Calling all non-dairy vegetarians! (Read 1088 times)

Hopefully amongst this group there are one or two of you...I don't know if Claire does dairy or not!? Just have a question. My cooking's taken a turn since not only does my son have peanut/nut/egg/slight milk allergies, but now hubby and I are lactose intolerant. I've been doing really well, but you don't realize how many recipes call for cheese until you can't use it!! I've basically just stopped making recipes that call for a lot of it. I use the soy cheese here and there, but wondering if/what you do when you want to cook something like lasagna? I just can't see substituting the soy cheese in this type of dish; don't think it'd be good. Does anyone have any type of substitue that they used and like that would work well in those dishes that require larger amounts of cheese? (I know what you're thinking Kirsten! You'd *DIE*!! LOL)

Rice Milk. What types of recipes call for cheese? In many cases, you can probably totally omit it.

I would...I'm like a walking Dairy Queen!

mmmm...Dairy Queen... (still looking for that drool emoticon)

Joni, there are a bunch of great vegan cookbooks out there that might help you. A friend of mine used to make a mean vegan lasagna (we've had a falling out, otherwise, I'd get you the recipe), but instead of the ricotta cheese, he used tofu mashed with garlic and some other things. It was SO good. I bet there are some great websites out there with some excellent vegan recipes to help you out. Good luck!

Thanks Megan! Good to know there's hope! When I start using the soy cheese in bigger quantities it gets yucky! Trent, usually it's the Mexican and Italian recipes that I stumble on. I eliminate cheese A LOT in recipes, but those usually require bigger quatities like 1, 2 cups or more. Hubby says that's *one* good thing about this recent lactose intolerance that we both have going- stopped eating so much cheese, but I miss making my old recipes. I used to make some mean Italian dishes!!

my son have peanut/nut/egg/slight milk allergies I could not imagine not being able to eat JIF Peanut Butter... it's one of the high points of life! No Diary? Do you eat any beans outside of soy? Just to mix a little meat in.... I just had horse last week... yum... nice and lean. Why I cannot get it here locally is crazy. They pushed slaughter them here out awhile back... why?

There are actually a lot of traditional pizzas that have no cheese on them. Domino's does not deliver them, but you can find them all over Italy or New York. In Mexico, cheese is not commonly used. The use of a lot of cheese tends not to be traditional to the indiginous cultures, but rather an added ingredient once these things came into our culture.

I am in exactly the same place you are- I am a vegetarian and I avoid cheese/dairy, both because I am also lactose intolerant and also because I absolutely hate cheese, especially the melted kind. I typically just eliminate the cheese from a recipe. I always have though, as I don't like it. I put a meer sprinkling of parmesan on eggplant parm, and I am still often told it's the best most people have ever had. For lasagne, I usually make a spinach one and substitute tofu for the cheese. The spinach helps, I think, to give that ooey-gooeyness that people expect from lasagne. I just have never eaten a burrito with cheese, but I do have a great spinach artichoke dip that has no cheese in it at all (some yogurt, some tofu). And as for pizza, I have only ever ordered it without cheese and I have never come across a place that wouldn't do it. I typically get the extra veggie thin crust, no cheese. But you can do a lot with pizza by putting other sauces on it.

yeah. thinking of a new t-shirt: Will run for pizza, wine, and ice cream... any takers?

I'd wear that. I know backroadrunner would, too. I don't think we're alone, by any means....