A Month Without Moo

If anyone had told me I’d go a full month without eating dairy, I would have laughed at them. Loudly. I mean, I’m the girl who turned Whole 30 into Whole 4, just because I couldn’t live without cream in my coffee. I am the girl who considersconsidered….considers cheese and ice cream two four food groups (the other two being bacon and coffee). I mean, a life without Ben & Jerry’s? That’s no life at all.

But, I did it. Actually, to be exact, tomorrow it will be 40 days without dairy. And I’m still here to talk about it. So, I figured I’d talk about it!

First off, let me give a shoutout to everyone who chimed in with tips when I originally posted about going dairy-free. The Daiya cheesecake, man. Completely fab.

Cheesecake aside, I’ve eaten some truly delicious stuff in the last month (and a few things that I’d rather not remember), so since you guys were kind enough to share with me, I’m going to share some of the highlights with you.

Straight out of the gate, I knew ice cream was going to be one of the hardest things for me to stay away from. So I didn’t! It’s summerm after all. And, there are a ton of dairy-free ice cream alternatives out there. I tried a lot of them. Some, I threw out, because ewwww. The most popular dairy-replacement right now is coconut, which is awesome if you love coconut, which I do. BUT, not every flavor complements coconut. Chocolate Peanut Butter Coconut ice cream was a hard pass. It just wasn’t right. But, the FOMU (get it? haha!) Bourbon Maple Walnut? Divine. Seriously, see if you can get this near you, and if not, they’ll ship all over the U.S. (If you truly hate coconut, So Delicious Cashew Milk Salted Caramel Crunch does not such at all).

Game. Changer.

Game. Changer.

 

Directly behind ice cream, sits my BFF cheese. And I will say, this one seems a lot harder to replicate. I completely ruined a dairy free roasted veg pizza by smothering it in Faux Mozz (there may have been tears). But, here and there, I found some gems. Namely, the Aged Artisanal Nut Cheese from Treeline. FANTASTIC. It made cheese and crackers for dinner a reality again. A very tasty reality. (Side note, I emailed them to see where I could find other varieties, and they emailed me back in like 20 minutes. I love amazing Customer Service almost as much as I love cheese. Almost.)

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I didn’t realize this going in, but the biggest challenge, by far, has been eating out. Considering that dairy is a significant allergen, I’m shocked at how many establishments don’t know what is in their food. I’m not going to go on a cross contamination rant, but the confused look I get when I ask ‘Does your bread contain dairy?’ is getting annoying. One woman said ‘why would there be dairy in bread?’ (Hint: A lot of bread contains dairy, namely butter, for browning).

And while my state, overall, has many vegetarian and vegan restaurants, the number of them in my part of the state is a whopping zero. Luckily, my hippie sister was more than willing to trek into the city with me to go check out Veggie Galaxy. Primarily vegan, with some cheese and egg dishes (there’s always a vegan alternative), and a full vegan bakery, this place knocked my socks off. I can’t wait to go back.

Eggs Benedict - Poached Eggs, Balsamic Roasted Tomato, Grilled Red Onion & Chipotle Hollandaise on a Grilled Housemade Black Pepper Biscuit.

Eggs Benedict – Poached Eggs, Balsamic Roasted
Tomato, Grilled Red Onion & Chipotle Hollandaise
on a Grilled Housemade Black Pepper Biscuit. DAYUM.

 

Cooking isn’t as difficult as I expected, at least not most of them time. And as if not using dairy wasn’t change enough, my daughter recently decided to become a vegetarian. I’m glad that I’m a seasoned cook, though. Otherwise, this would be a lot tougher.

Sometimes, it’s a simple breakfast…

Vanilla Chia Pudding with Candied Walnuts and Fresh Berries

Vanilla Chia Pudding with Candied Walnuts and Fresh Berries

…and sometimes, it’s a more complex dinner.

Butternut Squash and Black Bean Tacos with Chipotle Cashew Cream Sauce

Butternut Squash and Black Bean Tacos with Chipotle Cashew Cream Sauce

Either way, we’re eating just fine around here.

I’ve got a month left to before the next procedure, and then I’ll find out if I truly have a dairy allergy. When this started, I would have said, with complete conviction, that if it wasn’t a dairy allergy, I would be all up in a milkshake before you could say boo. Now, I’m not so sure.

As much as I don’t love being the person at the restaurant that ALWAYS has to have the manager come over, living without dairy is much more possible than I expected. So, I guess we’ll see. But, I did find out that I’m much more capable of restraint than I’d been giving myself credit for, which was awesome.

So, maybe someday, I’ll turn Whole 4 back into Whole 30. Maybe.

Dashing Diva Ditches Dairy

Don’t you just love alliteration? Clearly, I do!

Okay, so there are two parts to this post, and one of them is a giveaway! I promise, we’re not giving away dairy. Although, I’ve got some nice brie in my fridge…

Ditching Dairy

If you follow me on Twitter (@just_bec_), you may have seen my daily rants about the struggle of going dairy-free. And if you’ve read this blog for a while, you’ve no doubt heard me wax poetic about my love of cheese. So, how do these things go together? Hint: Not well.

Based on a pre-existing medical condition I have, my new doctors recommended doing some elimination dieting to see if we can determine what causes my issues. (That made it sound super ominous and serious, huh? It’s not, I promise, I’m fine!) And since dairy is a common culprit, that is where they wanted to start. Enter me having to give up all dairy for two months. ALL dairy. Even cheese Even ice cream.

I'll miss you, buddy!

I’ll miss you, buddy!

SIGH.

After a few false starts, I’ve made it through two full days. Not easily, and not without complaint, but I did it. I attempted Whole 30 last year, so it’s not surprising to me how many things contain dairy. But I only made it to Whole 4, mainly because of cream in my coffee. I’ve gotten a few recs so far for good dairy alternatives. I already liked almond milk, so that was cool. Oreos are vegan, so that’s a bonus. American Flatbread Vegan Harvest Pizza is pretty tasty, especially if you put pepperoni on it (don’t judge). And I even made some really delicious Dairy Free Banana Chocolate Chip muffins (those actually are vegan, so does that redeem me?).

With all that said, I can’t spend the next two months eating Oreos and frozen pizza. I mean, I could, but I don’t want to. And depending on how the test goes, this could be a very long term thing.

So, I’m going to need a little help here. Anyone have awesome dairy alternatives? (Meaning cheese or ice cream, because no other dairy really matters, amiright?) Or recipes you love that are inherently dairy-free? A plant based protein powder you love that doesn’t taste like grass? Or if you’ve successfully given up dairy, and you have tips to share, those would also be lovely.

Dashing Divas

Let’s move on to more pleasant topics, shall we? Diva Dash!

Shape2

 

If you don’t know anything about Diva Dash, it’s a women only obstacle 5K. Think lots of costumes. Think LOTS of tutus! And some running and climbing on things and fun. And also, think charity. For 2015, the charity partner for the Shape Diva Dash is Girls on the Run. Awesome.

Shape

I’ve posted about Diva Dash before. I did my first Diva Dash in 2012. This was pre-Scoot, so to give you some background, 2012 was the year that I started running. I had been Couch to 5King since February, went to Atlantic City in April and did a 7K while Mer and Cam did the half, signed up for a couple of colorful runs over the summer, and when I saw this video, I knew I wanted to do Diva Dash.


Looks so fun, right? And challenging!

So I signed up, with every intention of spending the summer getting ready for obstacles and running. And then July came. And heat came. And running stopped. And by the time September rolled around, I was not at all ready.

I did it anyway, and it was fun, but by the end I was dying, and literally had medics pulling me aside and asking if I was okay. (I was fine, I just get really red in the face). Not exactly the experience I wanted to have.

Still, when sign up time came in 2013, I jumped right on it, planning to spend the summer getting ready. I think you can guess what happened. I went into the 2013 race with so much anxiety, and I wound up skipping a bunch of obstacles because I was nervous. Again, fun, but not the experience I wanted.

2014, I signed up again, and I don’t think I need to tell you what my plan was, or how it went. When race day dawned and it was 95 degrees and I was still suffering from PF, I just said screw it.

So, when I saw the sign ups for 2015, and I got the urge to sign up, I realized something. Diva Dash is my Moby Dick race. I have to conquer it! And, since I wanted to make sure I stayed good and motivated this year, I signed up to be a Shape Diva Dash Ambassador!

What does this mean for me? It means I’ve really got to stick with it this summer, so I can have the experience I want to have.

What does it mean for you? Well, if you live near (or want to travel to) any of the upcoming race locations this year (Washington, D.C. on 9/12, BOSTON on 9/26 or New York Metro on 10/10), you can use Discount Code AXSCOOT to get $10 off your registration. I highly reccommend Boston, since I live there, and that is the race I will be at, and you can come give me a hug.

And, since the Diva Dash ladies rock hard, they are letting us give away one free race entry! Awesome? Awesome. This giveaway will stay open until 6/19/15.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Good luck, Divas!