Happy Halloween

I will make this post short & sweet. Halloween can be tricky for kids (and adults) with food allergies, so if your little goblin is old enough to eat candy but has a dairy soy allergy here are a few candies that might work. Check out Skittles, Life Savers Gummies, Mike & Ikes, and Starburst. Do read all ingredients and triple check for dairy & soy, but I think these will work. Maybe make some homemade chocolate chip cookies so they have something chocolate to eat since most chocolate candy is a no go for dairy & soy allergies. Here is my dairy free soy free chocolate chip cookie recipe: Dairy Free Soy Free Chocolate Chunk & Oatmeal Cookies

Happy Halloween From My Family To Yours!

You can also find me on Pintrest @DairySoyFreeMom

Dairy Free Soy Free "Ugly" Apple Pie

UPDATE: Please make sure to double check ingredients each time you buy. I hope I never overlook anything but it’s possible and ingredients can change. A lot of my posts are over two years old and since I have gone back dairy soy free I have discovered a few items I use to buy all the time that now have soy in them.

Ok let me start off by saying this was not suppose to be an "ugly" pie. I am new to pie crust making, and I am learning pie crust is an art. This pie tasted great, but the crust was not the best looking pie crust out there. I hope the more pies I make, the better I will get at the presentation. I want to have beautiful pie crusts, but for now the "ugly" (but yummy) pie will have to do.

Double Crust Apple Pie

Ingredients:

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup plus 2 tablespoons shortening (I use Spectrum All Vegetable Shortening)
4 to 6 tablespoons cold water
2 cans Apple Pie Filling (I used Duncan Hines Comstock)
1 Egg (just the egg whites)

Directions:

Heat oven to 425ºF. Mix flour and salt in medium bowl. Cut in shortening, using pastry blender (or pulling 2 table knives through ingredients in opposite directions), until particles are size of small peas.

Sprinkle with cold water, 1 tablespoon at a time, tossing with fork until all flour is moistened and pastry almost leaves side of bowl (1 to 2 teaspoons more water can be added if necessary).

Gather pastry into 2 separate balls. Shape into flattened round on lightly floured surface. Wrap flattened rounds of pastry in plastic wrap and refrigerate about 45 minutes or until dough is firm and cold, yet pliable. This allows the shortening to become slightly firm, which helps make the baked pastry more flaky. If refrigerated longer, let pastry soften slightly before rolling.

Roll one pastry, using floured rolling pin, into circle 2 inches larger than upside-down 9-inch glass pie plate. Fold pastry into fourths; place in pie plate. Unfold and ease into plate, pressing firmly against bottom and side. Trim overhanging edge of pastry 1 inch from rim of pie plate.

Brush bottom crust with egg whites.

Fill pie crust with both cans of pie filling.

Roll out top crust, fold into 4ths and cut slits. Roll onto pie and fold top crust edges under bottom crust edges. Press down around pie plate edges. Or if you're like me stitch together pieces because the crust will not fold or roll in one piece.

Then brush top crust with egg whites.

Bake 45 minutes. After first 15 minutes cover pie with aluminum foil (with 7 inch hole cut in center). This will keep the edges from burning.

Hopefully I will get a little better at pie making by Thanksgiving.

You can also find me on Pintrest @DairySoyFreeMom

The Holiday Season Is Upon Us, Let The Craziness Begin

I love this time of year. The holidays are a wonderful, warm, happy time for most people. But with all that wonderful, warm, happy time comes the crazy, hectic, non stop schedule of the holidays.

I look forward to the holidays every year. Being with family, the decorations, and the anticipation of festivities all bring a smile to my face. In all the happiness I forget how stressful & tiring this time of year can be.

Starting with Halloween and the journey to find or make the perfect costume. Then to all the cooking for Thanksgiving (my favorite holiday). Not to mention the stress of finding the perfect Christmas gifts for everyone. I tend to let myself get overwhelmed every year.

I get all excited about the holiday season then stress myself out. This year I am going to try my best to just relax and enjoy my family. This will be my second year as a stay at home mom, but last year I had a 4-6 month old who was very needy. This year with a slightly less needy 16-18 month old, I really hope I can relax and be in the moment more. I want to do it all, but more than anything I want to remember every second of Bel's holiday experience. I know these moments pass fast, and she will be grown before I know it. So I am going to give myself a pass on trying to be perfect and just enjoy my family.

So do you love the holidays? Do they stress you out?

You can also find me on Pintrest @DairySoyFreeMom

What's For Dinner: Dairy Free Soy Free Zesty Crockpot Better BBQ Chicken & Mashed Potatoes

UPDATE: Please make sure to double check ingredients each time you buy. I hope I never overlook anything but it’s possible and ingredients can change. A lot of my posts are over two years old and since I have gone back dairy soy free I have discovered a few items I use to buy all the time that now have soy in them.

I've made crockpot dairy & soy free BBQ Chicken & a form of mashed potatoes before, but these are different recipes. I ended up liking this BBQ recipe more and these mashed potatoes more, my husband agrees.

Zesty Crockpot BBQ Chicken

Ingredients:

6 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
1 (12 ounce) bottle barbeque sauce (I used Garland Jacks Hickory Spice)
1/2 cup Italian salad dressing (I used Hidden Valley Farmhouse Originals)
1/4 cup brown sugar (I used dark brown)
2 tablespoons Worcestershire Sauce (I used Bi-Lo Brand Southern Homes)

*Check all your ingredients for dairy & soy.

Directions:

Place chicken in a slow cooker. In a bowl, mix the barbecue sauce, Italian salad dressing, brown sugar, and Worcestershire sauce.

Pour over the chicken.

Cover, and cook 3 to 4 hours on High or 6 to 8 hours on Low.

I then Shred the chicken with two forks.

Original Recipe: Zesty Slow Cooker Chicken Barbecue


These are more traditional mashed potatoes. I just eyed the coconut milk & coconut oil, but I think these measuments are close.

Dairy Free Soy Free Mashed Potatoes

Ingredients:

8 potatoes, peeled and quartered
1 cup coconut milk (I used canned)
1/2 cup coconut oil
salt to taste
pepper to taste

Directions:

Bring a large pot of water to boil; add potatoes, and boil until soft, about 20 to 25 minutes.

Drain, and place in a large bowl.

Combine potatoes with coconut milk, coconut oil, salt, and pepper.

Mash with a potato masher to your desired consistency.

You can also find me on Pintrest @DairySoyFreeMom

Three Pantry Staples For Living A Dairy Soy Free Life

UPDATE: Please make sure to double check ingredients each time you buy. I hope I never overlook anything but it’s possible and ingredients can change. A lot of my posts are over two years old and since I have gone back dairy soy free I have discovered a few items I use to buy all the time that now have soy in them.

One of the the questions I get asked the most is if cutting dairy and soy out of my diet meant I had to buy lots of expensive hard to find ingredients. The answer is no. Now if you want to eat cheese, then yes you can find dairy soy free cheese.  Unfortunately it's expensive, and you have to go to specialty stores. But for most recipes there are only 3 pantry items you need to make them work.

First is the wonderful coconut oil. This amazing item is found with the other oils, & most grocery stores carry it. Coconut oil has so many uses, but for cooking it can replace butter in almost every recipe. Coconut oil comes in a solid form (so it's great for recipes that call for not melted butter), but it melts easily so can be used as melted butter on things like popcorn, oatmeal, potatoes, etc. So as long as you have coconut oil in your pantry you can replace butter in most any recipe.

The second staple is canned coconut milk. I like to buy canned coconut milk instead of cold coconut milk because it keeps longer, it's cheaper, and it's more versatile. When you buy canned coconut milk do not shake the can until you know what you need it for. Until you shake the can the top part is thick coconut cream (good for recipes that call for cream), the bottom is coconut water, then when you shake it you have coconut milk (great to replace milk in most recipes). Canned coconut milk is found in the Thai section of the grocery store.

Third is Enjoy Life Chocolate Chunks or Mini Chips. Since all of Enjoy Life's products are dairy soy free these will be the staples to chocolate chip cookies and anything else you need chocolate for. These can be a little harder to find. I found them in the allergy free section at Bi-Lo & Ingles but have not found them at Walmart yet.

If you keep each of these staples in your pantry you should be able to adapt most recipes (minus the ones with cheese).

Are there any recipes you are having trouble with?

You can also find me on Pintrest @DairySoyFreeMom

What's For Dinner: Dairy Free Soy Free Baked Chicken & Acorn Squash

UPDATE: Please make sure to double check ingredients each time you buy. I hope I never overlook anything but it’s possible and ingredients can change. A lot of my posts are over two years old and since I have gone back dairy soy free I have discovered a few items I use to buy all the time that now have soy in them.

This is a great recipe that takes advantage of fall flavors.

Baked Chicken & Acorn Squash

Ingredients:

*I forgot to picture the brown sugar & olive oil I decided to use.

2 small acorn squash (1-1/4 pounds each)
2 to 4 garlic cloves, minced
1 tablespoon 100% canola oil
1 tablespoon olive oil
4 bone-in chicken thighs (4oz each)
4 chicken drumsticks (4oz each)
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 tablespoon minced fresh rosemary or 1 teaspoon dried rosemary, crushed
1 teaspoon salt
1 can (15-1/4 ounces) sliced peaches, undrained

Directions:

Cut squash in half lengthwise; discard seeds. Cut each half widthwise into 1/2-in. slices; discard ends. Place slices in an ungreased 13-in. x 9-in. baking dish. Sprinkle with garlic and drizzle with 1 tablespoon olive oil.

In a large skillet, brown chicken in canola oil. Arrange chicken over squash. Combine the brown sugar, rosemary and salt; sprinkle over chicken. Bake, uncovered, at 350° for 45 minutes, basting with pan juices twice.

Pour peaches over chicken and squash. Bake, uncovered, 15 minutes longer or until chicken juices run clear & peaches are heated through.

From the cookbook "Taste of Home: The Market Fresh Cookbook" on page 193.

This was not my family's favorite recipe. Turns out we do not care for acorn squash or the work of bone in chicken. Next time I might lower the cooking time, switch to boneless chicken breast, and use yellow squash & zucchini instead of acorn squash.

*If you use a glass baking dish read all care instructions, and never broil food in them or place on cold surface out of hot oven.

You can also find me on Pintrest @DairySoyFreeMom

Dairy Free Soy Free Chocolate Chunk & Oatmeal Cookies

UPDATE: Please make sure to double check ingredients each time you buy. I hope I never overlook anything but it’s possible and ingredients can change. A lot of my posts are over two years old and since I have gone back dairy soy free I have discovered a few items I use to buy all the time that now have soy in them.

I feel like this post is a little bit of a cheat since I'm basically giving you the link to one of my other posts, but I think it's worth posting again for the variation. I made the Chocolate Chunk Peanut Butter & Oatmeal cookies but left out the peanut butter, and they were good. I discovered that you can't really taste the oatmeal, but it gives the cookies great shape. So if you are allergic to peanuts or just not in the mood for peanut butter, try the recipe, the only change is leave out the peanut butter, everything else is the same.

Here's the link to that recipe: Dairy Free Soy Free Chocolate Chunk Peanut Butter & Oatmeal Cookies

You can also find me on Pintrest @DairySoyFreeMom

What's For Dinner: Dairy Free Soy Free Meatloaf with Garlic Mashed Potatoes

UPDATE: Please make sure to double check ingredients each time you buy. I hope I never overlook anything but it’s possible and ingredients can change. A lot of my posts are over two years old and since I have gone back dairy soy free I have discovered a few items I use to buy all the time that now have soy in them.

Everyone has a favorite meatloaf recipe, so I thought I would share my mom's meatloaf recipe. I changed the milk for coconut milk and the crackers for Panko bread crumbs to make this recipe dairy soy free.

Mom's Meatloaf

Ingredients:

1 to 1 1/2 pounds lean ground beef
1 Egg
2/3 cup coconut milk
2/3 cup panko bread crumbs (I use Emeril's Original)
1/2 cup onion (I use about a cup of frozen fajita mix (green & red peppers and onions instead)
1 teaspoon salt ( you can leave it out or salt to taste)
1/2 teaspoon sage
Dash pepper
1 cup ketchup (I use Hunt's Natural)
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce (I use Bi-Lo Brand Southern Homes)

*Check all your ingredients for dairy & soy.

Mix everything but the ketchup, brown sugar, and Worcestershire together and place it in an un-greased meatloaf pan.

Mix ketchup, brown sugar, and Worcestershire together in a bowl and spread about half of it over the meatloaf.

Bake at 350 degrees for 60 to 65 minutes (mine took closer to 90 minutes, take out at 60 and check it) About 40 minutes in drain off excess grease carefully and apply the rest of the topping. Finish cooking, enjoy!

I served the meatloaf with my recipe for garlic mashed potatoes.

Dairy Free Soy Free Garlic Mashed Potatoes

Ingredients:

8 potatoes, peeled and quartered
1/2 cup coconut milk
1/4 cup coconut oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
salt to taste
1 pinch ground pepper
2 tablespoons green onions, chopped (optional)

Directions:

Bring a large pot of water to boil; add potatoes, and boil until soft, about 20 to 25 minutes.

Drain, and place in a large bowl.

Combine potatoes with coconut milk, coconut oil, garlic, salt, and pepper.

Mash with a potato masher to your desired consistency. Sprinkle with chopped green onions if you would like.

What's your favorite meatloaf? Is it a recipe from childhood or one you've found recently?

*If you use a glass baking dish read all care instructions, and never broil food in them or place on cold surface out of hot oven.

You can also find me on Pintrest @DairySoyFreeMom