My daughter was diagnosed with a milk allergy shortly after her 1st birthday. She is now 2 1/2 and has not outgrown it yet. She is a VERY picky eater and is hesitant to try new things. At this point, she consistently will eat chicken nuggets, tofu nuggets, eggs, ham and hamburger (but only if it is smashed down to the size of a pancake). I have tried so many no dairy products from Whole Foods, but I am looking for some lunch/dinner meal ideas that are different from what she currently eats...I sense she is tired of her same old foods.
Does anyone have any meal ideas and/or resources where I could find dairy free recipes?
Also, I would love to make her a macaroni and cheese, but I can absolutely not find a cheese that tastes any good. I've tried the box non-dairy kind from Whole Foods, but found it gross. Does anybody know of a non-dairy cheese that actually tastes good??
I appreciate any ideas you can give me.
Hi K.!
My vegan cousin and my meat-eating, dairy drinking, husband both agree that "Veggie Slices" (by Galaxy Nutritional Foods) are the best processed cheese substitutes! (hubby is trying to cut down his high cholesterol). They can be found in almost any grocery store and they melt well, too.
If you boiled a few elbow macaroni up and melt some of these on top, it would probably taste ultra yummy :)
Take care!
Amy's brand makes a frozen mac & soy cheese that is super delicious. They have a lot of other yummy dairy free meals including pizza. I make mac & cheese using the same cheese Amy's uses. Its Follow Your Heart brand and Whole Foods carries it. I mix the cheddar style with the mozzarella or monterey style with earth balance margarine and it melts so nice. The cheese also shredds well and melts great under a broiler for pizza. I use a site on the internet also for recipes www.godairyfree.org. I make an awesome pasta primavera using silken tofu for the sauce and even fooled my daughter into thinking it was real dairy. The site has tons of great ideas, tips and recipes. Email me idf you have questions my 4 1/2 year old can't have dairy or gluten, so I'm familiar with the challenges you are facing. Best of luck.
Someone told me there is something called veggie cheese and that it was really good. I also saw an ad for it in Parenting magazine. My son outgrew his allergy before we got to try it but I was told it can be found in Stop & Shop. Hope this helps and good luck. FYI...check out Cherrybrook Kitchens they make really good allergen free snacks and some foods. They actually taste good and if you dont tell no one else knows! :)
Oh, good luck, mama! We were dairy-free around here for a while, until my son outgrew his sensitivities. Our meals centered around Asian cuisine - dairy just doesn't figure into Chinese or Japanese cuisine!
Ideas:
ribs and garlic broccoli, with rice
sushi (fill it with mock crab, avacado and cikes for a california roll, or cut up mock crab and mix with mayo for a crab salad roll)
Fried rice
Teriyaki salmon with veggies and rice
You can also take a look on my blog ( www.chowreview.blogspot.com ) Look on the sidebar for the "labels' and click on "dairy free". We have a few recipes there, including some yummy cakes and cookies.
For Mac and Cheese...that's just tough. There's SO much dairy in that. Try doing a google search for Vegan Mac and Cheese - I had a lot of luck with vegan recipes, because "vegan" is hip abd popular, while "dairy free" is still relatively under-researched. ;-) Then, if they cut out things that you don't need to cut out (like eggs or meat), you can just substitute it back in. Here is one recipe that got great reviews :
http://www.recipezaar.com/The-Best-Vegan-Macaroni-and-Che...
Here are a couple of ideas: Chicken breast dipped in Italian dressing and coated with crushed corn flakes. Turkey breast and mushrooms coated in apple cider. Veggie burgers.
The Smartbeat cheese is okay if you have not tried that one yet.
There is a wonderful cookbook that I rely on for many of my kids' meals: "Dairy-Free, Egg-Free, Kid Pleasing Recipes & Tips" by Theresa Kingma. You can get it from her website (just google her name) or on Amazon. I agree, vegan cheeses taste terrible. Her recipes use other ways of making things taste creamy. Many of the soy cheeses contain casein, which is a milk protein. If your child is not allergic to casein, great, otherwise you are stuck with the vegan cheeses. My son loves to eat slices of vegan cheese plain, which completely grosses me out, but he doesn't have the real thing to compare it to and doesn't know the difference.
My son so far has no allergies. I never like anything from a cow so he can try meat and milk but I gear him to non-cow stuff like goat's milk and almond milk. We eat a lot of veggies as I am trying to be a vegetarian again as my son 5 months in utero wanted chicken. We eat tofu and broccoli stir fry, buffalo, lamb, lots of salads, collard greens, eggplant, bok choy, and kale. All this can be stir fried just add rice and low sodium soy sauce. I hope it helps.
It's so important to get the nourishment she's missing; good for you for reaching out. If it were my child, I'd be concerned about replacing the nutrients that she's not getting from milk.
Protein shakes tend to be a great alternative but you have to be careful to pick the right one. Isagenix makes a very high quality shake that has less than .1% lactose and I've found that most people who cannot tolerate milk can use this. ...and it's delicious - my kids really love it! You can learn more on www.Proudtothrive.com
A.
Can she have soy milk? My mother-in-law can't have milk products, so she substitutes soy milk and margarine in all her recipes that call for milk and butter.
My children and grand children are Vegan. I highly recommend "Veganomicron" cook book...I make their mac and cheese and many other recipes. Have you tried HempMilk, OatMilk? both have protein and are good subs for cow milk. Too much soy is not a good idea.There are some acceptable dairyfree cheeses that I use for grilled cheese sandwiches.
I think that Trader Joes has a better selection than Whole FOods.
You might try making some dishes that call for coconut milk (if she likes coconut) -- it will give a rich, creamy consistency that she probably doesn't get very often. I was off dairy for several years and didn't have luck finding any fake cheese that tasted good (oh how I longed for mac & cheese!). But you can make some great stir fries or other dishes with coconut milk, and now there's a new line of products (yogurt, ice cream, etc.) made with it:
http://www.turtlemountain.com/products/products.html
They're expensive but maybe worth if she feels deprived of yummy snacks. Good luck!
Hi K.,
I just found this mac and cheese recipe. I've heard that nutritional yeast creates a "cheesy" flavor (I have never tried it, though.)
Macaroni 'Cheese'
3 cups macaroni
½ cup vegan margarine
½ cup plain flour
3½ cups boiling water
1½ teaspoons salt
1½ teaspoons garlic powder
Pinch turmeric
2 tablespoons dark soy sauce
¼ cup oil
1 cup nutritional yeast flakes
Paprika
Pre-heat the oven to 375.
Cook the macaroni as instructed on the packet. Drain and set aside.
Melt the margarine. Stir in the flour and mix, over a low heat, until you have a smooth paste. Mix the salt, garlic powder, turmeric and soy sauce with the boiling water and gradually add to the pan, stirring constantly until you have a smooth liquid. Return to the heat and bring to the boil, stirring. Remove from the heat and whisk in the oil and yeast flakes.
Place the macaroni in an ovenproof dish. Stir in most of the sauce. Pour the remaining sauce on top and sprinkle with paprika. Cook in the oven for about 15 minutes then finish off under the grill for a few minutes. Serve with a green salad.
Also, have you offered your daughter hummus and avocado? She could dip veggies, bread, etc. in either - that's a meal in itself. If she's not allergic to nuts, almond butter is a good, easy option too. Other people have already mentioned stir fry recipes and rice (brown is best) which is relatively easy & tasty to make. You could substitute quinoa for the rice. Quinoa is a good calcium and protein source...fruit salad with lots of berries, sauteed spinach (or some other leafy greens), it sounds gross (to me) but sardines are a good calcium source if she eats fish...
If she's a picky eater it's not going to be easy, but all you can do is offer her different, nutritious food and eventually she will eat it! My son is almost 2 and he has turned into a grazer rather than a "sit down 3 times a day meal eater," so if your daughter is the same, offer her mini meals throughout the day.
I am a holistic health counselor - feel free to send me a message if you'd like some more food ideas.
Good luck~
A.
My daughter is allergic to dairy and eggs. She likes roasted fish, pasta with tomato sauce, chili (which we can freeze for weeknight dinners) and lentil/vegetable soup (I stock several cans of organic, low-sodium soup for days when I don't have time to pull together a hot lunch). We also eat a lot of Asian food (any kind of noodles is always a big hit), because it is all pretty much dairy-free, although not always egg-free. Cuisines that use a lot of olive oil rather than butter are good too, like Mediterranean (Greek, Southern Italian)...just leave out the cheese. Also Middle Eastern food is often safe too for us.
