Happy Independence Day!

Wally wants you…to enjoy your day.

About Me

I have always known I wanted to be a teacher.  When I was younger, I used to read aloud to my stuffed animals, chastising them for whispering during the page turns.  Teaching was always my passion…still is.

 

But then came food.

 

When I got to college, I barely knew how to cook.  My mom recalls a story where I called her once, asking how to microwave ramen.  That’s right, I didn’t even know how to cook it in the microwave.  In my defense, though, the instructions on the package only tell you how to cook it on the stove.

See? I wasn’t kidding!

 

Then I met boyf. 

Being a poor college student, I took to baking him treats instead of buying him gifts for various occasions.  The look on his face as he took a bite was priceless; he was so full of love and appreciation while his mouth was so full of cake.  I knew then that I wanted to try more recipes, more delicious items I could make for him. 

I began to try out my recipes on my family, too.  My mom made (and still does) the best reactions: gasping, sighing, a variety of mmmm noises, and saying how “terrific” and “amazing” my desserts are, no matter what they tasted like.   She also needed to tell everyone about what I made, and made everyone taste it. 

I started small, using box mixes and pre-made ingredients.  My favorite was my famous ice cream pie: pre-made graham cracker crust filled with a pint of Ben and Jerry’s ice cream.  My go-to was Cherry Garcia, with fresh, sliced cherries on top.  It was very Sandra Lee of me.

A year or two later, I discovered I was severely lactose and dairy intolerant. Womp womp.  Box mixes and store-bought items were now off limits, and I struggled to find ways to eat desserts that didn’t make me immediately sick.

I took to baking my own items from scratch, and found that I loved not only the physical process of baking, but that also the desserts tasted so much better than store bought treats.  Even when I did find a supermarket confection that was dairy free, it tasted so processed when compared to my goods.  To this day, my tasters say that the dairy-free treats make them feel lighter than the full-milk, full-fat ones.

 I became fascinated with substituting non-dairy milks and butters into regular recipes, trying my hand at all sorts of challenging delicacies.  Some crashed and burned (non-dairy pudding never really sets correctly) and some were great successes! (See my website for my most successful items…all available for purchase!)

Check out my site for delicious treats for purchase!

 I have pledged to live my life dairy free for over 2 years now, and every day is a journey in substitution-I want mac and cheese, but I don’t want to eat too much soy (most dairy-free cheese is made of soy).  I am craving ice cream, but non-dairy ice cream is expensive, and Whole Foods is far away.  Hot chocolate sounds amazing on a cold, winter day, but the Swiss Miss packets contain milk.

I started this blog to chronicle my dairy-free life.  Yes, most of this will be mostly about baking, my trials and tribulations as a lactose intolerant baker.  You’ll see a lot of my cats, Munch and Wally.  My students call me a crazy cat lady, and I’d say that’s pretty accurate.  You’ll see boyf from time to time, a wonderful souz chef, sounding board and brain-stormer for all things dairy free, and a great encourager of my culinary endeavors. Welcome to my life.  I’m excited to share my world with you. 

Enjoy!

How cute is this face?!

 

-Chrissy

My First Post!!

Hello dairy-free fanatics!

Today I want to look back at a For Goodness Cakes favorite, a cake that kick-started my love for baking and this whole she-bang: Paula Deen’s Deep Fried Pumpkin Layer Cake with a Cream Cheese and Orange Frosting (see recipe here).  Now regardless of what you think of Paula’s personal beliefs and actions, this. cake. is. amazing.  Just look at that cake. Dripping with delicious deep-fried goodness.

That’s right…deep fried cake.

I decided to take on this monstrosity of a dessert for boyf’s birthday.  Before this cake, I had made him a few things here and there: slice-and-bake cookies, brownies from a box, and my personal favorite: cupcakes piped in icing that read, “I love you, you bum” (For serious Rocky fans only).

 

Now I know what you are thinking:

Hey, For Goodness Cakes! None of those items are dairy-free!

And my response is,

woah, there, woah.

All those items were pre-For Goodness Cakes: before my lactose intolerance discovery, before I learned to make treats from scratch, and before my amazing kitties.

Did you know most adult cats are lactose intolerant too?

This was the first real dessert I tried, and the results were worth it. 

Let me break it down for you: First, forget about any calorie count you may have had for the day. This cake will surpass your wildest expectations, and any belt loops you already created. First step: make a pumpkin cake, two layers of moist, fall goodness baked to perfection.  Second: make the orange and cream cheese frosting, creamy and delicious. Third: whip up some good old “fry batter” (as Paula likes to call it), also known as funnel cake batter. Heat up a tub full of oil, soak the cakes in the batter, and drop those babies in to fry.

I remember fearing for my life that day, wondering what sort of splatter-design my third degree burns would take. Paula Deen doesn’t tell you exactly how to fry a large cake without losing layers of skin, so I adapted, assembling the best tools I could find: spatula, tongs, slotted metal spoon, and several oven mitts.

After I fried each layer and let the cakes cool, I assembled the cake, smothering on that amazing cream cheese frosting. Not only was the cake as good as it looked, it was definitely worth the trouble, and almost losing my epidermis.

Note: While this cake was made before I pledged myself to a dairy-free life, it could definitely be adapted to be dairy free with vegan milk, cream cheese, and butter. I would also in the future not use a box cake mix for the pumpkin cake, and instead make my own. Box mixes are for fools.