DF Eggnog [RECIPE]

I have been on a hunt for good eggnog. This is like a life-long goal of mine, because I know good eggnog exists, I've had it and love it, but  it seems to be so hard to find. Many commercial eggnogs taste like bubble gum to me (something about the sweeteners, I believe), so even before dairy was out of my life this was an adventure. I was all ready to try SoDelicious after getting great reviews (including from personal friends), but I also ran into some bad reviews saying it basically tasted lke coconut milk with nutmeg...definitely not what I was looking for. So, I hop online and start searching for recipes, and many people in ti dairy free circle have almost identical recipes, so I decided if this many people had the same idea it must be good. So I give it a try, and it's ok but still not quite right. I found the recipes too thin, not eggy enough, and surprisingly over spiced. So back to Google I go, searching for real eggnog recipes, and even creme anglaise for comparison. Research in hand, I made my second attempt and I am in love. This is a custardy, rich, smooth drink and I want to share the recipe with you all.

Dairy-Free Eggnog
(also soy-free; include tree nuts & egg)

Ingredients:
8 eggs, separated
2 ¼ c unsweetened macadamia milk
14.5oz or 400ml can coconut cream
⅔ c sugar + 2 Tbsp
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp nutmeg
½ tsp cinnamon
dash allspice

Instructions:
Bring macadamia milk, coconut cream, vanilla, and spices to a simmer.
While your milk mixture is heating up, whisk together eggs & sugar.
Slowly temper milk mixture into egg mixture, drizzling about 1 cup of the milk mixture into your eggs before you pour the entire egg mixture back into your pot, whisking to combine.
Continue whisking over a simmer for 4-5 minutes, keeping temp low.

For a frothy & silky drink (optional):
Chill eggnog to at least room temperature
Beat eggs whites with remaining 2 Tbsp sugar until stiff peaks form
Whisk egg whites into eggnog

You do want to be careful while combining your milk & egg mixtures. Eggnog is essentially a loose custard, so you can break it. Overheating your eggs, or not allowing them to temper properly, can cause a grainy consistency. This can be fixed with an immersion blender, but you are better of keeping things low and slow.

Likewise, if you don't wait long enough to mix in your egg whites, your drink will also get clumpy. This is less likely due to having broken the custard, and I even had some difficulty with cold eggnog. Again you can easily correct this with an immersion blender.

Whether you choose to use the egg whites or not (it still tastes wonderful without them), you may notice your eggnog separates over time in the refrigerator. Just give it a quick stir before serving.

DF Veggie "Cream Cheese" Spread [RECIPE]

I've been craving a bagel with cream cheese, but there are some obvious hurdles: dairy allergy, and lack of goof fluffy bagels. My favorite bagel & cream cheese combo is from a little place in Marquette, Michigan called Third Street Bagel. They have the best veggie cream cheese ever, and their bagels are so light & fluffy, so they don't sit like stone weights in your stomach ;)

Locally, I've found 2 very good options for equally good bagels, Jake's Bagels & Deli in Aurora, IL and County Farm Bagels in Winfield, IL & Wheaton, IL. I had even figured out how to duplicate Third Street's veggie spread, but now I had to translate it to a dairy-free version. So I found a few recipes online, combined different pieces that I liked, adn the result is pretty good! I'm not sure I would like this spread without the veggies added, but as a whole it is delicious! It also works well for crackers!

Dairy-Free Veggie Cream Cheese Spread
1 cup raw cashews
2 Tbsp coconut oil
1½ Tbsp lemon juice
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 Tbsp nutritional yeast (or to taste)

1 tsp salt
¼ tsp black pepper½ medium carrot, shredded
1 medium scallion (or small yellow onion), diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
¼ medium red bell pepper, diced
1 fresh dill sprig (or ½ Tbsp dried)


Soak cashews for at least 4 hours, or overnight. You could start with boiling water to speed up the soak time to 1-2 hours if you are in a rush. Rinse and gently dry cashews with paper towel  to remove excess water.

Using a high speed blender or food processor, blend the nuts, oils, lemon juice, and spices. This takes a while, and you will probably have to stop ans scrape down the sides of your blender or food processor a few times. Continue blending until you get a smooth consistency. Your mix may be a bit warm at this point, and personally I was not super impressed with the flavor, but don't be discouraged!

Add in your veggies. You can do this by hand or add to your blender/food processor (personally, I chopped everything up fine, but still added to my food processor). Allow to chill in refrigerator before eating, as the cold helps the texture set up and improves the flavor. The longer you can wait, the better it will taste as all those flavors meld together!

I've heard this type of mix lasts for about 1 week in the refrigerator. To be honest I'm moving into week 2 right now and have not notice any spoilage, but trust your instincts. This makes a hefty amount of spread, so you may want to cut the recipe down or freeze half of it for later (I haven't tested freezing it yet, but I've read some success stories & have frozen other cashew based creamy items such as mini cheesecakes).

Coconut Bliss & Butterscotch Malts [Recipe]

I keep coming back to ice cream...seriously this is one of the hardest parts of going dairy-free. Well, that and cheese. Anyway I came across Coconut Bliss at my local Jewel (very limited flavor selection, but I believe you can most if not all their flavors at Whole Foods), and decided to give it a try. You guys, this is it! This is seriously the best ice cream sub I have found. The texture and melt are perfect! The only downside is you will definitely get that hint of coconut, it does not go away. I haven't tried every flavor, but of the 6 I've tried so far this has only been off-putting in their Vanilla Island. And in all honesty, it was only an issue for me when eaten plain; I loved topping apple pie with this flavor! If you can have, and like the taste of, coconut, then definitely try this stuff out. They even have ice cream bars and other treats.

Now... ever since I was little, I've loved butterscotch malts. They were a special thing I shared with my dad. Ever since I've been dairy free, I knew this was something I would probably have to give up. However, now that I found an ice cream I like, I was on the hunt to make my own malt!

Butterscotch Malt

2 scoops Coconut Bliss vanilla island
1 cup coconut milk
3 Tbsp non-diastatic barley malt powder
3 Tbsp Jello instant butterscotch pudding mix*

* I plan to replace this with a home-made dairy-free butterscotch syrup next time, but was way too impatient once my malt arrived n_~

My next adventure will be converting a garlic cream sauce to dairy-free. The guys love when I make it with chicken (or sometimes I even make a sort of chicken alfredo), and honestly I love it too. If that is successful, you can expect a new post soon!

Kite Hill: Ricotta & Soft Fresh

So I'm torn on Kite Hill. I've been bragging about them for a while, but really I think the brie is where it stops. I've tried out both the ricotta and soft fresh (truffle, dill & chive), and I'm not nearly as impressed as I was with the brie. I'll still give them another try, as it may have been my applications, and I will still try their other offerings, but my current opinion of these 2 is "meh."

Kite Hill Ricotta
I have tried this cheese twice now, with mixed results. My first attempt was in a lasagna. I mixed the ricotta with egg, parsley, salt and pepper per the recipe. I also added some almond milk as I personally found the ricotta too dry. I snuck this into a low carb version utilizing eggplant instead of noodles, but I do want to note I left in the mozzarella and parmesan (baby steps, especially in convincing the 2 guys I live with). I noticed the ricotta tasted differently, but neither guy did, so I am attributing this to my prior knowledge and nervous anticipation. It wasn't bad, although I got sick of it after a while. But since the boys didn't notice I think I will try again without failure in my mind.

My next and most recent attempt over this past weekend was flatbread white pizza. We make a pizza (really an appetizer, but you know how that goes..) using naan as the crust, seasoned olive oil, and a mixture of ricotta and mozzarella. This time I went 100% dairy free and replaced the mozzarella with nutritional yeast to up that cheese taste. Prior to baking, it was alright. Again I found it too dry and added olive oil. After baking I was not happy. Keep in mind, these were over baked, but the dairy versions did not dry out. The dairy-free version dried out and had a weird aftertaste. Part of that was probably the over baking, but the cheese was crumbly and I couldn't get over that aftertaste. The brie had one too but it was easy to get used to. I haven't totally nixed the ricotta, but if I try this recipe again I need to keep a close eye on it and find a better way to add moisture and replace that missing mozzarella (I thought about Trader Joe's shreds which are supposed to melt and don't taste bad, but they really do taste like almond so would not have added to the flavor).

Kite Hill Soft Ripened (Truffle, Dill, Chive)
This I bought to use as a replacement in chicken in pastry (basically seasoned, seared chicken breast and garlic chive Alouette cheese wrapped in puff pastry). I will be honest and say I never got to using this in the recipe. The cheese smelled just right, although I found the texture odd. At first I liked the taste as well, but again there was an aftertaste I just did not like. Maybe I am just not refined enough to enjoy truffle? Also the texture just was not right for this recipe, so between the two I never got any farther. I'm not sure in what application I would use this cheese, but I may come back to the original later.


Now I will say, some of my experience may have been trying to recreate dairy-heavy dishes. I honestly do think trying to make no dairy dishes and/or dishes specifically designed for these alternative cheeses may provide better results. I have also heard that it is better to cut out all dairy for a few months before bringing in these subs as you will compare to the real thing too much and not be able to enjoy them. Given the boys could not tell the difference and only found out about the sub after the fact, I will say there is some rationale behind this idea.

Trader Joe's Mozarella Shreds

So we were exploring Trader Joe's and I went in search of dairy free options. I noticed TJ's has their own versions of mozzarella style shreds, so I picked up a bag of each which were comparable in price to normal shredded cheese (a tad more expensive, but a good deal cheaper than other brands).

Vegan Mozzarella Style Shreds
I've heard a lot of back and forth on Daiya, so I thought I would try a different brand off the bat. Online I have seen these shreds compared to Daiya and the general opinion seems to be they taste similar or maybe a little bit better. Unfortunately I did not like them. Just right off the bat the taste was awful to me, which makes me think I am going to be on that anti-Daiya boat (for shreds, so far no complaints about their cream cheese). I also found the texture to be harder than normal shreds. I picked these up because the bag says they melt and stretch like real cheese, but I never even got to that point :(

Almond Mozzarella Style Shreds
So these are not 100% dairy free. They are 99% lactose free but still contain casein (ingredients include parmesan and pasteurized milk). So while this should be a clear no for me, my allergy is not at a dangerous level and even with intolerance I can handle a small amount of dairy before suffering GI issues. I decided to give it a go, plus it also advertises the ability to melt and stretch like real cheese. Taste-wise, they are fairly bland. They taste more like almond than cheese, which is not necessarily bad but certainly not what I was looking for. The texture is much more like actual shredded cheese though. I haven't tried them on a pizza or anything that requires melting yet, but I'll hang on to them for future experiments. If you can handle small amounts, I would would say give them a try.

Dairy-Free Creamed Corn Maque Choux [Recipe]

This is one of our favorite side dishes, so I wanted to find a way to still be able to enjoy it. The obvious answer is to just remove the cream and make Corn Maque Choux, but I really like what it adds to the dish. This version went over great with the boyfriend, who normally shudders at the dea of replacing cream in anything. Granted he does enjoy the taste of coconut, but it really gets lost amongst all the other flavors so shouldn't be an issue for anyone afraid the coconut will be overpowering.

Ingredients
2 Tbsp olive oil
4 c corn (about 6 ears or 16-20 oz frozen)
1/2 large yellow onion, diced
1 small red or green bell pepper, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 can culinary full fat coconut milk
1 Tbsp flour
1 tsp salt
1-2 Tbsp creole seasoning (depending on taste)*

Directions
Heat oil in skillet.
Add garlic, onion, and peppers. Season with salt and saute until onions are translucent.
Add corn and saute 1-2 minutes.
Sprinkle in flour and stir until no clumps.
Slowly stir in coconut milk, bring to boil, then reduce heat to a simmer.
Add creole seasoning and allow to simmer until thickened.

* I use Emeril's creole essence, but you can make your own mix or use a premade. My sister's fiance uses Tony Chachere's which he LOVES and puts on everything n_~

Avocado: The Miracle Fruit

I've heard of avocados being used in smoothies, pudding...brownies? (or was that just black beans...). I have not tried this yet, but am planning too. However, these recommendations are made because of the fatty, creamy texture avocados have. I haven't gone to check out the specialty groceries yet, but I've been getting avocados regularly (mostly for lunch/snack).

Last week, I made baked potatoes and wanted a way to enjoy to sour cream taste without the dairy. My local grocery only has a few flavored Silk yogurts, so playing with that or attempting to make my own quick version using yogurt as the base culture were not going to happen. Fancy shopping trip planned for the future, I decided to see what I could do with what I had. I grabbed an avocado, mashed it up, and added a large amount of lemon juice (like 2-4 times more than you would add to guacamole; yes I know it should be lime for guacamole :p). It was creamy, tangy, and really hit the spot. My only complaint: it was so much more filling than if I had used sour cream! I could barely finish the backed potato and ear of corn.

Today, I wanted to eat some falafel that I picked up at Trader Joe's. Having no luck finding a dairy-free yogurt at Trader Joe's, or unflavored at my local Jewel, I decided to use last week's avocado success and try it out. I mashed up the avocado and added lemon juice as before. Then I added some garlic powder, dried dill, and salt (I meant to add cucumber but forgot I ate it all!). It obviously would have been better if I used fresh garlic & dill (and cucumber), but this was actually quite satisfying and created a very filling lunch.

I definitely recommend giving these a try! They tasted great, were easy to whip up on demand, and overall were probably cheaper than the store-bought alternatives (even with avocados being ridiculously expensive in Illinois).