Tag Archives: dairy-free

Sausage & Sweet Potato Breakfast

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Here is what I eat almost daily.  Before I found out I shouldn’t be eating eggs, I was eating this with eggs scrambled on the side.  I love sweet potatoes for breakfast.

Sausage & Sweet Potato Breakfast

Sausage & Sweet Potato Breakfast

1 tbsp coconut oil (or butter)
4 oz turkey or chicken breakfast sausage (I like the gold-n-plump apple chicken sausage)
1/2-1 cup roasted sweet potato*
1/2 cup shredded zucchini (optional)
1 cup spinach
sea salt

Saute sausage, sweet potato, and zucchini in coconut oil for about 5 minutes.Add spinach and sea salt (to taste) and continue cooking until spinach cooks down (wilts)

*to roast sweet potato: Preheat oven to 350. Put 1-2 tbsp coconut oil on baking sheet (with sides) and place in the oven while preheating. Peel and cube sweet potato in 1″ pieces.  Add cubed sweet potato to pan and roast for 20-25 minutes.  Cool and store in refrigerator for up to a week or in the freezer.

I normally roast about 2#s of sweet potato on Sunday afternoons for the week. and shred my zucchini then too.

Mini-Meatloaves & Cauliflower Mashed Potatoes

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So I move on with my food intolerances – I’ve now cut out soy.  seriously. not easy. But I am feeling better!

Here is a new family favorite that we can ALL enjoy.  The meatloaf recipe was derived from The Healthy Gluten-Free Life – Basically a gluten free cookbook that would be vegan if it wasn’t for the meat! 🙂  (no eggs, no dairy)

The potatoes and cauliflower is just something I came up with based on recipes I’ve read.  My kids and husband had no idea I snuck in an extra vegetable and I didn’t feel guilty serving this with “just” corn.  Win-Win!  Everyone clears their plate when this is served.

Mini-Meatloaves

Mini-Meatloaves

For the loaves:
½ yellow onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 lbs ground beef
1 ½ tsp sea salt
½ tsp ground pepper
1 tbsp gluten free Worcestershire Sauce
1 cup tomato sauce (you will use 15 oz total)
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp marjoram
1 tsp dried basil
¾ cup almond meal (Trader Joe’s is the cheapest BY FAR!)
1 tbsp dried parsley
2 tbsp flax meal mixed with 1/3 cup hot water

For the Sauce:
3 tbsp tomato paste
remaining tomato sauce from 15 oz can
3 tbsp honey
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
1 tsp onion powder
½ tsp garlic powder
1 tsp sea salt
pepper to taste

Steps:

  1. In a medium skillet over medium-high heat, sauté onions and garlic until soft. About 5 minutes.
  2. Meanwhile, in a large bowl, add beef, and remaining meat ingredients. Add cooked onions/garlic. Carefully (onions will be hot) stir and combine meat mixture until all ingredients are incorporated.
  3. Spray muffin pans with nonstick spray. Fill muffin pans, just to the tops, with the meat mixture. Press down slightly to level tops.
  4. In a small bowl, combine sauce ingredients.
  5. Place a small spoonful of sauce on top of each mini meatloaf. With the back of the spoon, spread the sauce evenly over each loaf.
  6. Fill any empty muffin cups halfway with water so meat bakes evenly. Bake in 375 degree oven for about 30 minutes, rotating trays halfway through. Meat should be cooked through and top edges just turning brown.

Cauliflower-Mashed Potatoes

Chicken Broth
4-5 Russet Potatoes
1 bag frozen cauliflower
Butter and/or Heavy Cream (or whatever you like to mash in your potatoes*)
Sea Salt
Garlic Powder

  1. Peel and cut potatoes into 1″ pieces.
  2. Add potatoes to pot. Cover with chicken broth.
  3. Bring to a boil and simmer for 10 minutes.
  4. Add cauliflower and simmer for another 10-12 minutes.
  5. Drain off excess liquid.
  6. Mash potatoes and cauliflower.
  7. Mix in butter/heavy cream
  8. Add sea salt and garlic powder to taste.

*I have added heavy cream and butter back into my diet. My nutritionist pointed out that my intolerance is to dairy protein and both cream and butter are just fat. 🙂  But she did recommend using only organic and grass-fed.

Day 1 – Dairy – Egg – Brewer’s Yeast – Pineapple Free

Posted in Well-Being by

I’ve had a hunch for a while that I’ve had some sort of food allergy/intolerance.  My gut has been unpredictable for awhile (I’m sorry if this is Too Much Information).  I started in June by cutting out dairy (I had done a lot of research when we first realized Maria was lactose intolerant and a friend had just found out her family had egg/gluten/dairy allergies as well).  I felt a little better and a skin condition I had improved considerably but did not go away, which led me to believe that I it was an auto-immune thing.

I also went to a couple of different doctors. One suggested I take Miralax every day. Another doctor couldn’t figure out why I was having severe pain in my right side, but after an ultrasound and blood tests, suggested that MAYBE Prilosec would help. I was not convinced either was right.  I am a problem-solver by nature, and I like root-cause analysis…

I did some research to find a doctor who believed in holistic medicine along with traditional therapies.  She was very helpful, and suggested removing dairy and gluten.  But after following up, the symptoms were not better so I decided to take the Meridian Valley E95 test, to find out exactly what I was allergic to.  This was a commitment, because I knew I had to be committed to make changes.

And I got the results this morning.  I was dreading eggs or soy or corn.  I was prepared for dairy and gluten as those are fairly common and I knew I could find a lot of resources to help me.  (as opposed to eggs that I love and soy/corn which is in EVERYTHING!)

So my results were – Dairy – Egg Whites – Brewer’s Yeast and Pineapple.

  • Dairy- I’m pretty cool with. I’ve learned substitutes (although I miss yogurt).
  • Egg Whites – Wow… this one is still hard.  I think I can figure it out.
  • Pineapple – I will miss my favorite Pineapple-Orange Juice and having it in smoothies.
  • Brewer’s Yeast – I figured I was ok. I don’t drink much, so giving up beer or wine or alcohol is not a big deal at this point. But then I learned that it is in Vinegar! And do you know how much stuff has vinegar in it!?  Ketchup, Mustard, Pickles, Barbecue sauce, Salsa, Salad Dressing, Mayonnaise (that has egg too), etc.  What will I put on my hamburger or salad!? oh, and yeast is not a regulated ingredient, meaning food only has to say yeast and not signify if it is Baker’s yeast or Brewer’s yeast (I don’t completely understand the difference yet, so don’t ask me)  Also realizing that alcohol is in many extracts like vanilla!

And guess what I had planned for dinner – meatballs (with eggs) with barbecue sauce (with vinegar) and pineapple.  I ended up eating a baked potato with corn and leftover chicken.  It could have been worse.

Today, I researched and went to the food co-op.  I was pretty sad when I left because I realized what a lot of work this is going to be.

Next steps –

  • taking more time at the grocery store to read ingredients
  • carrying my lunch to avoid eating out
  • probably a lot of online research
  • and going back to the doctor in November
  • remembering to be thankful that it wasn’t soy or corn…

Hopefully I will start to feel better sooner rather than later.  And the hope is that once the body is healed from the damage of the allergies, then some foods can be reintroduced.

Stay tuned…

Baked Oatmeal

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I came across this recipe on Pinterest yesterday.  It fit my new criteria of being gluten-free.  I was able to adapt it to also be dairy-free as well, plus a  few other tweaks based on what I had on hand, with great results. It was so yummy!  I made it last night and then re-heated for breakfast.  It was hard not to just eat it last night, because it smelled fantastic when I took it out of the oven last night. And this morning, it tasted fantastic too! YUM!! And I’m looking forward to eating it again tomorrow! 
Baked Oatmeal

Baked Oatmeal

Ingredients
2 cups rolled oats
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup pecan pieces
1 cup blueberries
2 cups rice milk
1 large egg
4 1/2 tablespoons ground flaxseed
1 1/2 tablespoons coconut oil
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 ripe banana, peeled, 1/2-inch slices

Preheat oven to 375°F and generously spray the inside of a 9 by 9 inch baking dish with cooking spray and place on a baking sheet.

In a large bowl, mix together the oats, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, salt, half the pecans, half the berries, and flaxseed. (Save the other half of berries and pecans for the top of the oatmeal).
In another large bowl, whisk together the milk, egg, coconut oil and vanilla extract.

Add the oat mixture to prepared baking dish. Arrange the remaining strawberries, walnuts and chocolate on top. Add the banana slices to the top then pour the milk mixture over everything. Gently shake the baking dish to help the milk mixture go throughout the oats.
Bake 35 to 40 minutes or until the top is nicely golden brown and the milk mixture has set. For an extra tasty top, sprinkle a tablespoon or so of extra brown sugar.