Dairy Free Milk

Dairy free milk

My son was having some weird reaction and after doing some reading we thought it would be a good idea to give up milk for 6 months. Let me tell you it was hard. I did not realize how many things had milk. It was not too bad finding a milk to add to pancake mix or smoothie but to find something good enough to drink straight was something else. What made it a little harder is that my other son is allergic to tree nuts. Yes – tree nuts, basically any nut (walnuts, pecans, pistachios, almonds, macadamia) but peanuts. Its not too bad compared to many other allergies actually. My younger son and I like almond milk but my older could not have that, so initially I just made two sets of stuff one with regular milk and another with the almond milk. Then I started buying hemp milk, so for cooking I would use hemp and for cereal or straight up we just picked whatever carton we liked. That arrangement worked pretty well – except for the space all the cartons took in the fridge! Now cheese was harder, we really did not find something we really liked so we just learnt to do without it. After 6 months we figured it was not diary and my son thankfully and cheerfully chugged that first cup of all-dairy-milk down fast.

I digress, back to rating the dairy-free milk from my favorite to the least liked:-

1. Almond milk (creamy and mild in flavor)
2. Hemp milk (not as creamy but thick enough – no flavor so was great for batters)
3. Coconut milk (disappointed it did not taste anything like coconut)
4. Soy milk (too much flavor but was creamy)
5. Rice milk (watery and mild)
6. Oat milk (watery and blah)

There you have it! My winners!

An easy three shaped race track cake

My son was about to turn 3 and I had a week decide what cake to make. He loves race cars – specifically Lighting McQueen from Disney Cars. But I knew better than to attempt making a car shaped cake – especially considering this would be my first time decorating a cake. A plain ol’ round or square cake sounded too boring for a kids party and buying a number or car shaped pan seemed like a waste.

Well why not cut out a ‘3’ shaped cake. Nah – too much crumbs which could make decorating difficult. And then it struck me! How about making a 3 shaped cake pan. No, I do not do metal work – but stay with me. Take 2 round cake pans and place empty can in each and pour the batter around them.

So you have two loops and join them to make a 3.

Have a look at the pictures, it will make a lot more sense. Note, I placed potatoes in the cans to weigh them down and have baked potatoes too.

I put a layer of buttercream all over the cake. I then used cookie crumbs over the cake to make it look like a road. My older son then decorate the sides and top with candies. Yes when your kids help it will be a wee bit messy but it was having a perfect cake or having a pretty good cake with a happy son.