This is the 2nd post in a series of two about my journey preparing to breastfeed my second child and be dairy/soy free for this journey. HERE is the first post that gives background on my voyage into dairy/soy free living with my firstborn and lots of great information for anyone needing to live life dairy-free!
As a reminder from that first post, there are five meals I've cooked and stored in my deep freezer to have after my daughter is born and they are all dairy AND soy free. In addition, I've baked a TON of vegan banana muffins, trying out some substitutions and creative additions to a few batches and baking some just following the recipe. These baked goods, now in my freezer, are a part of my dairy/soy free breastfeeding basket to ensure I always have food ready to keep nutrition for me and my little one.
The five meals are:
- Crockpot Homemade Chicken and Veggie Soup (THANK YOU to Sarah Jones, a local midwife, for this recipe! I plan to use 1/3 of it during labor and the rest after the baby is born)
- Bean/Turkey Tacos
- Grilled Chicken with Almond Sauce
- Chicken/Egg Stir Fry
- Oven-Baked Chicken Cacciatore
Here's my cooking journey!
One thing I used are these great magnetic bulldog clips so I could hang the recipe on my refrigerator or magnetic board near our stove to easily reference the instructions:
I. Crockpot Homemade Chicken and Veggie Soup
The first thing I did was cook a whole, organic chicken I got at Whole Foods for about 8 hours on low in my crockpot.
The spices used are celtic sea salt, black pepper, rosemary, thyme, basil, parsley, bay leaves, raw garlic, and tumeric.
After the chicken is cooked, I deboned it and put the meat in the refrigerator. Then, I made the chicken stock using the bones/cartilage, etc., some water, tumeric, celery and onions and cooked this on low for about 6 hours. Then, I separated out the bones/cartilage and other chicken parts, added back the chicken meat and added lots of good, fresh veggies! (squash, zucchini, carrots, and broccoli). Then, it cooked for about 5 more hours on high.
Once it was done, Josh and I bagged the finished product into 3 labeled bags. I plan to use one during labor for myself and my birth team - the broth is an excellent thing to drink for a laboring Mama for strength and energy!
This process took about 2 or so days. One interesting moment in the cooking journey was getting the soup into these bags! Josh and I sat together and used a ladle and a large spoon. In talking and bagging, one of the bags slipped out of my grip and spilled some of the soup onto my leg. It was still really hot, even though I'd left it unplugged for over an hour before bagging. The soup landed on my jeans maternity capris and started burning. I cried out and Josh jumped up and helped me get the pants off before my leg burned too badly. It was REALLY painful and I sat down and cried after all the work! Not too much spilled, but my third trimester emotions and 2 days of work around taking care of a sick child and nursing a sinus infection meant I just couldn't stand the thought of losing even a drop! We managed to clean up our kitchen floor (the spill delighted our dog!) and do some major towel laundry and get these bags sealed and in the deep freeze. Now that it is past, I can see the humor in the moment and am so glad I have a husband who is also a best friend to walk through these moments with me and share in this journey!
II. Bean/Turkey Tacos
This recipe called for just bean tacos served in corn tortillas (which I had to read a lot of labels to ensure they had no soy) with Daiya (a dairy free / soy free substitute), lettuce, and tomatoes. I decided to add some seasoned turkey meat so I'll have more protein.
First, I browned 3 lbs of lean ground turkey.
I also soaked 3 lbs of beans overnight: black beans, pinto beans, and some navy beans. Then, I cooked them the next day for a few hours.
The recipe called for taco seasoning, but all those commercially available tend to have dairy in them. So, I googled dairy free taco seasoning and got several recipes - and made my own!
This is what went into my taco seasoning - and it has a great kick!
The beans simmering...
The instructions call for simmering with the lid tilted for about 1.5 to 2 hours.
Once the turkey was done...
...I added the taco seasoning! The recipe for the seasoning said to add 2 TBSP of seasoning per lb of meat, which would mean 6 TBSP. I added 4 then, using what I've learned from Gordon Ramsey on MasterChef, I tasted it and it was PLENTY! I can't wait to eat this - it will definitely keep my sinuses open!
As I worked with seasonings, I decided to reorganize my seasoning rack and the part of my pantry where I keep various cooking oils and seasonings. One more thing ready for us to be a family of 4 with a newborn!
My cooking oils and other cooking needs!
Once the turkey was done and had cooled a bit and the beans were done, I bagged them separately so they could be combined and served as tacos!
3 lbs of seasoned turkey meat - dairy and soy free!
III. Oven-Baked Chicken Cacciatore
(will be served with dairy-free quinoa or corn spaghetti or rice spaghetti)
This was the third I cooked over the weekend. After 2 more involved recipes, this one was SO easy and will be DELICIOUS!
This just calls for 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts. I used 4 to double the recipe! Then, you mix your own sauce by adding diced tomatoes, oregano, basil, salt, pepper, and crushed raw garlic. The mixture is poured over the chicken and baked at 375 for 40 minutes!
Ready to cook!
All done! Ready to freeze!
*Cleaning break!
After cleaning much of the day Saturday and Sunday, my kitchen, usually really neat and tidy, was a MESS! And I tend to clean as I cook, but with 3 recipes going in various stages at once, some things just had to wait until I was done. Here is what my kitchen looked like when I was done with all 3 recipes Sunday night (and we had already run the dishwasher once!).
My beautiful stove screaming, "CLEAN ME!"
After about 30 minutes of high intensity cleaning, my kitchen was back in order and the dishwasher ready for a 2nd run of the day!
FREEZER CHECK
So, with all the meals bagged, I reorganized our deep freezer and half of it is now dedicated to my dairy/soy free meals and snacks. You can see all the bagged muffins - there are a ton! In front of those are the various meals I've cooked for my dairy/soy free living!
Love having a deep freezer!
Food for our family!
IV. Grilled Chicken with Almond Sauce
This recipe calls for peanut butter, but almost all commercially available peanut butters have dairy or soy or both. Not having time to get natural peanut butter, I used another favorite nut butter - Almond Butter by Justin's! A recommendation from our doula! I have used this for protein and a snack during pregnancy and will have it for labor, too. YUM!
The recipe called for 4 chicken breasts, but I used 6 to have extra and increased the portions in the sauce.
The sauce! SO delicious!
This has garlic, almond butter, sugar, red chile flakes, and coconut aminos. The recipe calls for soy sauce, which would still be dairy free, but I need soy free, too! Some of the research I did introduced me to coconut aminos, which tastes something like soy sauce, but no soy, no dairy. I found it at Whole Foods - the same brand in the link!
*Side note: here are some things, in my dairy/soy free cooking and during this pregnancy and my journey into the natural birth/natural living community in DFW over the past 2 years that I've found I really like to have on hand!
Almond butter - it's just good!
Coconut Aminos - great soy sauce substitute
Raw garlic - yummy and GREAT for health and healing
Coconut Oil - a wonderful cooking oil that can also be used for sunscreen, facial moisturizer, a carrier oil for Essential Oils, and many other things. I've learned recently that this kind I have isn't the best (expeller pressed is not a great way to process the oil), so I'm researching coconut oil and hope to buy through a co-op here through an organization called DFW Holistic Families that has researched and found a top grade coconut oil
Grilling 4 of the 6 chicken breasts on my George Foreman!
Having these magnetic clips and my magnetic meal planning calendar made it helpful to be able to hang recipes near my oven!
Work station as I cooked today!
*Side note: As I thought about these almost 3 days of cooking, I looked around my kitchen and realized 2 purchases we made after moving into this house almost 2 years ago made my little kitchen incredibly functional (and cute!):
1. A hanging pot rack
2. A portable island
The grilled chicken with the almond sauce caramelized on it.
I tried the sauce (again, a MasterChef lesson) and it is DELICIOUS with a great kick!
The chicken bagged and ready to freeze!
FREEZER CHECK
I added the grilled chicken with almond sauce, bringing my dairy/soy free meals to 4!
Getting full!
V. Chicken & Egg Stir Fry
This is a recipe I often make for our family, but made it entirely dairy and soy free by not using cooking spray (even olive oil cooking spray has soy in it - the sticking factor for cooking sprays is often soy based) and instead using coconut oil to cook the chicken and vegetables in.
I cut up 3 chicken breasts and cooked them in water with some coconut oil. Then, I sat the cooked chicken aside.
I used these frozen vegetables, checking labels for any suspicious preservatives, cooking them in coconut oil with some mineral sea salt and coconut aminos for flavor!
Cannot wait to eat this! It tasted delicious!
Meal #5 bagged an ready to freeze!
FREEZER CHECK
I added the final dairy/soy free meal I plan to make to the freezer!
One of the best family investments was the deep freezer, a gift from my parents shortly after Jacob was born!
If I have time, I may make more, but 3 to 5 was my goal and each made such a good quantity, I know it will get me through those postpartum weeks where, as my midwife and childbirth instructor have taught us, I take care of baby and others take care of me. :-) This journey of cooking has been so awesome and fun! I love feeding my family and meal planning and the creativity it allows me as an individual to learn and grow and experiment. And the challenge of a different way of eating is invigorating this time rather than overwhelming!
Please feel free to contact me if you have found these posts and have any questions about how to live dairy/soy free in a way that is manageable for the average person, even if you're not a foodie or have little time to invest in research or cooking.
Now, I feel really ready to welcome this baby into our home and know that I'm feeding her the very best by feeding me the very best!
~ Mama Bruffey
Wife of One, Mother of Two
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