Our CSA goes through the winter, so we’ve been enjoying fresh veggies as usual the last few months. There is less variety, however, and one item that has been in the boxes every time for the last 3-4 months has been beets. We have eaten more beets in the last year than I am sure I have eaten in the entire rest of my life. But we really like them, so it’s okay!
Beet preparation tip: using a black cutting board means no more staining! Here’s a nice pile of chopped beets, and the cutting board doesn’t look like part of a crime scene.
Here’s the finished dish – roasted beets on quinoa with a lemon balsamic vinaigrette.

Brett’s favorite thing to get at Panera is the Fuji Chicken Salad. This is notable since it’s pretty much the only time he orders salad at a restaurant. It’s a green salad with grilled chicken, pecans, cranberries, blue cheese and dried apples.
I had chicken salad on the menu plan and decided to tweak it to copy the Panera salad. Except chopped up and mixed with mayo. ;) Most ingredients I already had on hand, so it was a great way to use up items from my CSA box, freezer and pantry.

Fuji Apple Chicken Salad
2 cups cooked chicken, chopped
1 Fuji apple, chopped
1 stalk celery, chopped
2 green onions, sliced
1/4 c. dried cranberries, roughly chopped
1/4 c. pecans, chopped
1/2 c. mayo
Salt and pepper
Salad greens

Mix all ingredients except greens. Easy to make ahead and refrigerate. Serve over greens and drizzle with a little white wine vinegar.
Brett liked this take on his Panera favorite, and it was perfect as the weather made a nice warm upswing this week. Of course, all these ingredients would be good without the mayo just on a green salad, but this would be really yummy on a croissant for a brunch. And the mayo hit my non-dairy creamy fix. I think I’m going to morph Panera’s Thai Chopped Chicken Salad next.

My ingredient upgrades: organic chicken and veggies, olive oil mayo

It’s been a month since I went off dairy. It’s not my favorite diet modification. But why am I off dairy? Oh yeah, this chunky monkey. :) I think she’s saying, “Stay away from that cheese, pardner, I’m watching.”
Physically, going off dairy hasn’t been too tough. Turns out, I really know a lot of recipes that don’t involve cheese. Almond milk has been an easy substitute for baking. I stopped putting cheese or sour cream on stuff. We don’t eat a lot of processed food, so I haven’t had to avoid too much hidden dairy. I’m careful to read labels.
Mentally, going off dairy has been rough. I like cheese! I want to eat nachos, cheeseburgers, pizza, ice cream, cheesecake… mmmmm. Many of those things, I’m finding I’m not actually missing the cheese when I eat them. Papa John’s pizza without cheese is really not bad, especially when drizzled with the garlic sauce which is actually dairy-free. And when we went to my favorite burger place, I happily snarfed my burger before remembering I’d ordered it without cheese. But I’m not going to try the recipes for tofu “cheesecake” just to quell my cravings; I’m pretty sure it would just be disappointing.
At the women’s retreat a couple weeks ago, there were some gorgeous little red velvet cake bites with luscious layers of cream cheese frosting. I wanted one so bad. Wellll, I really wanted five so bad. But I was good.
It’s most difficult when I’m not cooking. I couldn’t eat the dessert or soup at the women’s retreat, I can’t eat most of the breakfast casseroles at MOPS. I was invited to a friend’s house for lunch, and I felt awkward informing her of my new menu limitations. However, she was very gracious and modified her ingredients for me. She also understood my plight because she has a new baby and had been off dairy for a while as well.
A few cooking wins and fails:
– Things that deliver creaminess without the cream: coconut milk curries, risotto, stuff with mayo
– Soy cheese: doesn’t taste good but is tolerable in small amounts as glue for toppings on homemade pizza
– Dairy substitutes are not “real food:” we try to stick to whole foods or real foods in general. Dairy subs don’t fall in this category, so I’ve been purchasing a few more processed foods than usual such as almond milk, Earth Balance spread and soy cheese.
– Creme-filled cookies: don’t have dairy! Some don’t at least, yay for me! I can have a junk food splurge with a creamy frosting center and no dairy.
– Vegan cupcakes: pretty darn tasty
I’ve found the site Eating Dairy-Free for Your Baby to be very helpful. Dairy sensitivity in babies in usually caused by casein, the cow milk protein. So just switching to lactose-free dairy products doesn’t help, it’s not a lactose intolerance. Levels of sensitivity vary, and I’m thankful Violet doesn’t react to certain things such as the small amount of milk in the breading of a Chickfila spicy chicken sandwich.
So we’re on a dairy-free road, and it’s not so bad. And if you’re curious about what I did with the 150+ ounces of pumped milk in my freezer stash that Violet can’t use now, feel free to ask. ;)