Food Friday: Dairy Free Diet

Saying something and doing something are two entirely different things as we all have learned on this little journey called life.

My decision to go dairy free has been no different. It's easy to say, "Cow - I only want you for your meat." It's not so easy to pick up dinner on you way home from working late when your go-to meals are pizza (hello, cheese!) and bucket o' chicken with a side of mashed potatoes (butter and milk).

For the record, when this happened two weeks ago, I picked up Little Caesar's - only thinking of filling my belly and not my latest diet experiment.

However, I've been able to manage fairly well with only the slightest of caution thrown to the wind. Here's a sample of what I've been eating.

Breakfast
 

Long gone are the days of overnight oats and cereal. Wait. There were never days of overnight oats and cereal. Breakfast is an egg with ham or a pancake for one (made with almond milk.)

Lunch

I felt inspired this week, and I made Taco-Spiced Lentils served over brown rice with golden baby tomatoes, avocado and cilantro. The lentils were made like the Indian-spiced variety except with homemade taco seasoning. Very good though it's true that some cheese or sour cream would have tasted pretty good.

Snacks

Nothing Earth-shattering - chocolate (my dairy downfall), vegetables with hummus and the random salad. The one thing I discovered-slash-realized is that a lot of salad dressings have dairy and the ones that do are my favorites. Ranch? Dairy. Blue cheese? More of the same. I had my salad with Greek dressing, which, sadly, had a scary ingredient list.

Dinner

I've been rather uninspired to cook lately (lentils aside). I seriously couldn't plan a menu for the life of me last week, and everything has been a hodge podge of crap. This week, we went out to "celebrate" the first day of school and had pasta at my in-laws. I did manage to make chicken burgers and calzones (no cheese for me).  Riveting, I know.

Dessert

Fruit bars. My saving grace. Oh, and vegan cookies from a downtown bakery - not really saving (at least calorie-wise) but delicious all the same.

Taking a bite out of NOLA

Beignets.

Oh, the beignets. There's a reason everyone talks about you when mentioning New Orleans. You are pieces of fried dough deliciousness only made better by the addition of powdered sugar.

If I could you every day ... well, I probably wouldn't. Just being honest. But on vacation? Yes. PUHLEASE.

Eating was one of the things I was most looking forward to about New Orleans, and I have to say that the city didn't disappoint. I told Pattie that I think you could spend your lifetime trying to eat everywhere and it was next to impossible to get all of the classics - and then some - into one trip. Especially a trip with a race when you schedules are off and foods are avoided to prevent any tummy issues.

Nonetheless, we still managed to enjoy some great food.

Stop No. 1: EAT

This restaurant was suggested to us by the hotel manager. It scored bonus points for being a couple blocks from our hotel and well-reviewed on Urbanspoon.

Its rating went off the charts when we realized we'd be dining with George Clooney.

Of course, the food was good, too. And well priced. I had Butterbeans with Shrimp, and Pattie had Crawfish Pie. A great introduction to NOLA cuisine.

Stop No. 2: The Rum House

I had found The Rum House on Urbanspoon and was totally pumped to try it. The fare wasn't traditional to the city but it was far different from what I'd get at home.

I had two tacos - Lamb Vindaloo and Calypso Beef - with a house salad. The salad had spinach, roasted sweet potato, toasted pecans, shaved red onion and goat cheese. With each bite, I had to promise myself that I'd re-create the meal at home.

And any place that serves Diet Coke in a giant mason jar is a winner in my book.

Stop No. 3: Sucre

Sucre is a sweet boutique on Magazine Street that specializes in French macaroons, chocolates and gelato. I had originally scoped out the place to try the macaroons.

And then we got distracted.

All things NOLA sundae with Bananas Foster Sauce, Brown Butter Pecan Gelato, Bread Pudding Pieces, Whipped Cream, Roasted Pecans.

To say it was good would be an understatement.

Stop No. 4: Oceana

Again, a selection by the hotel clerk. You can do all the scoping you want but people who live in the city and need to afford to eat in the city know where to go.

I had the Taste of New Orleans sampler - crawfish etouffe, jambalaya, red beans and rice and smoked sausage. I really liked the etouffe and could have eaten a whole bowl.

Stop No. 5: NOLA

The Holy Grail of our eating extravaganza. Pattie and I like to do one expensive meal when we travel, and we decided to go all celeb with Emeril's NOLA.

We started with the Fried Green Tomato Salad. It was amazing. It made me want to eat fried green tomatoes every day while watching Kathy Bates take out her aggression on a car in the Piggly Wiggly parking lot.

And then I had an unremarkable fish dish.

Followed by a fabulous Banana Pudding Layer Cake, split - of course. So good.

It was really important for me this trip to eat. Not to eat bad per se but not get so caught up in calories/weight gain/restriction that I failed to enjoy myself. While I did have plenty of sugar, I feel good that I split a lot of the worst items and balanced it all with lots of movement.

Of course, they were things we didn't have - gumbo, po boys, the traditional muffaletta. I guess there's always next year ...