Dairy-Free Cooking: Creamy Peanut Soup

Since the winter cold hit, I’ve been craving a nice creamy, cheesy soup. Unfortunately, I can’t have any milk, butter, or cheese thanks to my daughter’s dairy allergy. So when my sister posted a recipe for peanut stew on her blog, I knew I had to make it.

I improvised a little (I don’t believe it counts as real cooking if you just follow the recipe!) and made a few changes so it was more like the fabulous African Peanut Soup that my favorite college dining hall used to make. That stuff was so good that whenever they made it, some of my friends would buy as much of it as they could carry back to their dorm rooms. And then come back and get more for dinner.

Surviving the Dairy Elimination Diet

While I was pregnant, I enjoyed casually reading everything on the Internet about babies and so of course I came across articles and blogs that mentioned the Elimination Diet. At the time, I assumed it was something I would never have to deal with and if it came to that, I would definitely just formula feed.

A few months later, I had an adorable baby girl who ate constantly without gaining much weight and hardly slept for more than a few minutes at a time. After extensive googling, I decided the problem was most likely silent reflux and convinced the pediatrician to give me a prescription after a bout of hysterical crying in her office. Me crying, not the baby, of course.