No soy, no dairy
January 30, 2010 5:11 PM   Subscribe

Give me your no-soy, no-dairy recipes!

I'm a nursing mother and I've recently had to stop eating all soy and dairy products because the baby seems to be sensitive to proteins in both soy and dairy. We are trying to maintain a largely vegetarian diet, but it's getting really really difficult without access to cheese, tofu, and tempeh. We have been eating LOTS of legumes, grains, vegetables, and nuts, but a) these meals are sometimes too time-consuming to make, and b) I'm ALWAYS really hungry.

So . . . I'm looking for soy- and dairy-free vegetarian meal and snack ideas and recipes. Known examples of soy- and dairy-free cookies/snacks that can be bought in stores would be appreciated too.
posted by agent99 to Food & Drink (24 answers total) 14 users marked this as a favorite
 
Don't know if it's suitable but:

Chop up a couple of onions, fry till they're kinda limp, add unrefined (cane?) sugar, stir untill it caramalises, add a bit of salt and voila, really nice to add to pasta. Add some chilli to yours, it complements the sugar.
posted by Jazzwick at 5:20 PM on January 30, 2010 [1 favorite]


Here are some cookie balls I made for the holidays; the recipe is on a number of cookbook sites. A crumbly treat that has a melt-away dusting of sugar. And since it's one of these 'chill dough before using' recipes, you can keep some in the fridge for the next batch a few days later. Use margarine, not butter, and it should fit your requirements.

Mexican Mocha Balls

PREP: 40 MIN fridge Time: 1 hour baking: 20 MIN Makes: 84 bals

2 cups (500 mL) all-purpose flour
1/4 cup (50 mL) cocoa powder
1 tsp. (5 mL) instant coffee granules
1/4 tsp. (1 mL) salt
1 cup (250 mL) butter or margarine, at room temperature
1/2 cup (125 mL) granulated sugar
1 tsp. (5 mL) vanilla
1/3 cup (75 mL) superfine granulated sugar

1 | In a medium bowl, stir flour with cocoa, coffee and salt.
In a large bowl, cream butter, sugar and vanilla until well mixed.
Gradually beat in flour mixture.
2 | Shape dough into a ball, then flatten slightly into a disc.
Wrap with plastic wrap and refrigerate 1 hour.
3 | When ready to bake, preheat oven to 325°F (160°C). Shape
into 1-in. (2.5-cm) balls. Place on ungreased baking sheet.
Bake in centre of preheated oven 20 min. Remove from oven.
Let stand 2 min. on baking sheet, then while warm but not hot,
roll in extra-fine sugar. Repeat with remaining dough.

TIP: To make your own superfine or extra-fine granulated sugar,
whirl granulated sugar in a blender or food processor until powdery.
posted by Hardcore Poser at 5:29 PM on January 30, 2010


I'm a carnivore and my girlfriend is a former vegetarian and we both love this and make it a few times a month: Peanut potato stew. The instructions are for a pressure cooker, but it cooks up great in a pot in about 30 minutes.
posted by mikesch at 5:31 PM on January 30, 2010 [1 favorite]


Split pea soup? I imagine you could leave out the traditional ham bone and it would still be delicious (especially if you live in a cold place). It has protein, and while it takes a while to cook, it doesn't seem to need a lot of attention while it cooks.
posted by MadamM at 5:40 PM on January 30, 2010 [1 favorite]


Sorry, didn't catch the bit about wanting cookies to be available in stores. Not sure whether eggs are OK for you, but here's a link to an egg, zucchini and carrot breakfast muffin recipe I'll be trying tomorrow.
posted by Hardcore Poser at 5:40 PM on January 30, 2010


Here's my recipe for vegetarian split pea soup. It's time-consuming, but it makes a big pot and you can freeze the extra in freezer bags so you can have it later with almost no work. Same thing for this spinach-lentil soup, which is very good (I hate onions so I use a lot of minced garlic instead).
posted by dilettante at 5:47 PM on January 30, 2010


Here's a vegetable side dish that can be whipped up in short order. Made this last week, having never cooked kale before, and was pleasantly surprised how easy it was. I recommend adding an extra splash or two of red wine vinegar after cooking for more flavour. Also note that two bunches makes about 8 servings, so you might want to halve this recipe.

Garlicky Kale

Ingredients:

* 2 pounds kale (2 bunches)
* 4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
* 4 or 5 cloves of garlic
* Red pepper flakes
* Red wine vinegar (a splash)
* Salt and pepper

Remove the stems from the kale and chop the leaves coarsely. Wash and drain. In a large pan, heat 3 tbsp of the oil and a layer of kale over high heat. (NOTE: Do not heat the oil and then add the kale… very bad idea). Stir to rotate the leaves. As the kale wilts, add more, until you’ve added all of it. Add some salt, reduce the heat to medium, and cover.

Cook for a few minutes, stirring occasionally. The length of cooking time will depend on the age of the kale. Older kale might need more than 4-5 minutes. If the leaves start to dry out, add a splash of water. Once the leaves are tender, remove the lid and let any remaining water cook away.

Transfer the kale to a warm bowl. Add the last tablespoon of oil to the pan with the garlic and red pepper. Saute for a minute or two. Pour the garlic mixture over the kale and add a splash of red wine vinegar, salt and pepper.

Side note: If you have rabbits, they will go insane for the leftover kale stalks.
posted by Hardcore Poser at 5:53 PM on January 30, 2010


I really like the Newman's Organics Alphabet cookies. They've vegan, soy free and yummy.
posted by vespabelle at 5:55 PM on January 30, 2010


For quick/convenience, I think Galaxy Nutritional Foods vegan rice cheese slices are good (I see them just about as much as the soy version -- but just make sure you get the rice ones). There are also good rice and almond milks out there that can be used instead of soy milk in baking. That's not really meal ideas, though. I'd grab a good vegan cookbook, though, even if you're not vegan (I'm not sure if you eat eggs) to give you ideas. There are plenty that don't rely on tofu/tempeh (since wheat doesn't seem like an issue, I'd look into seitan as your "hearty"/protein meal element. You can make or buy it).

Is any amount of soy a problem? Annie's Homegrown Bunny Grahams have soy lecithin, but it's not a major ingredient. But sadly, I think you're going to find that in a lot of commercial foods.

You may want to check commercially-produced gluten-free foods if you're trying to avoid all soy. It's probably not every gluten-free snack, but I know that a lot people do try to avoid both. (This is a list of gluten-free and soy-free vegan foods which may or may not help you. But searching for "soy-free vegan snacks" basically only turned up soy/gluten free stuff).

Good luck.
posted by darksong at 5:59 PM on January 30, 2010


Esme's Sauce is THE best vegan sauce I've ever had. If you replace the soy sauce with tamari and make sure you have soy-free miso (I like brown rice miso myself), you should be golden. And damn it's good.
posted by mynameisluka at 6:00 PM on January 30, 2010


You may have luck searching for Paleo recipes. The paleolithic diet/caveman diet doesn't use soy or dairy. The Everyday Paleo blog might be a useful place to start, although the paleo diet uses quite a bit of meat. It's by a mom and makes use of crock pot cooking for some things and fairly simple preparation for others. Under the "food" tab at the top, you can also search by meal if that's of interest to you.
posted by BlooPen at 6:04 PM on January 30, 2010


I've appreciated the recent spat of coconut products. Have you tried the So Delicious Coconut Milk, Kefir, and Yogurt (http://www.turtlemountain.com/)? How about Coconut Bliss ice cream?

Kale chips can be made in the oven or the dehydrator (http://fresh-network.typepad.com/fresh_network_blog/2008/11/how-to-make-the-perfect-kale-chips.html) or oven (http://allrecipes.com/recipe/baked-kale-chips/Detail.aspx)

Back when I was veg, I loved Govinda's Pasta, made with nutritional yeast http://www.sattvicfood.com/recipe.php?id=23

There are some good raw vegan desserts out there, but they are pricey
http://www.oneluckyduck.com/

Furthermore, I have some dairy-free stuff on my own site, like chocolate and nut cheese
http://huntgatherlove.com/category/tags/vegan
posted by melissam at 6:10 PM on January 30, 2010


I often recommend ratatouille in cooking threads -- very easy, tasty, and filling. Try it with quinoa instead of rice for extra protein.

Also, this may sound goofy, but try checking out some low-iodine recipes (a short-term diet that's necessary during treatment/follow-up for thyroid cancer). Low-iodine recipes, vegetarian or not, are automatically dairy-free and soy-free. Of course, since you don't actually have to lower your iodine, you can feel free to season with regular iodized salt as much as you like. Anyway, you might find some additional ideas for meals or snacks in there.
posted by scody at 6:27 PM on January 30, 2010


*Grind some salt in, I should say.

Do you live in the UK? Holland and Barret should be up your street.
posted by Jazzwick at 6:36 PM on January 30, 2010


Easy Smoothie: 3/4 cup rice milk, 1/2 cup frozen raspberries, 1 tsp pure cocoa powder. Bled very well, enjoy! It's like ice cream. Or, you could add half a banana and leave out the cocoa powder. Or you could add some peanut butter.
posted by JoannaC at 6:50 PM on January 30, 2010


Pilakhi/Pilaki in any of several variations the internet can give you. Such as: http://culinaryart.wordpress.com/2009/03/22/white-bean-in-olive-oil-pilaki/
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 6:55 PM on January 30, 2010


Oh, mashed potatoes: for 2 pounds of potatoes, mix 4 tablespoons good olive oil and 2 teaspoons ground yellow mustard powder. After you've boiled and mashed the potatoes, stir this in instead of milk and butter. This is slightly altered from Madhur Jaffrey's World Vegetarian, and if you can find a copy of that at the library it could also be a good place to look.
posted by dilettante at 7:00 PM on January 30, 2010


1. Drizzle olive oil, lemon juice, salt, and pepper over asparagus spears and roast at 350 for about 20 minutes.

2. Slice up fresh tomatoes and drizzle with balsamic vinegar and a little salt.

3. Frozen blueberries for dessert--seriously good, tastes like sorbet.

4. Potato & Onion Deliciousness:
Heat a couple tablespoons of olive oil in a saute pan.
Dice an onion (not too small), and when the oil is hot, add onion and saute at low heat until see through or a little caramel, and then smush them over to one side.
Check if you need a little more oil, if so, add some to coat the pan and let it heat.
Dice some potatoes (not too small), add to pan when oil is hot, cook on low-medium heat.
Cover pan for 5ish minutes to let the heat soften the potatoes.
Remove cover, let potatoes cook until browned, turning over every few minutes to get all sides; make sure you rotate the smush of onion a few times so they cook evenly.
When everything looks nice and brown and carmelized/crunchy, mix it all together and enjoy.
*Salt and pepper throughout to taste.
*Can take anywhere from 20-45 minutes depending on how browned you like it.

Optional:
-Throw some vinegar over the mixture 1-2 minutes before you take it off the heat, it gives it a nice kick.
-Mix in other sauteed veggies of your choice--artichoke hearts are good if you marinate them in a little lemony/white wine marinade.
posted by sallybrown at 7:00 PM on January 30, 2010


I just made these pumpkin pie muffins the other day (although I substituted unsweetened applesauce and 2 dates for the agave nectar because I'm not a fan). If you poke around her site, most of her recipes are dairy and soy free (they're tagged as such for easy sorting). I think they are all vegetarian.
posted by smalls at 7:24 PM on January 30, 2010


Also, I enjoy the following snack foods for when there is NO time to prepare anything (both available on Amazon):
Ruth's Hemp Foods bars (good as a snack)
Organic Food Bar (I use the "Protein" flavor for a complete meal replacement - it is from rice protein)

If you like smoothies/protein shakes and are looking for vegan protein sources, then you can get hemp protein powders from Manitoba Harvest or Nutiva. Rice protein from Nutribiotic is also good.

Trader Joe's has a good product list of all their allergens online, and they are very good about labeling their in-house brands. This is probably your best bet for convenience foods.
posted by smalls at 7:43 PM on January 30, 2010


Love this, takes 20 minutes, it's colorful and lots of protein and vitamins. Sweet Potato & Black Bean Chili

You could also sub in seitan for tofu in many recipes you already enjoy. Making it at home isn't hard, and a big batch made on the weekend would last a while. Here's a thread about it. For any recipe suggesting soy sauce, sub chick'n broth, nutritional yeast, or just salt.
posted by fontophilic at 9:15 PM on January 30, 2010


Strongly seconding the So Delicious coconut milk yogurts, they are wonderful!

I suggest you check out the foodlab group on yahoogroups. It's a group of people, many of whom have food allergies of various kinds, who share their experiences and experiments with cooking for modified diets. I know there's a few dairy-free and soy-free nursing mothers on there, so you should be able to get some good help!
posted by Joh at 9:58 PM on January 30, 2010


We have a 3 year old who's allergic to soy and dairy - among other things. We basically substitute rice or oat milk for recipes that require those ingredients. In most cases, it's difficult to tell the difference, as our 6 year old (the ultimate taste tester) will always turn his nose up at food his little brother has to eat.

Lasagne is a good one - the bechamel is basically nuttelex, flour, nutmeg and rice milk; the rest of the ingredients (except the shredded parmesan on top) are the same.
posted by a non e mouse at 10:49 PM on January 30, 2010


I can't eat cow products and I really dislike soy, so we've started substituting almond milk whenever a recipe calls for milk. I haven't noticed much of a difference in baked goods with the exception that the fat content is lower. Blueberry muffins in particular come out light and fluffy and slightly sweet. They're so fast to make, you could have a bunch sitting out whenever you need a snack.
posted by Mouse Army at 4:51 AM on January 31, 2010


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