I hit the Irish Jackpot last week I won Gaby’s Give Away for Kerrygold products.
It was St. Paddy’s Day last week, and I guess I had the luck of the Irish on my side because there was:
Cheese galore
And an amazing cookbook. It’s a beautiful, hardcover, book with great photos and recipes inside.
I was seriously blown away by the generosity of Kerrygold’s “prize pack”. They overnight, refrigerated shipped everything to me in California. I have won a fair number of give aways over the past couple years blogging and have hosted at least 75 give aways for my readers on my own site, and this give away was definitely top shelf.
Thanks, Gaby and Kerrygold!
With all that cheese, I think I can make some Vegan Fajitas with Sweet Ginger Lime Dipping Sauce. Obviously they won’t be vegan if I add cheese with dairy, but you could always add vegan cheeze, too.
These fajitas use mushrooms. But feel free to use tofu. I just recently had ‘shroom cravings so am all about them lately.From my last post about my rainy day coffee meetup with Amber, and cookies vs. cookie dough, it seems most of you love your cookie dough. If we all love cookie dough so much, why do we even bother baking the cookies? Because lots of you said you do enjoy the baked cookies, too. Not just dough.
Questions:
1. Do you like cheese?
I loved cheese before I stopped eating it about 7-8 years ago. I used to eat any and all types of cheese.
I’m pretty sure Triscuits + Cheese + Wine was dinner at least twice a week in my early 20s. And honestly, those were great “dinners” and memories.
2. If you don’t like or eat cheese, why not?
For most of my life, I have eaten a largely plant-based diet. Vegetarian, vegan, or pescatarian. I dislike labels and since we are all on our own journey, and life ebbs, flows, evolves, and changes, we ought to be present and aware of what will work for us as life and our needs and desires change.
Growing up, even as a small child, I never liked or ate red meat or pork. I ate very limited amounts of poultry and did enjoy fish. However, I have food allergies, including anaphalactic reactions to shellfish that came on out of no where when I was 24.
Around that time I also felt like dairy was also a culprit and I eliminated dairy, including cheese, from my diet.
However, in recent years, it seems that dairy in trace/smaller amounts such as in butterscotch chips or in white chocolate in desserts or in cream in coffee, I don’t seem to have any issues or reactions. I haven’t tried eating cheese though.
No issues with the butterscotch chips in No Bake GF Peanut Butter Marshmallow Bars with Chocolate Frosting
Maybe in small amounts, my body is ok with dairy?
3. If you’re dairy free or vegan, do you miss cheese? Do you miss dairy? Would you miss dairy if you were to give it up?
Many people say they could never go vegan because they’d miss dairy, cheese, yogurt, and such. I’ve said before I really don’t miss cheese or dairy (aside from the traces that I have in recipes). Until I open my refrigerator and see all the cheese I just won.
Or walk around my neighborhood and see people drinking wine and eating cheese. I guess perhaps I miss the memories.
I know we don’t “need” dairy. I did a post on it. Dairy FAQ’s, Calcium, Myths, Recipes. But I do think I “need” white chocolate in my life.
I love nutritional yeast for all it’s cheezy vegan-ness. I have a nooch recipes post with about 15 cheezy recipe ideas but let’s face it, cheeze is not cheese.
Do you eat cheese? Or dairy? Would you miss it if you didn’t eat it?
Congrats on your win–what a very generous haul!
It’ll be really interesting to see how you feel with some cheese: since it seems like you have good memories associated with it, and a positive attitude about it, I bet you’ll be fine.
I actually really dislike cheese and butter–and pretty much always have–there’s something really unpleasant to me in the taste and smell. When I lived in HI and was around goats, I enjoyed goat cheese, though, so maybe it’s just something about the cow…
I have a funky diet now, pretty much vegan with fish. I went off dairy since I determined that was the cause of my gassy, bloated cramping stomach, and I can tell when I eat it now. Supposedly I am slightly intolerant to casein, but I find I feel the best just not eating it. Yes, I do miss cheese, but I find other things to supplement my craving. Sorbet=Ice cream, hummus=sour cream, almond milk=skim milk, TJ chocolate=chocolate, and the list goes on. It’s not a perfect science for me, but I usually can find something that will fix the craving. Thanks to Averie I have used the PB cups which REALLY do it for me, and so many other recipes she has posted.
i just gave up cheese in january, and aside from a few slip-ups (nachos are my favorite food EVER! ugh!) I have pretty much stuck to it My body has felt TONS better in doing so, and after my few slip-ups I noticed I was feeling icky, gassy and bloated. Obviously the no-cheese is working so I’m sticking to it. :)
I never thought I could give up dairy. After reading the China Study I did and about 2 months later the thought of eating cheese or any dairy turned my stomach. It has been almost 3 years and I don’t ever see myself going back. Just the smell of dairy makes my stomach feel funny. Strange how your body changes and is more sensitive to things.
I very occasionally eat yogurt and cheese…but if it’s unfermented (milk, ice cream, etc), it will give me a stomach ache!
It’s been years since I’ve had any dairy and probably 20 years since I’ve had any actual cow’s milk. I don’t miss it at all! I was never a big fan of cheese to begin with so it wasn’t difficult to eliminate it, and as far as milk for smoothies or recipes, I use almond milk. Every now and then I miss frozen yogurt, but if I wanted it badly enough, I’d have some. With a side of lactaid. ;)
that collection of cheese looks aaamazing!! congrats girl!!
i LOVE cheese! but i’m lactose intolerant! LOL luckily a couple bites of cheese here and there don’t kill me. wheww. i do love goat cheese too! i eat that more often than cow cheese. i can’t drink milk at all. but loving my nut milk selection anyways. cow’s milk sounds so weird to me and it has funk smell.
that’s great that you can still eat bits of pieces of white chocolate!! :)
Cyclic food allergies (which account for 80-90% of them) are different than fixed allergies. Most of the time, allergenic foods can be reintroduced to people with food allergies after a period of elimination, and in smaller amounts they may not cause symptoms. It depends on a person’s overall toxic load (stress, environment, genetics, and dietary toxins) and that determines whether or not they show symptoms. So the good news is, most people with allergies don’t have to give up the food they are allergic to forever if they don’t want to!
Intolerances are different than allergies because they don’t involve immune reactions and they have to do with a lack of enzymes. Digestive enzymes can help with this.
Anyway, sorry to regurgitate bits of info from school, but I find it interesting, and I know it is personally relevant for you as well. I’ve had problems with dairy my entire life, but now I can eat small amounts of goat cheese (which I LOVE), goat yogurt, and kefir. The body’s ability to heal itself is really quite fascinating. Not trying to encourage anyone to start eating anything they don’t want to or have bad reactions to…just thought it might be of interest :)
Hayley, awesome comment.
Allergies vs intolerances. I knew most of what you wrote; you just stated it very succinctly and thanks for the refresher :)
Don’t eat it, don’t miss it.
I never used to have reactions to dairy in my pregan days but one day I got a soy latte from Starbucks and they, for some reason, but whipped cream on top. I scooped it off the top because I didn’t want to act like a priss but I got sick after, and I’m sure it’s because of the trace amount of whipped cream.
I do agree with you on “missing the memories”. I don’t eat dairy or other animal products, and my families diet is heavy in these foods. They are total foodies, and appreciate the good stuff (my dad would go crazy for all those cheeses you acquired) but because of that there’s definately a bit of a boundary when they’re chowing down on some filet or the classic cheese, grapes, and crackers, and i’m munching on a veggies. It’s definately the unifying tradition that I miss rather than the food itself. Although sometimes, (I can’t lie) some smoked gouda or brie looks sooooo good to me. Enjoy!
Oh. My. GOD. !!!! :shock: You did hit the jackpot!! That’s an amazing prize!! Intolerance or not, I’m be ALL over that, LOL. I’m naughty!
I’ve heard that people that give up gluten can often introduce dairy back into their diet after 6 months or so. Maybe you can tolerate it now that your tummy is healed?
I didn’t know that Kerrygold made cheese until recently. Now I’m on a mission to find it. Of course, I am probably dairy-intolerant, too. I’m probably just prolonging the inevitable. Sigh.
Healing thy gut, moderation, probiotics, time, yes…all are factors into being able to handle some trace dairy for me without going into reaction hell!
I love how you reminded us not to be defined by labels in our diets. Amen. I have also noticed that food reactions/intolerances may vary with whatever is going on inside our body at the time. I’m super sensitive to soy products, but it has waned over the past year or so. IMO due to a reduction in stress and inflammation. I’m still pretty careful about my intake, but if I accidentally ingest something with soy it’s not a huge crisis anymore. Sure do miss Chinese food though! xoxo
Ah, I’m so jealous! I actually just applied to work in the cheese section at whole foods because I love trying new kinds. We actually have some kerrygold cheddar in our fridge right now — we grated it onto our stir-fry last night. enjoy your cheesiness!
Omg, Kerrigold cheese is amaaaaazing. I love love love cheese. As far as I can tell it doesn’t affect me much (if it all), but I don’t eat it all the time, so it’s more of a treat for me!
Unfortunately, I love cheese. I limit how much of it I eat, but have never been able to completely eliminate it from my diet.