Dairy Free Friday

Greetings, readers. My this has been a long week. I owe you a recap of my trip to DC, but this week has sort of kicked my butt, so maybe I will get around to that next week? In the mean time, hop over to Becky's blog and check out the video of photos that she put together!! I watch it when I need a little pick-me-up.

I have spent all week in a prep class for the series 7 test, which I take on Wednesday. Please God, let me pass this test on my first attempt. I will lose my mind if I have to study for this for another month. I added up the # of pages read/quizzes I have taken? Oh, it's somewhere in the range of 950 pages. Add in the # of pages I am reading for my CFA and that = overwhelmed/cranky/not-so-fun-to-be-around-Lisa. I am basically the human equivalent of Eeyore.

Anyways. Enough about that. This week I thought I would talk about some of the dairy replacements I've been using since going dairy free last month.

Do you see what I see? Yep, I found dairy free sour cream! Oh vey that was exciting. Note to self: You know your life is a bit lame when you get excited over finding dairy free products... I tried this on a baked potato (total comfort food for me) and it was GREAT!! I swear you could do a blind taste test with earth balance and the average person would NOT be able to tell that it wasn't butter/margarine. It comes in a tub, as pictured above, or in stick form, which is great for recipes as it's tricky to scrape out a tablespoon from a tub, you know? I love this stuff!! Definitely my favorite dairy free alternative out of all the products I am talking about today! This is the dairy free cheese that I used when I made that quinoa lasagna last month. I was really impressed with how it melted and tasted. No, it does not melt as well as regular cheese - it more so melts like reduced fat cheese I would say? But still, it's a great alternative. I had in on salads and that was great, too. Would I eat this stuff from the bag? No, it's not THAT good. And it's not something I really crave like I would crave cheese... But - it's a good alternative!

Last but not least, a milk alternative. I am not a milk person and I never drank milk when I was eating dairy, so I don't drink it now. However, I do use milk in the occasional recipe. Out of soy, rice, and almond milk, I prefer almond milk.

So there you have it!! Lots of great alternatives available for you if you are trying to cut back on dairy! What are you up to this weekend? I have my last series 7 class tomorrow and then will spend the rest of the weekend doing practice exams. I have about 8 to do between now and Wednesday. Thrilling, right?