that gf baking is just not ever the same as gluten-y baking, as we are gluten and dairy free as well...)

Maybe you could share your recipes or list things you're wanting to make, and we could share recipes (gf and dairy free) that have worked for us?

[FairyRae]

Also, I love a blend of coconut milk and ghee in mashed potatoes, w/ lots of salt and pepper.

[JMJ]

You said that after a week of consuming pasturized dairy, they puke. Is this milk by the glassful, or is this small amounts of butter here and there? Butter actually contains very little lactose, so if they can tollerate anything dairy, butter would be fine. I agree that it's probably gluten free that's your problem.

[CherryBomb]

Originally Posted by JMJ

You said that after a week of consuming pasturized dairy, they puke. Is this milk by the glassful, or is this small amounts of butter here and there? Butter actually contains very little lactose, so if they can tollerate anything dairy, butter would be fine. I agree that it's probably gluten free that's your problem.

I have similar issues, if I drink more than a small cup of pasteurized milk I get really nauseous. But I eat a lot of butter and even cheese and it doesn't bother me.

[tammyswanson]

I had issues with store bought milk and so did my DH. I was actually becoming lactose intolerant too! Guess what? When we switched to raw milk, it seemed to disappear. Even with my DH, and he's no spring chicken either. If I drink that mass produced stuff, I get sick. But not so with raw natural milk. Though my DS has problems with cheese, even raw milk cheese, binds him up like superglue.

I won't touch any margarine, that stuff makes me gag. I'd rather use nothing than go with that stuff, ditto hydrogenated anything. My blood pressure got lowered by cutting out those awful oils, and no more dizzy spells either, woohoo!

[sexysisam]

Originally Posted by JMJ

You said that after a week of consuming pasturized dairy, they puke. Is this milk by the glassful, or is this small amounts of butter here and there? Butter actually contains very little lactose, so if they can tollerate anything dairy, butter would be fine. I agree that it's probably gluten free that's your problem.

It's different for each of the boys. My first boy used to throw up about once a month and we couldn't figure it out. When we switched to raw dairy all of a sudden he stopped throwing up. Then we ran out of raw cheese and bought some regular cheese and he threw up within a week.

My second son NEVER had pasteurized milk. He grew up on raw, but occasionally when I would make cream of potato soup or something where I had to cook the milk, he would throw up. When we found out they had Celiac disease, we went on a strict dairy-free diet - using almond milk/cheese for drinking and eating, and coconut milk for ice cream and baking. But lately I haven't been as judicious with the butter and we had mashed potatoes last week with butter and coconut milk. He threw up this week.

It took me awhile to finally nail it down that milk actually makes them throw up. I've never heard of lactose intolerance being that extreme, but supposedly when they get older they will grow out of it and just get an achy tummy.

[sexysisam]

Originally Posted by FairyRae

Also, I love a blend of coconut milk and ghee in mashed potatoes, w/ lots of salt and pepper.

About how much ghee do you put in per amount of potatoes? We usually make A LOT of potatoes and use 1-2 cubes of butter. Is there like a conversion of butter to ghee?

[sexysisam]

I'm particularly interesting in a good cake recipe - nothing fancy just white, yellow, and/or chocolate for birthdays, etc.

Also a good cookie recipe that won't go flat and greasy on me.

I pretty much got the dinner thing down, but what do you do about lasagna and other Italian things? Do we just have to go without?

We are currently looking for property where we can have a few goats or a cow for raw milk. Our regular guy is state certified, and closes down shop every time there's even a whiff of an outbreak of any kind of food poisoning. He's an hour away and there have been many times when we drive up there and he's closed with a note on his door.

I feel really bad giving my kids almond milk to drink (at least it's not soy though!). I know REAL milk is so much healthier for them. But there were some cultures (tribes?) in WAP's work that didn't consume ANY dairy at all. So there must be a way of getting all the good stuff in without the puke-fests that have been going on around here.

Thanks for all the ideas. Does anyone have any recipes for baked goods they'd like to link me to or share?

[FairyRae]

Originally Posted by sexysisam

I'm particularly interesting in a good cake recipe - nothing fancy just white, yellow, and/or chocolate for birthdays, etc.

Also a good cookie recipe that won't go flat and greasy on me.

These are my favorite gluten (and grain) free, dairy free cake recipes:

Chocolate bean cake
Coconut flour orange cake

Elana's pantry chocolate chip cookie recipe is supposed to be amazing. I've never followed the exact recipe b/c ds reacts to almonds (its made w/ almond flour)

I pretty much got the dinner thing down, but what do you do about lasagna and other Italian things? Do we just have to go without?

They have rice lasagna noodles, although I haven't found an amazing dairy free cheese sub. This pine nut ricotta is yummy though. And daiya foods has a totally dairy free cheese sub that is ok, and not full of really awful ingredients. We usually just go w/out cheese here too.

We are currently looking for property where we can have a few goats or a cow for raw milk. Our regular guy is state certified, and closes down shop every time there's even a whiff of an outbreak of any kind of food poisoning. He's an hour away and there have been many times when we drive up there and he's closed with a note on his door.

I feel really bad giving my kids almond milk to drink (at least it's not soy though!). I know REAL milk is so much healthier for them. But there were some cultures (tribes?) in WAP's work that didn't consume ANY dairy at all. So there must be a way of getting all the good stuff in without the puke-fests that have been going on around here.

Absolutely. Dairy is not necessary for health. I was just reading something today a/b how Price found that each traditional group he studied ate foods from 2 of the following 3 groups on a regular basis for their health giving properties: fat and organ meats from land animals, organ meats and roe of sea animals, and/or full fat raw dairy. I'm working to get both of the first 2 into our diets more as ds and I both have trouble w/ dairy...Although it sure is yummy, and organ meats of *any* animal are not something I crave....

Thanks for all the ideas. Does anyone have any recipes for baked goods they'd like to link me to or share?

As far as the ghee in the mashed potatoes goes, I'd prob just use the same amount you would se for butter. A couple tbs?? I just wing it and don't measure anything.

The allergies forum might be a great place to get recipes as well. For baking I prefer to avoid using grains as its way easier than doing the xantham gum, blending gf grains w/ starches yadda yadda that goes w/ gf baking, which is why I like coconut flour and bean cakes etc.

[lil_earthmomma]

I've found that that the bruce fife cooking with coconut flour book is awesome for fluffy cakes and muffins, and all of his recipes can use coconut oil, coconut milk etc.

For mashed potatoes, I always make roasted garlic mashed, (I drizzle the garlic heads with bacon fat and olive oil, and then add it into the potatoes.) with a bit of almond milk and it's super yummy!

What about other kinds of potatoes though? Roasted potatoes are SO good (my favorites are roasted with heads of garlic and drizzled with olive oil and white wine. The best potatoes in the world.) Pan fried in coconut oil and spices are yummy, baked potatoes with pesto, or chili, or marinara...

[PGTlatte]

I use Earth Balance sticks.

http://www.earthbalancenatural.com/#.../vegan-sticks/

[cristeen]

You might want to check into the paleo thread for meal ideas. Those ladies are grain free and many are dairy free also.

For Italian food, there is a whole world of it that doesnt involve pasta, you just have to look. But some pasta alternatives might be spaghetti squash, making zuke or carrot noodles, i also occassionally like kelp noodles. For lasagna w/o pasta, you can use planks of zuke or eggplant, and you can find DF recipes w google.

For mashed potatoes - keep some of the boiling water, and use that w CO or OO. Or you can use bone broth or coco milk instead of the water for extra fat.

[provocativa]

learn to make your own clarified butter or ghee, sooooo much cheaper. we are gluten-free, and find that coconut oil + ghee makes beautiful baked goods. so perhaps it's your flour blend. we use coconut flour for everyday baking, but make the bette hagman starch flour blend with guar gum rather than xanthan for birthday parties, etc. my cakes are FAMOUSLY GOOD to anyone who tries them, gf or not, and they are all made with the coconut oil / ghee blend. if you are using a food processsor, try switching to a mixer for cakes. i find that chilled cookie dough doesn't spread as much.

[mbravebird]

Provocativa, would you be willing to share any of your cake recipes?