Sweet Potato Chicken [Recipe]

A while ago my roommate found a recipe for double-baked chicken stuffed sweet potatoes. We've made a few adjustments here and there, and now I have a dairy-free recipe that I think is perfect for a meal. Served casserole style this is a great family meal, or eat it all week as it reheats wonderfully!

Ingredients
3 chicken breasts
3 sweet potatoes
1 red bell pepper, diced
1 onion, diced,
8 oz button mushrooms, diced
2 Tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp cayenne
olive oil
salt and pepper

Directions
Preheat oven to 450 F.
Bake potatoes until soft (approximately 1 hr).
Meanwhile season chicken breasts with salt and pepper.
Grill or cook in skillet with olive oil until cooked through (approximately 20 minutes).
Shred chicken and set aside.
Saute veggies in olive oil, seasoned with salt and pepper, until mushrooms no longer release liquid.
Take potatoes out of oven and scoop soft insides out; mash.
Mix potatoes, chicken, veggies, brown sugar, and spices in 9 x 13 casserole dish.
Bake 15-20 minutes.

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 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!