Picking Up Subsitutions

Ignore the boiling pot in the background. If you follow me on Facebook, you know I am prone to make batches of soup in the middle of the night.

I wanted to make sure I followed up on my migraine diagnosis that I received last year. I am still learning to live dairy free, but I’m happy to say that I am finding some really good alternatives to the dairy products that I love and miss so dearly.

Last month, I attended a healthy cooking class in Hixson, TN that was sponsored by the Seventh Day Adventist Church whose members are primarily vegan. Even though I don’t have plans to go fully vegan, I do think we should eat more meat-free meals than we do and because of my dairy-migraine issue, I need to learn to cook dairy free. There is no better place to learn that than in a vegan kitchen.

So, let me run through with you some of the dairy substitutes that I have either already tried or am about to try.

• Milk--I gave up regular milk years ago and started drinking Soy Milk. For the past few months, I have preferred Almond Milk. Both are great alternatives. I have had no problem substituting them in recipes other than having to account for the sweeter taste. Regardless of which I pick up, I always go for the Silk brand.
• Cheese--When I was in Virginia, I discovered a pizza place that had vegan pizzas. I fell in love with the cheese they used and by calling the restaurant and researching through Google, I found that I could buy this cheese in the store. The brand is Daiya and it melts so perfectly. I have used it for everything, including grilled cheese sandwiches.
• Vegan cream cheese--This particular brand is the best that I have tried and I am loving it on everything. Remember my sexy breakfast?
• Sour cream--I have not tried this Better Than Sour Cream yet, but I have a couple of recipes that recommend it so I will be trying this soon. I have the Tofutti brand.
• Ricotta Cheese--this is also made by Tofutti and I have yet to try it. A friend bought it for me to try after I was talking about finding substitutes to allow me to make my favorite lasagna roll recipe.--more on that in a bit.
• Tofu--During the healthy cooking class, the instructor showed us exactly how to use Tofu as a substitute for ricotta cheese. This was the first thing that I tried following the class and it worked perfectly. My favorite lasagna rolls are back on my frequent meal list.
• Yogurt--So Delicious is the best brand for dairy free ice creams and yogurts. I was thrilled when I ran across this greek style version in the store. I ate some of the plain this morning with some of my homemade granola. love, love, love!

Learning to cook with a food restriction is difficult but it is doable and the results can be oh-so delicious. And just so you know I’m not kidding--yea, you!--below is a pan of my favorite lasagna rolls, made with tofu in place of ricotta cheese and topped with Daiya mozzarella style shreds. yum!



Even if dairy is not an issue for you, try a few of these substitutions for a healthier eating option.

There is So Much To Say

This past weekend, I drank a little too much wine which always causes me to get a little too sappy. My perpetual state of sappiness led me to sit down and write 15 cards (yes, 15!) to be sent to my fiancé. He will be visiting me in about 2 1/2 weeks and I want to build some excitement for this trip. So, I have 15 very loving and/or steamy messages that will be heading his way. They are sealed, addressed and stamped and I will be dropping one or two of them in the mail each day over the next two weeks.



And one of you will get some cards of your own to send. As I stated in this post, Hallmark has been gracious enough to extend their Vow to Tell Them campaign through me and on to one of you.

Six of you posted comments against one or both of my Hallmark related posts. I numbered you all on a sheet of paper and used Random.org to generate a random number.



And the lucky recipient is Victoria! You can learn more about Victoria here. She is a local (to Chattanooga) author and blogger.

Thank you all for commenting on my posts. And please send a little sunshine someone’s way by putting a card in the mail. And it goes without saying that you will be helping out our struggling postal system.

Hair of The Day-3/24

My natural hair is now long enough to use one of my favorite hair accessories.



Sorry for the quality of the picture. It’s a little tricky getting a back shot from your camera. This is a hand carved, wooden hair stick that I bought years ago at the Chattanooga Market. I wish I could remember the name of the vendor. It’s a very sweet couple from somewhere close to Sweetwater, TN. I remember the last time I spoke with the wife, she apologized because their prices had to go up. They started selling on the internet and the demand for their pieces went through the roof. There is never a need to apologize when you sell quality products. I have had this hair pin for probably 7 years and my thick hair has never cause a problem for it. I’m hoping to see them at this year’s market so I can purchase more of them.

I do love to wear my hair pinned up, especially during the hot summer so you will see more up-dos from me in the near future.



I’m even wearing make-up today. I’m trying out some new products from Mary-Kay. Review soon.