Giving up dairy is hard

I had no idea how much cheese I eat. I didn't realize how many foods on restaurant menus have cheese in them. I've been trying to avoid dairy as much as I can - milk and cheese top the list. Milk isn't that hard. We started using soy milk a few years ago and I really only drink real milk on Saturday mornings in my iced coffee from DD (I should get a sponsorship or something from them for this...). I rarely eat yogurt and ice cream has been off the table for over a year now.

But cheese. Cheese is a whole 'nother matter. Pizza, cheese fries, cheeseburgers, salads. Did you know how many items involve cheese? How many sandwiches involve cheese? How many innocuous foods involve cheese of some sort? Yea, I know there are thousands or hundreds of thousands of people who have dealt with this longer than I, but wow. It's not easy. I'm lucky. I only break out for a couple days then it magically disappears. I don't get hives. I don't go into anaphalactic (sp?) shock (thank heavens!). But, breaking out into little white pimples is not pleasant.

So, I need to find ways to enjoy food without cheese. I'm not cutting it out of my diet completely, but I sure do need to cut back on it. So, I'm trying this to combat the cheeselessness at home:

Tribe Chipotle Hummus

 

So far, it's been a nice addition to sandwiches at lunch. It has a nice creamy texture with a spicy flavor. While it isn't cheese, it does work well with a toasted sandwich and gives a nice tang to it. I then used it for dipping my carrots in. Yum! I tend to like spicy foods, more than I did as a kid. 

I kinda miss cheese though. I ate some last night on French Fries and it was so yummy. I know it didn't do well for my face this morning, but it was good. I am now needing to be cheeseless for a couple days to compensate. 

Gotta love getting older...

I didn't not get compensation from Tribe for this. I just happened to like it and thought you might too.