About a month ago I found out I was allergic to dairy. Right after I had Peyton, a TON of eczema showed up on my hands. After seeing different dermatologists and doctors, it was finally determined that I had a dairy allergy. NO FUN! I have officially been eating dairy free for a month now and while my eczema isn’t totally gone, the inflammation has definitely gone down and my weight has DEFINITELY gone down as well. It is shocking how cutting out something like dairy, wheat, etc. can change your every day life and alter your body. Now I am NOT about to get all preachy and tell you that you shouldn’t eat dairy- because this is no fun and cheese is literally my favorite food. But I am here to share what I have experienced, things I have tried and liked and tried and HATED. I’m also sharing my favorite dairy free recipe that I’ve come across!
Let’s start with the fun stuff- Andrew’s mission for Valentine’s Day this year was to find my some dairy free chocolate. And he did! He picked up all three of these at our local grocery store. My favorite by far was the Theo Peanut Butter Cups. He also ordered this heart shaped box of chocolates from the No Whey Chocolate Company, they were good, but not as good as the Theo bars! I was really missing sweets, so I am so glad he found these!
I have tried my fair share of cheese substitutes and honestly have hated them all. I would rather eat a cheese-less pizza than eat a pizza covered in vegan cheese. There I said it. It’s awful. But seriously, I have gone to multiple restaurants and ordered a cheese-less pizza and it is not as weird as I thought it would be. One thing I have liked though is this Kite Hill Cream Cheese! It has a slight after taste but i’ll take it to have SOME kind of cheese back in my life.
As soon as I found out about my dairy allergy, my friend Laiken offered to come over and make this dairy free dinner. It really gave me hope there at the beginning that I would be able to live the cheese-less life! It is SUPER EASY and can even be made ahead and popped in the oven a little later. We served it with pasta.
I am just at the beginning of this journey and this is most definitely a life altering allergy, but I am hopeful that I can continue to find new recipes that I love- and of course, share my dairy free journey with you guys along the way!