The one without cheese

It was a sad day when my doctor informed me I could no longer partake in the eating of dairy foods. It was hard enough eliminating gluten from my diet a couple years ago, but now dairy too?! One, two punch! A good portion of my ethnic background is Italian, so cheese, bread and pasta were staples in my home growing up. While I haven’t drank milk in over 10 years, I still ate my weight’s worth in plain yogurt with fruit, and cheese was always my go-to for snacking, salad toppings, pizza toppings, and pretty much everything. Cheese on pasta, cheese in soup, cheese on sandwiches, you name it. Parmesan, feta, mozzarella, provolone, Swiss, cheddar…..ughh just speaking of all the different varieties makes me nostalgic! And bread! Oh, the amazing yeasty smell of freshly baked bread! Put a warm, crusty loaf of Kalamata olive bread in front of me, and you’d be lucky to get half a slice.

Giving up gluten made a world of a difference in my life, so I knew there was no going back. Several years ago, I was tested for celiac, and while I do not have the disease, I do carry one of the two genes that makes me sensitive to gluten and vulnerable to one day developing celiac disease. As for dairy, while I tested negative for milk allergies, I have found that after eliminating dairy from my diet, my sinuses cleared up dramatically, and my stomach qualms were also alleviated to a degree. It has been a bittersweet challenge to give up both gluten and dairy, but I have found some wonderfully delicious alternatives to both!

I last posted about an amazing vegan, gluten-free pizza I concocted with butternut squash and a homemade vegan cheese and buckwheat pizza crust. Today, I have two more traditional Italian recipes to share, both being vegan and gluten free.

The first is another pizza; this time with an excellent pre-made crust from Trader Joe’s. This crust is a diamond in the rough! I cannot explain to you how frustratingly difficult it is to find a prepared gluten-free pizza crust that is void of eggs. Thank you Trader Joes! The prepared crust comes frozen in a pack of two, and they need only be slightly thawed before they can be topped and baked. The crusts are about 12-inches in diameter – not too small, but not huge either. A normal person would probably be satiated after eating ½ to ¾ of a pie, but me….yup, I ate the whole thing.

I top the prepared crust with my homemade tomato sauce and a healthy sprinkling of Daiya mozzarella-style cheese. Daiya brand makes dairy-free-alternative cheeses and yogurts, and while a few of them contain carrageenan, the shredded mozzarella-style cheese does not! Carrageenan, a thickener/stabilizer derived from red seaweed, is known to cause inflammation and gastrointestinal distress, so it is best to avoid such additives. While no dairy-free alternative will ever taste exactly like the product it seeks to mimic, this mozzarella cheese was pretty darn good! If it were the only cheese I was able to eat for the rest of my life, I’d be quite alright with that. Of course I top every Margherita pizza with an abundance of fresh basil.

……And don’t worry, I made my hubs a regular, gluten-filled pizza with cow’s milk mozzarella cheese and good-ol’ pork bacon on top. Utter bliss for him.

The second recipe: lasagna – my first time with vegan lasagna, and it was amazing! I used the same recipe for my vegan tofu ricotta from my previous post, and layered it between sheets of brown rice pasta, steamed spinach, and my homemade tomato sauce. Topped off with some Daiya mozzarella-style cheese, and it was a killer dish! Hubby ate this one with me and enjoyed just as every bit as I did. We certainly did not miss the dairy in this lasagna!

1 Trader Joe’s frozen prepared gluten free pizza crust

½ – 1 cup homemade tomato sauce, to taste

½ cup Daiya mozzarella-style shreds

¼ cup freshly chopped basil leaves

Preheat the oven to 450 F. While the oven preheats, remove the prepared pizza crust from the freezer and allow to slightly defrost. When the oven has reached temperature, place the crust on a baking sheet. Spread the tomato sauce all around the top of the pizza. Sprinkle the cheese over the sauce. Bake the pizza for about 15 minutes, or until the crust begins to brown slightly and the cheese has melted. Remove the pizza from the oven and immediately shower the top with the freshly chopped basil.

10 oz. (1 box) brown rice lasagna noodles (I prefer Tinkyada brand)

3-4 cups homemade tomato sauce

1 recipe for tofu ricotta (see post on butternut squash pizza for recipe)

1 cup Daiya mozzarella-style shreds

3 cups fresh spinach, steamed and drained of excess water

Boil the noodles, according to package directions, but slightly undercook the noodles, as they will continue to cook more when baked in the final dish. Set the noodles aside to cool until they are manageable by hand. Preheat the oven to 350 F. Spread some of the tomato sauce on the bottom of a large rectangular baking dish (preferably glass baking dish). Gently place one layer of noodles over the sauce, until the entire bottom of the pan is covered. Spread about 1/3 of the tofu ricotta over the noodles in an even layer. Cover the tofu ricotta with about 1/3 of the steamed spinach, again, spreading it out in an even layer. Spoon more tomato sauce over the spinach, then start laying down the next layer of noodles. Repeat this layering process, with the final layer being noodles on top. Spread the remaining tomato sauce over the noodles and cover evenly with the Daiya mozzarella shreds. Bake at 350 F for about 40 minutes, or until the lasagna is bubbling at hot.