Dairy-free ice cream. I swear. (Salted Oreo & Chocolate Peanut Butter)
So far, trying to be lactose-free has gone pretty well. There was a little bit of cultured whey (milk) in the Trader Joe’s Yellow Curry Sauce that Sam and I used to make a chicken and veggie curry over the weekend. And there was possibly some dairy in the chicken with mole sauce that I ate for dinner on Saturday when my sister came to visit. But… that was at a restaurant. Oh well.
The hardest thing is realizing that there’s milk product in almost every flavor of frozen dinner and even in my beloved Lipton’s chicken noodle soup (that might be an “oh well, I’ll eat it anyway” situation)– so many things have at least some trace of dairy. Baked goods. Salad dressings. Sauces. I’m trying to be good for evaluative purposes, but once that passes I probably won’t be quite as fanatical. Because it’s kind of impossible.
But for the time being– man, it’s really hard to tell if things have lactose in them, if you’re not privy to the ingredient list. And– unlike gluten– Trader Joe’s doesn’t have a dairy-free items list on its website. I just find it funny because a majority of the population is lactose intolerant to some degree– whether they know it or not. I don’t know how people with severe lactose allergies manage to avoid the minefield. I mean… I guess they make a lot of their own food.
The hardest thing to deal with is desserts. SO many desserts are dairy-based. I went to the grocery store and got myself some nice fruit pops, melon, and a quality dark chocolate bar with almonds. (One side effect of trying to avoid milk and the processed things that contain it– I’m eating more fruits and veggies and doing more cooking… I feel healthier-ish.)
Okay, now that I think of it– there are still a lot of dessert options. But I’m an ice cream lover. So it was definitely a wonderful splurge to get some dairy-free ice cream at Scoops on Sunday– even if it was soy-based, and sorta made my stomach hurt (dairy placebo effect?). I’m glad I live in a hip part of LA where it’s not hard to find vegan ice cream.
This was going to be a post about what I made for dinner, but I guess I’ll write about that separately.
xoxo…
Posted by yapplebee 
