Soy free/Dairy free me

So remember a couple weeks ago when I said I would share my newly revised menu binder?  Well that hasn’t happened yet, and I have felt really terrible about saying I was going to do something and not actually doing it.  But the truth is, we have been going through some pretty huge food changes around here.  Along with some intense reflux, the baby is sensitive to both soy and dairy.   It took me a while to figure it out because every time I gave up dairy I naturally replaced it with a bit of soy.  A bit of soy milk in coffee (which I have now also given up), a bit of soy milk in smoothies, Braggs or soy sauce on my rice instead of butter.  It was really hard to pin the huge amounts of vomiting down to anything… but for now I am off of coffee, soy, dairy, brassicas, and beans.  Between that and a daily dose of medicine for reflux the puking has finally dimmed down to a normal level. 

I cook all the meals (even most of the ones that Don takes to work) so the adjustment has been HUGE.  At first I started to turn to Asian cuisine because that seemed the most naturally dairy free option.  Then I realized about the soy sauce and fish sauce and everything else in Asian foods that have soy flavorings in them.   So I have turned to Hispanic foods.  Many people attribute Hispanic foods with tons of cheese, but actually authentic Hispanic foods have very little dairy.  And they have the added bonus of having TONS of flavor!  So I have been making myself some really wonderful, whole foods recipes!  The only down side I have found so far is that many of these foods are needing to be imported from CA or even farther south this time of year, making my locavore instincts feel a little neglected.  But honestly with how much better it has made Luke feel…  well I am overlooking it until we can start to get these wonderful flavors from our own garden (all of which are planted!!!!  YAY!).

In the process of figuring all of this out, I was going to redo my menu notebook again… but it was SO much work (like hours upon hours of work) to do it the first time and if I removed all the dairy and soy from the notebook I would be starting with less than 2 weeks worth of recipes and side dishes.  So I did a quick Google search for an allergy free menu planner… and guess what?  I found TONS!  In the last two years the menu planning empire has exploded.  There were two that I was seriously impressed with:

Heart of Cooking – It has a whole foods menu planner, a Paleo Diet menu planner and several allergen menu planners to choose from.  We got the free week from them and we loved all but one recipe we made.  We especially loved the Turkey Burgers with the ginger carrots!  That recipe has now made it into our cycle of recipes, and joy!  It’s dairy and soy free.  :)

The Nourished Kitchen – Obviously inspired by a Sally Fallon’s Nourishing Traditions diet, this menu plan has a few things that are close to my heart.  Their ‘waste-not, want-not’ tips at the bottom of some of the recipes make my heart sing!  They give tips like how to use apple peel for jellies and chicken carcass for stock.  A very neat tidbit to add to a menu plan, especially for people just learning to cook.  (I think this menu plan would make a great gift for a newly aspiring healthy foodie.)

We are on the Nourished Kitchen sample menu now, and we have completed the Heart of Cooking sample.  I am already impressed with both sites and excited about the ideas I have gleaned. 

I have been very excited to be able to play with new foods and new tastes.  It has been an adventure, but it is completely worth it now that Luke is feeling better.  So with that said, I will be starting to post some recipes from my new diet.  I hope that you will enjoy them as much as my past recipes!  I can’t wait to show you what I have discovered.