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Aug. 29th, 2004 05:24 pmDo any vegans read my LJ?
I had to cut dairy out of my diet last November because of Kiera. She was crying all the time and screaming every night for several hours; once I eliminated dairy, it was like getting a whole new baby. She was still fussy and sensitive, but it was a normal sort of fussy. She's almost a year old now, and from what we could tell from some cautious testing last month, still somewhat sensitive. It's hard to know, because a one-year-old still can't tell you what's wrong -- she could've been fussy because she was teething, or had some muscle strain from falling while trying to walk, or any number of other problems. But I'm reluctant to do a lot of additional testing simply because the potential consequences involve pain for Kiera, so I've stayed dairy-free for now.
Well, birthdays are coming up next month. Kiera turns one on September 18th, and Molly turns four on September 20th. Molly wants chocolate cake. Ice cream in some form, of course, is mandatory.
Of the various soy/rice/non-dairy faux ice creams out there, which is the closes to palatable? Lately we've tried two, the Tofutti vanilla and the Oatscream vanilla. Both were horrible. The Tofutti just about knocked me out with the overpowering smell of fake vanilla; the Oatscream was bland and textureless with a metallic aftertaste. I've had some absolutely fantastic fruit sorbets, so I may end up just going with a fruit sorbet on the chocolate cake. But if there's a vanilla out there that doesn't suck, it would be nice to know about it. Anyone know of one?
Interestingly, I've had some parve (kosher non-dairy) desserts with egg in them that were absolutely fantastic, including some eclairs that were some of the best eclairs I've ever had, period. I suspect it would be possible to make a damn good parve faux ice cream, but then you'd lose the vegan market.
(I swear that manufacturers think that vegans want things to taste bad. No, really. I bought a chocolate-chip macadamia nut vegan cookie the other day and it was wretched. And this isn't because a vegan cookie has to taste bad. I know this because you also aren't supposed to feed eggs to babies under age 1, and Kiera gets very sad when we bake things and don't let her eat any, so I've made all sorts of vegan baked goods using soy milk and egg replacer, and either Crisco or margarine from the Co-op. My vegan chocolate chip cookies are delicious. Maybe not quite as good as the kind with butter, but I really don't think you'd miss the eggs. So why was the one I bought the other day so horrible? "They think vegans are masochists" is the best theory I've come up with.)
The Oatscreme carton had this silly line like, "FINALLY! You can satisfy both your desire for sweets and your desire for healthy food!" If I ever formulate and mass-market a dairy-free ice cream with eggs in it, the label will say, "You aren't trying to cut your calories, and you aren't trying to eliminate fat -- you just have to avoid dairy products! Finally, a non-dairy ice cream that TASTES LIKE ICE CREAM!"
I had to cut dairy out of my diet last November because of Kiera. She was crying all the time and screaming every night for several hours; once I eliminated dairy, it was like getting a whole new baby. She was still fussy and sensitive, but it was a normal sort of fussy. She's almost a year old now, and from what we could tell from some cautious testing last month, still somewhat sensitive. It's hard to know, because a one-year-old still can't tell you what's wrong -- she could've been fussy because she was teething, or had some muscle strain from falling while trying to walk, or any number of other problems. But I'm reluctant to do a lot of additional testing simply because the potential consequences involve pain for Kiera, so I've stayed dairy-free for now.
Well, birthdays are coming up next month. Kiera turns one on September 18th, and Molly turns four on September 20th. Molly wants chocolate cake. Ice cream in some form, of course, is mandatory.
Of the various soy/rice/non-dairy faux ice creams out there, which is the closes to palatable? Lately we've tried two, the Tofutti vanilla and the Oatscream vanilla. Both were horrible. The Tofutti just about knocked me out with the overpowering smell of fake vanilla; the Oatscream was bland and textureless with a metallic aftertaste. I've had some absolutely fantastic fruit sorbets, so I may end up just going with a fruit sorbet on the chocolate cake. But if there's a vanilla out there that doesn't suck, it would be nice to know about it. Anyone know of one?
Interestingly, I've had some parve (kosher non-dairy) desserts with egg in them that were absolutely fantastic, including some eclairs that were some of the best eclairs I've ever had, period. I suspect it would be possible to make a damn good parve faux ice cream, but then you'd lose the vegan market.
(I swear that manufacturers think that vegans want things to taste bad. No, really. I bought a chocolate-chip macadamia nut vegan cookie the other day and it was wretched. And this isn't because a vegan cookie has to taste bad. I know this because you also aren't supposed to feed eggs to babies under age 1, and Kiera gets very sad when we bake things and don't let her eat any, so I've made all sorts of vegan baked goods using soy milk and egg replacer, and either Crisco or margarine from the Co-op. My vegan chocolate chip cookies are delicious. Maybe not quite as good as the kind with butter, but I really don't think you'd miss the eggs. So why was the one I bought the other day so horrible? "They think vegans are masochists" is the best theory I've come up with.)
The Oatscreme carton had this silly line like, "FINALLY! You can satisfy both your desire for sweets and your desire for healthy food!" If I ever formulate and mass-market a dairy-free ice cream with eggs in it, the label will say, "You aren't trying to cut your calories, and you aren't trying to eliminate fat -- you just have to avoid dairy products! Finally, a non-dairy ice cream that TASTES LIKE ICE CREAM!"
