I can’t believe I have been eating and living dairy-free for 4 mths now. Cheese is one of my weaknesses and I ate it for almost every meal while I was pregnant (that’s probably how I gained almost 40 lbs!). So purging myself from the cow was a total sacrifice. And while, I look longingly at pizza, mac n’ cheese, and butter, I know I am not only taking care of Brooks’ I am also taking care of myself. When I found out Brooks’ had a dairy allergy, I was of course bummed, but I was also kinda excited to try something new.

I’ve tried different receipes and products to help me deal with this new lifestyle and have been pleasantly surprised. One of my favorite discoveries is the book, “The Kind Diet.” Yes. It is a book about vegan living and it was written by Alicia Silverstone (made famous by her ditsy role in the movie, “Clueless”), but the book does have alot of wonderful receipes that are dairy-free. One of my favorites is her fudgy, coffee brownies. I’ve never been into chocolate, but have been known to enjoy a chewy brownie now and then. When I decided to try this receipe we were having friends over, and I wanted to see if they could tell a difference. The brownies turned out so well that my friend asked for the receipe.

This dairy-free season in our life has prompted us to think about what foods we are eating and buying. Even after I have the okay to eat dairy, we are going to still limit the amount of cheese milk, and butter we consume. Recently, we have started to buy free-range meat and I have made it a goal to only make 3-4 dinners a week that have meat. Not only is this healthy, but also it saves money. Last night, I dared to try a vegan dinner and it was so good and easy I decided I needed to do this at least once a week.

Thank you Brooks for making us take another look at the food we eat.