Avocado Alfredo

Guys! I just tried the most delicious pasta recipe. It tastes a lot like an alfredo sauce, although if you choose to leave the mooch out it is still pretty tasty. If you can get over how super green the sauce is when you are preparing it, you should definitely give this a try. A lovely lady over in the Deliciously Dairy Free Facebook group posted her recipe, and I barely made any changes lol. So here it is for you to enjoy:

8 oz dry pasta, cooked (1/2 box)
1 c milk alternative (I used unsweetened almond)
1 avocado, mashed
2 tsp oil (I used olive)
1/4 - 1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp each: black pepper, onion powder, garlic powder
1/2-1 tsp nutritional yeast (to taste)
1-2 dash white pepper

While your pasta is cooking, warm up the milk in a small sauce pan.
Whisk in mashed avocado and oil until smooth (bring to boil and simmer a few minutes if too thin).
Stir in spices and adjust to taste.
Toss sauce with cooked and drained pasta.

Dairy-Free Pumpkin Pie Dip

I'm going to a Halloween party tonight and wanted to bring a sweet treat I could enjoy (I've also got a friend w/ Crohn's going and one of the hosts is lactose-intolerant). So I did some digging around for DF recipes, but in the end adapted one I've used in the past with DF subs. It turned out great, and nobody could tell there was no dairy!

Dairy-Free Pumpkin Pie Dip
1 c pureed pumpkin (not pie filling)
8 oz df cream cheese (I used Daiya regular)
½ c powdered sugar
2 tsp pumpkin pie spice*
8 oz df whipped topping (I used So Delicious cocowhip, regular not lite)

Let cream cheese and whipped topping soften before making the dip.
Beat together cream cheese, pumpkin puree, powdered sugar, and pumpkin pie spice.
Fold/stir in whipped topping.
Keep refrigerated.

Serve with graham crackers or ginger snaps (I used the TJ brand GF ginger snaps). Alternately, you could crush up the crackers/cookies and do a traditional graham cracker style crust using your favorite DF butter sub and some sugar. I thought about doing this and making mini pumpkin cream pies in a muffin tin, but I am lazy and have leftover pumpkin puree to use up (I'm thinking granola!).

*You can buy pre made pumpkin pie spice or mix up your own. I use the same spices in a variety of other things (including apple pie spice), so I just use this recipe:

Pumpkin Pie Spice
3 Tbsp ground cinnamon
1 ½ tsp ground ginger
1 ½ tsp ground nutmeg
¾ tsp allspice
½ tsp ground cloves

Dairy Free/Vegan Almond Joy Creamer [Recipe]

I know there are tons of these recipes around, but I was lazy and looking for something that required a little less work, and ideally no extracts.

1 can Nature's Choice sweetened condensed coconut milk
1 can (approx 3/4 cup) Almond Breeze Vanilla
1.5 Tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
0.5 Tbsp amaretto (or 3/8 tsp almond extract; a few drops almond oil)

This breaks down to about 2 calories per Tbsp, or more likely 53 calories per serving.

There's definitely some tweaking that could be done. I had vanilla almond milk on hand, so I'm not sure how much vanilla you would need/want if you used plain. Same if you used unsweetened almond milk, although the sweetened condensed coconut milk may be enough without extra sugar (it was like the filling of an almond joy when I tasted it!). As for the almond extract, you can sub it out, or I think if you used a plain almond milk and did not add any vanilla it would work as well.

If I get a chance to revisit this, I will update you with the results. Feel free to share if you give this a go or make any changes yourself!

Kite Hill Soft Ripened

We had our bi-monthly wine night the other day. When it was hosted at my house I had an array of snacks. Now my old roommate and buddy has moved out and we go to his place. I got hooked on baked brie with an apple-date chutney. Running out of time I had resorted to unbaked brie with fig jam (a combo I learned about from a friend, and boy is it delicious!). However, DF means no more brie for me...

I picked up Kite Hill's soft ripened over the weekend, and decided to put it to the ultimate test at wine night! I did a quick taste test the day before and the texture is good (not as creamy, but still very soft and spreadable). It looked pink at first, but the next day that seemed to mellow. Plain it was alright (nothing special), but once you spread it on a cracker, and especially when you paired it with the fig jam, this was absolutely delicious!

About half of the people there gave it a try and we demolished it! I brought an actual brie as well, but the Kite Hill was gone first (granted it is smaller, but still it was a hit and everyone that tried it liked it). I haven't tried it baked yet, but I think that is coming up on the agenda. We do this the 1st and 3rd Tuesday of each month, so plenty of opportunity to find out how it bakes up!

I'm also looking forward to giving the ricotta a go (going to use this on a pizza in the near future, although I have also gotten recommendations for Daiya's mozz shreds for a good melting cheese as well, and if all goes well may try it in a lasagna perhaps with the Daiya since my recipe calls for ricotta and mozz). I am also looking forward to trying the other Kite Hill cheeses. I've heard good things about the cream cheese, and I think the soft ones will be a good goat cheese sub.

Also look for me to get off my lazy bum and make some of the cheeses in Miyoko's book: Vegan Artisan Cheese. Kite Hill is delicious, but if I can get my roommates on board I think making some of these will be more cost-effective ~_n

Ultra Foods?

We stopped at an Ultra Foods today, because it was convenient to our errands ad we were just looking for dinner. I had no idea what we were in for, but let me say this could be a good alternative for you dairy-freers out in the IL/IN Chicago suburbs area.

First for all, they just have a large selection to begin with. I know some stores certainly vary between locations based on neighborhood needs/sales patterns/etc, but Ultra Foods has a lot of options out there. We will definitely be stopping by again just to see what is all available.

That being said, we needed butter so walked down the dairy aisle and a bunch of dairy-free options were jumping out at me. I saw Daiya shreds (and I think another brand), a variety of different soy yogurts, butter alternatives, ice creams, etc. I didn't get a comprehensive list, but will try on my next trip. They also have a lot of vegan options out there too; one of my favorite snacks being popcorners n_n

Trying out Some Cheese Subs

I was making a bagel today and decided it was a good opportunity to try out some cheeses. Like many, I enjoy cream cheese on my bagels. However, my go to is actually a toasted bagel with butter and cheese (slightly melted). It's like an open face grilled cheese on a bagel. So, you get 3 reviews today!

Chao original slices

This smells fine, kind of like cheese (not bad in any regard). Texture-wise it's a little harder than actual sandwich cheese slices. It melted fine with some heat, but got a bit gummy. It also gets gummy w/ moisture. Flavor-wise, it was meh. I'm not sure what the original flavor is supposed to be, but it was pretty bland. Not bad, just didn't do much for me.

Follow Your Heart American slices

These smelled fine too, more like cheese than Chao. The texture again was a little harder than actual cheese, although not as hard/tough as Chao. Like the Chao, it melted well enough with some heat, although still gummy (not quite as gummy as Chao though). The flavor was a bit better, but that might because they were going for an actual flavor. Kind of like American, although not quite there.

I gave my dog a little piece of each of these. She was like WTF! So...definitely did not fool her. They weren't anything great or special, but I'll probably still give them a chance and see how I feel about them over time. Remember: I was using real cheese just this weekend lol

Overall, they weren't particularly disappointing or anything, and I'm interested in trying the other flavors. They are a bit pricey, and you don't get much in a pack though. I'm also unsure how they would use for sauces etc, but I'm guessing other options might be better

Daiya plain cream cheese

This was the best of the 3 cheeses I tried today. It smelled like cream cheese, had a really great texture, and a pretty good flavor. My only complaint is that I found it a bit sweet. If you've ever had the Philadelphia cheese cake flavored cream cheese, it was more like that than plain. Still good, and would be wonderful in baked goods and desserts, but not quite what I was looking for on my bagel today. I will definitely be using this in the future, for a variety of things from sandwiches to desserts, and I am looking forward to trying some of the other flavors.

So Delicious Cashew Milk Ice Cream & Coco Whip

I meant to start trying out my new purchases last night, but alas we got caught up in game night and I had a burger with regular American cheese. I was looking for a sweet treat before lunch and decided to try out the So Delicious cashew milk ice cream. I grabbed the vanilla, because who doesn't like a good vanilla (although watch out, as they basically have an unflavored version which I almost mistook for vanilla).

Disclaimer: My trip took longer than intended yesterday so things did get a bit melty.

Taste: Pretty good. This was like your standard French vanilla, so a little buttery without a super strong vanilla flavor. Some hints of cashew, but much less than the almond in Ben & Jerry's. I definitely want to check out some of the other flavors.

Texture: Much better than the coconut milk! Maybe even better than almond milk? Or at least comparable. There was that obvious refrozen texture though, so I may update this as I get farther into the pint or when I try a new flavor. That aside, this was a very thick and creamy ice cream.

Overall: I think this is m favorite so far. I am really looking forward to trying some of the other flavors, and to see what new ones So Delicious comes out with.

Update: So I made a bowl tonight and topped it with coco whip. I stand by my previous thoughts. Very thick and creamy (closer to frozen custard actually), and the cashew flavor does come through a bit. It was not jarring though, and I think in other flavors it will be left in the background. As I got farther in the texture was definitely better but still thicker and heavier than expected (this was not due to melting though as I hit the middle of the pint)

As for the coco whip...this is great! I am a little disappointed it's more like cool whip than whipped cream, but from what I've read coconut whipped cream lasts about 2 days in the refrigerator. That being said it's got a great creamy texture, even better than cool whip. It definitely tastes like coconut though (although not as strongly as I anticipated), so if you don't like coconut flavor this is not for you. I love coconut and was very pleased. This was a great topping to my cashew ice cream, and actually melts better than regular whipped cream.



I'm sure I'll review other brands/types over time, but this concludes a pretty good summary of my experiences. I'm not sure if I'll give soy ice cream try...my brother also has dairy problems, is allergic to soy, and there is a small correlation between the 2 so I am not planning to up my intake drastically. I may attempt rice milk, and others as they become available. I am also planning to do some experimenting on making my own and will share those results on the blog.