Oh food! Why hast thou forsaken me?
Why is it that fate would give a foodie a food intolerance? It’s like making a panda allergic to bamboo! Well, probably not that dire, but you get the point. My body has decided it’s had enough of dairy and foods with a high fat content, and wants me, the owner of said body – to become a hippy, eat soy, grow my hair, follow rainbows and butterflies and dance with the gazelles. Place the proverbial flower in the barrel of the Dairy rifle.
I had other plans, but unfortunately my body had spoken and put it’s foot down. So I must accommodate it I guess. And I’m feeling better for it. It took a long time to work out what was causing the issues – to the point where I went to a gastroenterologist. They did a huge number of nasty tests, but never asked me about my food intake. Why not? They found ‘nothing wrong’ with me and sent me on my way. They symptoms persisted, so I’ve had to work this all out on my own. I’m still working it out. And from speaking to others about food intolerance, most often the ‘patient’ has to work it out themselves.
I’d love to hear how other people have dealt with food intolerances in the comments section.
So no more milk on my weet-bix in the morning, I’ve started to drink soy milk. No more icecream – soy icecream. Well… soy everything. I’m yet to try rice milk and oat milk. I’ve heard it’s ok – I should give it a go. And so this is how I came to making this recipe. My dear friend Josie created a little recipe book for her very extensive family for christmas last year – one recipe for each family member. She thought I might like a copy too. Her mum is vegan so she put this recipe in here for her. It’s really easy and very tasty.
I could only find ’silken firm’ tofu in the 4 shops I checked in. I thought that was a contradiction in terms! It worked ok, but was a little grainy. I’ll endeavour to find the silken stuff next time.
Serves 4-6. This stuff is SERIOUSLY rich. You won’t need much.
Ingredients
1 pack of Silken Tofu
1 block of dark chocolate
2 capfuls of liqueur eg. Tia Maria, White chocolate liqueur
Method
1. Blend the tofu until it becomes smooth
2. Melt the chocolate and add it to the Tofu
3. Add the liqueur
4. Blend again until it comes together
5. Spoon into serving dishes and pop in the fridge for 1 hour to set.
I served mine with a drizzle of golden syrup – that was because I used VERY dark chocolate. Next time I’ll use a lighter chocolate.
I keep seeing this on my RSS feed and suddenly get a strong urge for a major chocolate craving!!!
Actually, Sarah, it’s so funny – I can’t believe i was stupid on our last cook-up to discuss this further! When mum was diagnosed with breast cancer a few years back, we both went off dairy for about 6 months (long story, apparently there’s some dairy/breast cancer link, but I don’t really want to go into all the reasons in this forum). Suffice to say, we went dairy cold turkey!
It was horrific, for you know my love for food, and that I probably have the sweetest tooth out of the three of us. Here’s some good tips:
- Rice milk is great, and so is oat milk (i think we DID speak about this)
- Nuttelex and olive oil can be pretty much substituted in almost any dish for butter – this worked when baking, frying and casseroling – anything that really needs a buttery flavour, go the nuttelex; anything that is really just seeking a fat to cook with, go with the olive oil
- Mototo makes the MOST AMAZING dairy-free, soy-free and gluten-free ice cream in a variety of great flavours. Better yet, I think Mototo might even be a Brisbane brand! I know you can get their ice cream at IGA New Farm Deli on Brunswick St
- Soy cheese is really weird “raw”, but actually tastes ok when you make lasagna, although it’s not, unsurprisingly, quite as “soft” as dairy cheese
- All good, proper mayo should be dairy-free – and mayo can make many things AWESOME. Think: chilli infusion, lime infusion etc
- And lastly, you should consider seeing this allergy specialist a friend of mine sent me to. They do a really expensive test, but it’s incredibly thorough, and they can give you an indication of whether you can return to eating some foods, once you’ve had a period of abstinence. Remind me to give you the number
I really enjoyed my dairy-free foray in many ways. Sure, it was a pain in the arse, but it really forced me to think creatively as a cook, because SO MANY THINGS contain dairy! My favourite go-to cuisine was Thai, but with a bit of confidence, you can give everything a go!
Go hippy cooking!
Oh this sounds fantastic! I am sorry to hear you have had to go through so much! Is it helping now that you are off dairy? Our son has had severe Eczema and food allergies/intolerance since he was a baby. It has really tough in the beginning but then it became a way of life. Fortunately however, after seeing all kinds of doctors and doing tests, we were told about Vidazorb chewable probiotics and they have been an answer to prayers! He began getting so much better right away and is free of his Eczema plus he can tolerate so many more foods. I really encourage you to look into this as I have read how much others have been helped too. Hope you feel better!