Recipes and Foods For The Milk Free

I have been trying to eat better, I couldn’t even tell you the last time I had McDonald’s, though I do remember the last time I had Taco Bueno but thats mostly because I would love to have one of their tacos right now.

Anyway, enough dreaming. While I haven’t really cut back on my sodas I have been making sure to drink soy milk every morning for breakfast. I have also been trying to add as many veggies as I can to each of my meals. My favorite side, and one that the hubby seems to enjoy as well even though he digs out the veggies he doesn’t care for, has become the roasted vegetables.  While you can us any vegetables you would like, here is what I have been using lately.

Dairy Free Sides : Roasted Vegetables

2 potatoes, partially skinned, cut into chunks

1/2 medium onion cut into chunks

1 yellow squash cut into chunks

1 zucchini cut into chunks

Directions :

Lightly toss these with olive oil and bake in the oven on 375 degrees for about 15 minutes. You may check them since the fifteen minutes seemed to be cutting it pretty close.

I didn’t grow up in a house where we had dessert after every meal but the hubby did and though we don’t have dairy free desserts every night there are nights were he just has to have something sweet after dinner. I don’t like keeping cookies or things like that on hand because those tend to get eaten quickly and in large amounts (like the whole package of cookies in one day) so I like to occassionaly make our desserts from scratch. I am also a big fan of OAMC when I have the freezer room so some of my dairy free desserts are frozen so that we can have them later. My favorite of the dairy free desserts is the dairy free cupcakes because these freeze well and can be thawed in individual servings.

Dairy Free Desserts : Dairy Free Dump Cupcake

1 box of dairy free yellow cake mix

1 can of peaches

cupcake pan

Instructions

Make the cupcake mix how it states on th yellow cake mix box. Place a thin layer of peaches on the bottom of the cupcake pan then cover with yellow cake mixture. Bake according to the instructions on the box. Eat after cooling or flash freeze in the freezer then place in a plastic freezer bag.  To thaw place in the fridge or on the counter. It only takes about a half hour to thaw. 

I also make some plain cupcakes and top them with chocolate icing to freeze as well!

This is one of my favorite meals to make and I have it often for lunches. Its great to have with some carrot or celery sticks though I also love to just have two or three of them at once! This would make a good lunch at home for kids and it makes an easy to fix lunch on the weekends if you make it then freeze it for later as one of your OAMC recipes.

Dairy Free Recipe: Chicken Pot Pie

Ingredients

1 can turkey gravy

1 can creamed corn

1/2 cup chopped carrots

1/2 cup chopped celery

1/2 cup chopped mushrooms

1 large chicken breast cooked and chopped up

pie crust (make your own or buy it in the freezer section) 

muffin pan

Directions

Throw all the ingredients in a pot and heat them up together. You may have to add some water if it seems to thick. Line the muffin tins with pie crust. Fill the pie crust with the chicken mixture then place pie crust on top and seal so that it makes a little pot pie. Poke the top of the crust a few times with a fork.

Bake in a 375 degree oven for about twenty minutes or until browned.

This dairy free recipe can either be flash frozen before you cook it or after. I tend to freeze it after I cook it but if you don’t you will have to cook it for longer. I also use different vegetables quite often. If I don’t have any fresh veggies then I use canned vegetables instead. You can always use whatever veggies you enjoy the most!

One of the dairy free products that I use all the time are ready made pie crusts. Recently I bought Buehler’s Pie Crusts to make homemade dairy free chicken pot pies. (I swear I will post the recipe soon!) Buehler’s Pie Crusts aren’t bad, I don’t remember the name of the last brand I bought but I purchased them at Aldi’s, but they were better. It may have helped if I had unrolled them as soon as I took them out of the fridge instead of leaving them on the counter to dry out while I made the chicken mixture.

I use this dairy free product a lot in my freezer cooking. These are great for making chicken pot pies but they are also good for making homemade dairy free hot pockets as well. I have previously made hot pockets with this great chicken and dairy free cream cheese mixture. I will have to look for that recipe to share with you all!

Anyway, back to the dairy free product Buehler’s Pie Crusts. These cooked up well. I like the crust that cooks up but it does not have the flakiness I like in my dairy free chicken pot pies.

Seriously, I love this stuff.  This is one of my favorite dairy free products.  I use Campbell’s Turkey Gravy in quite a few different recipes, my favorite being my homemade chicken pot pie recipe which I will be sharing soon. 

This turkey gravy is dairy free and its Campbell’s so you can’t get much better than that!  I’m not positive but I think that the can of Campbell’s chicken gravy does have dairy in it so make sure to read the ingredients and the name when you go to buy canned turkey gravy.  I also noticed that the generic brand of canned turkey gravy had dairy in it as well. 

This dairy free product, Campbell’s Turkey Gravy, is great for just about any recipe that calls for gravy.  Turkey gravy is really good on mashed potatoes or over meat such as roast beef and would be good even when you would normally use a beef gravy.  This is also good for soups that are meant to be a little thicker.

Personally, I’ve always wondered what it would be like if I could cook it with some sausage.  I’m not sure how it would work out but maybe with a little milk and flour I could make it into sausage gravy for biscuits and gravy? What do you think?

I use yellow dairy free cake mix for a few of my oamc, or freezer, dessert recipes.  Baker’s Corner brand dairy free cake mix is what I used the last time I made desserts to freeze though, for the life of me, I cannot remember where I bought it.  I want to say Aldi’s so perhaps that is where I grabbed it but it could have been Gerbe’s (Kroger brand) but I’m positive it is not at Wal-mart.  If you know, leave a comment and let everyone know!

I like this cake mix because it is very easy to use and it always ends up moist, even after I freeze it and then thaw it to eat.  I use it to make both cakes and cupcakes.  I find that the cupcakes are easier to freeze because they are then already in individual sized portions.  This way I can set two cupcakes out at dinner for the hubby and I to have later for our dessert. 

I also like the Baker’s Corner brand dairy free cake mix because it is very inexpensive and makes a great budget dessert for just the two of us or for when we have company over.  I’ll be posting some recipes for the cupcakes I make and freeze soon!

My whole family is coming to spend tomorrow with us to help us around the house on some big projects and while they are down we are going to have a little triple birthday part for me, my mom, and my dad.  My mom’s birthday was on September 26th, mine was September 27th and my dad’s is October 13th so we’re kind of in the middle of all of them and its the only day all of us will be together. 

To help celebrate my mom is bringing cupcakes that one of my sister’s friends makes.  These are the cutest cupcakes and while I have seen them on her blog, I have never had the pleasure of eating one, even though everyone else has!  I get to taste test every one of these cupcakes though because she made them all with dairy free products!

This reminded me of the cupcakes I make and freeze for snacks for the hubby and I.  I made them last week and have taken all of the pictures but I just haven’t written it all out yet.

Check back in for my own cupcake recipes that you can even freeze and eat later!

The hubby and I have been discussing eating better, exercising, and generally trying to live a healthier life.  While I’m sure we will still have enough unhealthy meals to fill this site up, I will also try to add as many dairy free diet recipes as I can.

I hope that I can come up with dairy free diet recipes that will not only be healthy and dairy free, but will also appeal to my husband.  I will eat just about anything (well, anything without dairy!) and have never been a picky eater.  I also love fruits and vegetables and fish and chicken.  The hubby likes fruit but he’s not much on veggies, fish or chicken.  He’s more of a beef guy.  And not a meat and potatoes guy.  A beef and bread guy.  With maybe some lettuce covered in Ranch and cheese but no veggies guy.  He has been trying new stuff though and I’m very proud of him. 

I’m not doing any specific diet.  More of a eat less, eat more fruits and veggies, not eat two potatoes by myself kind of diet.  Do any of you have any dairy free diet recipes that you enjoy? Or just any diet recipe that I could make dairy free?