Adventures in dairy-free living...

I have successfully made it a week on a non-dairy diet. I did some compromising on the low grain low sugar diet in order to not feel totally deprived. For the first three days, I had potstickers for dinner- not perhaps the best choice, but not the worst either. I didn't have the time or energy to experiment until I got to the weekend.

I bought a couple of paleo cookbooks on Amazon which just arrived today so I haven't done anything with them. I cleaned the dairy out of the refrigerator and freezer and some of the pantry. This left me with not much edible and not a lot of funds to replace it.

I bought a ham and cooked it with a cherry glaze in the crockpot. It was tasty but made for a rather boring lunch, even when combined with a fresh green salad with cashews, craisins and a vinaigrette dressing. So I took the bones and part of the meat and made a split pea soup. Split pea will never be my favorite but it was hardy and savory and made an excellent lunch after my water aerobics class.

I discovered that shake n bake doesn't have any milk in it so I made chicken nuggets and sweet potato wedges baked with cinnamon and cardamom.

I found a recipe for vegan brownies that has a good texture and a decent flavor but next time I'm going to add two eggs and take out a half a cup of the oil. They are just a bit too greasy.

I made rice pudding with coconut milk and almond milk. I'm doling it out as an occasional treat.

Last night I had dinner at Shari's with Marian and Trudi. It was a bit frustrating but they had a pretty comprehensive allergen menu which helped. I ended up with steak and tater tots. The steak menu items were indicated to have milk in them but we determined that it was the included sides that had the milk which made the steak okay for me.

Tonight I made orange chicken with the Panda Express sauce. It has a little wheat in the soy sauce but I'm not worried about little amounts. I used corn starch to coat the chicken and fried it with oil and a little soy sauce. Then I put in a bit of the orange sauce and let it simmer. It wasn't the same- mostly because it wasn't breaded and deep fried. But it was tasty and not too nutritionally nasty. I had a little rice with it.

Breakfast has been the hardest. I need to make some egg "muffins" but until I have the time and energy to do that I was having some high fiber organic gluten-free granola with a coconut/almond milk blend. That hasn't worked too well because the inulin added to make it high fiber causes bloating and gas, which I don't need. So I picked up something different to try tomorrow; it's still gluten free but it doesn't have an artificially inflated fiber content.

People are asking me if it has made a difference. I can't really tell yet. First of all, I'm dealing with my cycle this week which can make everything out of whack. Secondly, I'm on the second week of a water aerobics class which is a change in my routine. Thirdly, the inulin has mimicked the symptoms of the dairy intolerance and I can't tell what is what. Generally, when I'm not gassy and bloated, I am feeling better. I can't really pin point why. I'm not sure the GI issues have sorted themselves out yet but I feel....less puffy. I'm not sure what that means exactly but I feel trimmer- not thinner. But like there is less inflation, inflammation, something nebulous like that? It could be the exercise. I think I've managed to drop a couple of pounds this week too. I would like the low grade headache to go away. It's residual from my neck adjustment and the resulting muscle issues.

It's going to take more experimentation! Marian and Trudi are helping me find sauces and recipes that I like and even my dad, who thinks it's all a bunch of new age nonsense, has been sending me recipes to try. I'm going to read my second cookbook now and see if I can find some more ideas.