Dairy Free No Bake Cookies

 We have some food allergies at our house, so more often than not I am baking dairy free.  Most recipes work out just fine by simply substituting regular milk for soy and butter for margarine. Most margarine has a lot of trans fat, though, so I opt for Vegan butter instead. It has no trans fat, less saturated fat than butter and no cholesterol either! 

  When we first realized that we had some food allergies, it was a bit discouraging and overwhelming to figure out what to eat, so for anyone who is just starting out, it isn't as hard as it seems at first. There are so many great products available. I do have to spend a bit more money and shop around a bit more than I would have, but it isn't so bad! My kids can still enjoy the same treats without having the things they are allergic to. 

We do eat junk food around here (more than I would like), but when I make things from scratch I try to make them with high quality ingredients.  These are by no means healthy, but I wanted to share how easy it can be to make simple substitutions and still get yummy results! 

Here is my version of No Bake Cookies without the dairy. 

No Bake Cookies

slightly healthier, non-dairy option

1 stick vegan butter (I use Earth Balance Vegan Buttery Sticks)

1/2 c. soy milk (rice milk works fine too)

2 c. sugar (I actually use Turbinado)

1/2 c. natural peanut butter 

3 c. rolled or quick oats 

4T cocoa

1t. pure vanilla

In a saucepan combine butter, milk and sugar.  Heat until boiling, boil for 1 1/2 minutes.  Remove from heat and immediately add peanut butter, oats, cocoa and vanilla.  Stir well.  Drop onto wax paper and cool completely.

Enjoy!

Linking Up to These Parties:

Crazy Sweet Tuesday at Crazy for Crust 

Sweet Treats Thursday at Something Swanky 

Whisking Wednesdays

My favorite Zucchini Bread

I love Zucchini!! I love it sauteed, stir fried, pan fried, deep fried, in Pie, in Cake and most definitely in Bread. I grated and froze some of our bounty the year before last and some other people's bounty last year. It is a yummy reminder of the summer ahead to pull out a fresh batch of Zucchini Bread in the middle of the winter. Here is my favorite recipe.

3 Eggs
1C veg. oil
2 C packed Brown Sugar
3 tsp. vanilla
3 C grated zucchini
1 Tbsp. molasses
4 C unsifted flour
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
¼ tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. nutmeg
1 tsp. ginger

Preheat oven to 350° F. Beat eggs, add oil and brown sugar, beat well. Add vanilla, grated zucchini and molasses. Beat well. Mix dry ingredients, then add to wet mixture. Beat well. Bake in greased loaf pans for 1 hour. Cool slightly then remove from pans.

♥This recipe is also very yummy for Pumpkin bread. Just leave out the zucchini and add 1 can of pumpkin and 1/3 C. water

Chocolate Crumble

    Last night I was in the mood for something chocolaty and I had an idea. It turned out wonderful!! I call it chocolate crumble. Here is the recipe:

    Chocolate filling:

                1 package (12 oz) semisweet chocolate chips

                1/4 cup stick butter

                1/2 cup whipping cream (I used soy milk)

    Heat Chocolate chips and butter in a 2-quart saucepan over low heat, stirring constantly, until chocolate is melted evenly. Remove from heat and add milk or cream. Mix thoroughly. Let it cool while you prepare the crust.

    Crumb crust:

                2 cups flour ( I use whole wheat flour)

                2 cups oats

                1 1/3 cup brown sugar

                1/2 tsp. baking powder

                1 cup butter

    Combine flour, oats, brown sugar and baking soda. Mix thouroughly. Chop butter into small pieces. Mix with dry ingredients until thouroughly combined. Pour half of th mixture into an ungreased 13X9 pan and pat down. Spread chocolate filling over the top, then cover with remaining crumb mixture. Bake for 30 minutes in a 350 degree oven.

    Allow to cool for about 20 minutes if you want to serve it warm with ice cream or whipped cream. It will be really crumbly. Or you can cool it for several hours and eat is as bars. It stays together well once it is cooled.

Tamales!

We made tamales solo for the first time. About a month ago my friend Vicki taught us how to make them. They were so delicious that I decided to make them to take to a family get together tomorrow.

Up until now, I have been completely intimidated by shopping for, touching, and preparing meat. But having seen it done once by the master cook herself, Vicki, I decided I could give it a go. So on Thursday I actually felt confident shopping for the meat and I brought it home feeling proud of myself. Usually Dave buys and prepares all the meat we eat at our house (except hamburger or processed meats of course)

So Yesterday I was ready to cook it all by myself. I wanted to do it without any help. I touched raw chicken!! It wasn't chicken breasts either, it was a whole chicken! I also touched raw pork roast. I opened the package and I was thrown for a loop when I realized that this roast had a bone in it! I decided that I could do it and I cut the meat away from the bone just as I had seen Dave do before.

After it was all cooked and ready to be shredded, I realized that Vicki must have spared me some of the chicken carcase joys when we did it the last time. I didn't remember seeing the vertebrae and all the cartilage before. I think she must have done all that last time. What a good friend :)

Well tamales are a 2 day process so this morning we did the wrapping and they are still cooking. Here are some of the pictures of the process.

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