Homemade Mini Pizzas

I made these one day, and the first one was good - after that, not so much. They were fantastic, except for the cheese substitute I used. I tried Daiya, both the cheddar and mozzarella flavors, and I was not impressed. It was gooey and gunky when it melted - more like snot than cheese. It tasted good in solid form, but after I tried it melted I didn't care for the unique taste anymore.

Ingredients:
Pillsbury crescent rolls (pizza dough or biscuits would have been a better idea)
Olives
Broccoli
Yellow pepper
Pepperoni

I actually don't remember what I used for sauce - probably something I found in the cupboard that had tomatoes in it. :-)
Cheddar and mozzarella Daiya cheese substitute

Definitely needs some tweaking before I will make those again!

Lemon-Lime Chili Tilapia

I kind of combined two recipes for this - chili-lime tilapia, and lemon-lime tilapia. It turned out really good! I also made cilantro lime rice to go with it, channeling Qdoba's rice - I am ADDICTED to that wonderful stuff. It was so yummy!

Ingredients

1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
4 (4- to 6-ounce) tilapia fillets
2 tablespoons olive oil
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
3 tablespoons fresh lime juice
1 teaspoon chili powder (optional)

Preparation
Combine flour, salt, and pepper on a large plate. Dredge fillets in flour mixture, coating both sides. Heat olive oil, lemon juice, and lime juice in a very large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Cook fillets 2 to 3 minutes on each side or until done. (If liquid reduces too much, add about 1/4 cup water.) Serve immediately.

Pumpkin Pancakes!

These were AMAZING! I woke up one morning with a craving for pancakes, so I found this recipe I had saved - I think I got it off Hungry Girl. I had to tweak them, of course, with egg replacer and rice milk, and they were still sooo good! They look kind of goopy because I was experimenting with toppings - some brown sugar, some sugar-free syrup, some applesauce... it was all good but the brown sugar was definitely my favorite!

Ingredients:
2 cups flour
2 tbsp brown sugar
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp allspice
1/4 tsp ginger
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp salt
1 3/4 cups milk
1 egg
1/2 canned pumpkin
2 tbsp oil


Combine dry ingredients and set aside. In a large bowl, beat milk, pumpkin, egg and oil. Gradually add dry ingredients, and mix only until wet. Batter will be lumpy.

The Start of My Adventure

Thanks for joining me! I love to cook, and I love to take pictures of what I cook. I have to plan what I eat pretty carefully - only certain kinds of bread, ketchup, peanut butter, etc., only dairy-free cheeses, milks, yogurt and spreads, and virtually no chips, snack crackers, store-bought cookies, or dessert mixes. So it can be interesting sometimes, trying to figure out what I can eat, what I can substitute, what I can do without - and what I can get away with! Severe Allergy Benadryl can usually keep me from getting blisters (from eating corn, corn syrup, corn starch, dextrose, maltodextrin, etc), if I take it before I go to bed. I think it also helps keep me from breaking out, if I've eaten dairy.

It started with the dairy two years ago, but it was not a huge problem - I started to get sick from it, and throw up after I would eat in the morning in the fall of 2008. In January 2009 I found out that I was lactose intolerant and cut dairy out - the nausea and morning sickness got much better! By May, I was eating yogurt and cheese again.  Unfortunately, in June, I took a milk powder drink mix for a few days without realizing it was milk-based - dumb, right?

When I finally figured it out, my mouth was swollen and blistered. And that's how the corn allergy started. I was also eating eggs nearly every single day, and when I finally got in for testing last October, I learned that was my worst allergy, even though I don't have a visible reaction to it, as far as I'm aware.

I've been on allergy drops since then, and things have not changed at all. It could take from 3-5 years to see a change, I guess. Until then, I'm just plugging along, doing things the vegan way!