garlic fingers with fake fromage

**There is milk in naan. You could always sub a milk-free flatbread or pizza crust instead.

I suck at not eating lactose. Not drinking lactose is easy. There are so many milk-alternatives available for roughly the same price as milk. They even make lactose-free milk. Same taste, but none of the bad stuff. So not drinking milk is definitely doable. But cheese, now that's a different story.

I tried a cheese alternative once and just could not swallow it. It smelled bad, had a weird texture and was Italian flavor. Blehhh. So I just kept eating cheese and experiencing very unpleasant side-effects, none of which need to mentioned on this little blog here.

My highly-allergy plagued friend L told me about Daiya when we were discussing our various stomach issues over lunch one day at the Wooden Monkey. Don't we sound like a good time?

It's basically a tapioca-arrowroot product that melts like cheese and does not taste disgusting, it actually tastes good. It doesn't have a true cheesy flavour or texture per se, but I have found it to be a great substitute! It only comes shredded, but that hasn't stopped me from eating it by the handful at times... I use it on nachos, burritos, pizza, chili, lasagna and all of those other things that taste incomplete without cheese. I've bought both the mozzarella & cheddar style before and they both work well. I used to buy it from Pete's Frootique but they now carry it at Sobey's, where we do groceries every week, for $3 cheaper!

Lately, my big indulgence has been garlic fingers. I take a piece of naan bread, spread it with garlic butter, sprinkle real bacon bits on top, cover with Daiya & bake at 400F for about 10 minutes. The best non-cheesy garlic finger you'll ever taste. So all this to say, if you are lactose-intolerant or allergic to milk... you need to try Daiya. It will help you resist actual cheese. Most of the time...

Do any of you have allergies/intolerances? Do you find that having a good substitute helps you resist temptation? I think substitution is key, even for people who are dieting. Quitting cold turkey, just does not work for some people. Myself included!

  

FYI: I am lactose intolerant but will eat some packaged foods with milk in them, like bread or chocolate (sometimes). Anything milk-based though is out of the question. No milk, yogurt, ice-cream, alfredo sauce etc.  

Me & cheese are fighting it out. I can't quit.