Need ideas to help my toddler eat with her new dairy free diet

[eastkygal]

DD is now dairy and refined sugar free. She has eczema, so we are sticking to this strictly. She does get to have goat milk. Now, this has really put a hamper on her eating habits. Her favorite foods all contained cheese. Other than healthy Chinese takeout, I'm having some trouble. She doesn't eat sandwiches. Eats some fruit. Likes broccoli but only with Chinese cuisine or cheese on it. Used to eat peas, but has started turning them down in the last few days. She likes green beans, but no other beans. Likes hard-boiled eggs, but only the whites. Loves noodles of any kind. Of course chicken nuggets.

I would love to give her a treat now and again too. So, any muffin, cake, or pie like recipe that isn't sweetened with refined sugars would be really helpful.

Thanks so so much.

[mimiharshe]

Hey mama, I know there are a lot of ppl on here who know more about this than me. So, no raw milk or cheese either? My son reacted bad to dairy, but reacts fine to raw. Just thought I'd ask. Does she like soy/rice milks? Smoothies? You can use applesauce in a lot of recipes instead of sugar. Maybe hang out on the vegetarian/vegan boards even though you aren't, you'll get ideas for food w/o dairy. Hope some of this helps.

January

[babygrant]

These are typical meals for my DS:

Breakfast:
Red River cereal
Cream of Wheat
Oatmeal
Fruit smoothie (some sort of fruit, almond milk, tofu)
fried eggs (LOVES eggs fried in Earths Best)
toast with jam

Lunch:
any sort of leftovers
meat, vegan cheese, crackers (Super Slim Brown Rice crackers)
grilled cheese sandwich (vegan cheese, earths best)
veggies with dip (vegan sour cream, seasoning)
pita pizza
spaghetti

Dinners:
I do a regular dinner for oldest ds, dh and myself, then just sub in vegan cheese or almond milk when it calls for cheese or milk.

Snacks:
fresh fruit
fresh veggies
almond bread (1/4 cup almond meal, 1 egg, 1 tbsp coconut oil, 1 tsp baking powder, mix together and microwave for 3 mins)
smoothies
almonds
trail mix
banana roll up (banana, almond butter rolled in a tortilla)
tortilla chips and salsa

IMO it's REALLY easy to do dairy free as long as you stay away from the processed foods. Once we bought DS some vegan cheese, vegan sour cream, and vegan cream cheese, he was so excited!

[allborntogrow]

I don't know if you guys are veggie but if she loves noodles how about some cut up sausage or cubed pancetta in pasta or pasta with garbanzo beans? Also, try the vegan cheeses because some of them are GOOD. I noticed someone else mention eggs fried in earth's best which is probably my favorite meal (had two for dinner tonight). Fried perfectly it almost has a cheesy texture. As far as the treats there are lots of recipes out there with honey used as sweetener and they are tasty! You might even like them too!

[TchrGrrl]

What about making her a "cheese sauce" for dipping broccoli? I make a white sauce with Earth's Balance, flour and soymilk that my kids are convinced is mac & cheese sauce. It is good for topping noodles and for dipping veggies.

Occasionally I will use some tofutti cream cheese (it has hydrogenated oils so I use it sparingly) with shredded chicken or fruit rolled up in a whole wheat tortilla and served either taquito style with dip or sliced in to rolls. Tortilla wraps/rolls are also popular in our house for almond butter & no-sugar added jam sandwiches.

What about making your own Chinese dishes at home? Broccoli beef is really easy to make, steamed/fried rice, noodled with vegetables and a light sauce. Healthier and cheaper prepared at home - if she will eat it.

I make a lot of low sugar, dairy free muffins as treats for my kids. I think I have just one recipe on my recipe blog - I tend to just make my muffin recipes up as I go. I do have loads of dairy-free recipes - all toddler approved since my almost 3 year old is the one I cook dairy-free for.

[Alyantavid]

My 19 month old went dairy free recently. It was overwhelming at first but we've got it down now pretty well.

Breakfast:
french toast (made with soy milk)
pancakes
waffles
eggs on toast (with soy butter)
oatmeal
bagels (you can use Tofuetti for cream cheese)

Lunch:
chicken nuggets
quesadillas (soy cheese or just with beans)
fish sticks (homemade, I have a dairy free recipe)
hot dogs
chili dogs (with soy or no cheese)
he has lots of casserole type stuff at daycare that they don't put dairy in

Dinner:
he eats everything we eat. I mostly cook non dairy things now so he won't be left out while everyone else eats cheese and sour cream.

We do a lot of fresh fruit and veggies, hummus and pita chips, Veggie Booty, fruit leather for snacks.

It does get easier. I've found several recipes for non dairy versions of recipes I have now that have actually turned out pretty well.

[Benji'sMom]

Try the Ultimate Uncheese Cookbook, it has lots of ideas for "cheesy" type sauces and recipes. My 2yo loves the Tofu Ricotta in a tortilla, it's like a cheese tortilla. It satisfies my cheese cravings too. (We all gave up dairy since DS can't have it.) And the other day we had one of the sauces over noodles, can't remember which one but everyone ate it happily.

Also, try The Milk Free Kitchen (it's like a "Joy of Cooking" type cookbook for the milk free diet)

Toffuti makes the best tasting milk free cheese, but like someone else mentioned, it's hydrogenated so use sparingly, if at all.

Coconut milk is good for recipes that require something creamy, it has a creamy texture.

[Momtwice]

Ian's chicken nuggets are dairy (and gluten etc.) free. They are in health food stores or the natural section of a grocery store.
http://www.iansnaturalfoods.com/

You can also make homemade chicken nuggets. I don't have a recipe but I've seen recipes where you dunk the chicken pieces in egg, then bread crumbs or crushed rice krispies and bake on a cookie sheet.

Google "chicken nugget recipe" or "homemade chicken nuggets."

[Momtwice]

Originally Posted by Benji'sMom

Toffuti makes the best tasting milk free cheese, but like someone else mentioned, it's hydrogenated so use sparingly, if at all.

I prefer Vegan Gourmet and it is not hydrogenated.
http://www.imearthkind.com/

[babygrant]

Originally Posted by Momtwice

I prefer Vegan Gourmet and it is not hydrogenated.
http://www.imearthkind.com/

That's what DS eats daily. I can only find the motzarella kind though. It does taste pretty descent for being dairy free.

[Benji'sMom]

Originally Posted by Momtwice

I prefer Vegan Gourmet and it is not hydrogenated.
http://www.imearthkind.com/

Oh you can order online! I'm going to do that! The only nonhydrogenated kind I can find in stores is Galaxy and it tastes like sweat socks.

[eastkygal]

Thanks for the suggestions. This has been really really hard for us. Last night DD refused to eat supper because she wanted pizza. We didn't have any that she could have and nothing else she would eat. She went to bed hungry and cried in her sleep for pizza. We tried one brand of veggie cheese and she gagged and spit it out. She can't have refined sugars either, so we are working on getting her to eat more fruit for snacks. She on rare occasion will eat freash veggies. I'm having a hard time to because we recently got a cut in our food budget which has forced us to shop at the regular grocery store and sometimes Save-A-Lot. That makes it twice as hard. I'll have to get a cookbook for it I suppose. I'm a traditional southern cook, so everything I made was with butter, milk, and cheese. I just feel sooo bad for her because she is having such a hard time with it.

[Alyantavid]

I make my toddler pizza on pita bread. Just sauce and bread, he always picked the toppings off anyways. You might try something like that.

We're having a hard time with the veggie cheese too.