Hi there.
My name is Kit, and I’m the writer and photographer behind Vanilla & Bacon. V&B started out as a project about yummy food; about all the things I am allowed to eat, but of course it also started because of all the things I found out I couldn’t eat anymore.
I’ve always thought it would be interesting to try to cut out milk products. I’m not convinced it’s good for humans to consume as much dairy as we do… But then… I really loved cheese and butter and creme fraiche and milk in my coffee WAY too much to make that a reality… But then I started having a lot of problems with my skin and went to see a specialist who did some tests. I told her if she just didn’t take the coffee away from me it would be fine… The answer came back a few weeks later and the specialist told me, that the good news was that she wouldn’t take the coffee away from me (good thing I didn’t know what was waiting a few years ahead) – but we should probably just look at a few other things…. She showed me a long list and told me that I reacted to a lot of different foods, e.g. gliadin (which is found in almost all cereals; wheat, barley, rye, oats), but I should probably also stay away from sugar, alcohol – but most importantly, I should be aware of my intolerant to casein. Um… What is casein? It is a milk protein, ie.; you are not actually allowed to eat dairy products anymore. Damn. It was quite an upheaval, and for a long time I walked around with such a sad lump in my throat, because I felt I had been sentenced to live my life at minus 10%… But then I became stubborn – and started to experiment a lot in the kitchen – what had others done in my situation? And then I had to realize that I probably didn’t need to feel so sorry for myself 🙂 But okay. It’s still boring, because there are quite a few things I can’t eat – but fortunately there are also many things I can eat. And in our time, there are simply so many alternatives to “milk” and “butter”, etc., but you just have to be a little ‘geeky’ to find the tastiest alternatives.
Dairy-free and glutenfree cooking and baking is so easy once you get your head wrapped around it, but where do you start? For me, it started out with the produce… Finding produce, that could enable me to cook and bake something that would taste exactly like (and sometimes better than) the regular produce I was used to. ‘Cause I get it… I have tried so much glutenfree and dairy-free food, that tasted like… Nothing… And it would just be so dry… And then I would think: “Oh… So then I’m stuck with tasteless, dry food from now on? No way!”
Another thing that really opened my eyes, and it sounds so basic now, was this: Every recipe you think sounds awesome, but it has gluten and dairy in it = Just switch out those ingredients with produce that does not have gluten and dairy in them. It’s as if some people think that they need to buy a whole new kitchen to start cooking and baking like this. Take a deep breath. You don’t.
So – why are you here? Maybe you’re right where I started, and you’ve just found out that you have to stay away from dairy and gluten, or maybe both? Sorry about that. I’d love to help you out. Maybe you are actually able to eat dairy and gluten, but you’re just curious to know how your body feels without it – this might be the place for you to start. I’d love to help you out. But you know, you can also switch the other way around; if you can eat dairy, but not gluten, then you just replace all the dairy-free/plant-based ingredients with what you regularly use. It’s just so simple.
And should you feel confused about these recipes you’ve found in here, or have some questions, just write me.
Warm wishes,
Kit
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Reminder:
ALWAYS remember to check the products and ingredients you choose to use. I myself am not allergic to gluten and dairy products, I just suffer from intolerance.
