Working!

I started working full-time a week from yesterday!! Yay! I am LOVING it. This job fits me perfectly. As a result of working, I have failed to update my blog in way too long. I am sorry (not that there are that many people out there that read this...still, I don't even like that it's been as long as it has). I am working on setting up/organizing/decorating my office so pictures will be coming soon of my office!

Last week, I was craving banana pudding so I made some :) Most recipes have vanilla pudding mix as an ingredient and vanilla pudding mix has milk in it. So, I used the recipe on the back of our Vanilla Wafer bag. The only dairy it called for was milk and I had some soy milk. My pudding was delicious! I cut the recipe in half to make 3-4 servings. I layered banana slices and vanilla wafers on the bottom of the dish and poured the pudding on top. I topped it off with cubes of banana and crushed vanilla wafers. It was so good!!

Last night for dinner I made a mini pizza. We had crusts at home so I made one for dinner last night and one for lunch today. I put tomato sauce, mozz cheese, pepperoni, jalapenos, and some cheddar cheese. I also sprinkled it with a little garlic powder to add some extra flavor. It turned out great! Now that I am working full time I can tell that it is going to be harder to cook when I get home...but I look forward to the challenge!

Thanksgiving is next week! I hope to help my grandmother cook Thanksgiving dinner so I'll probably have some good cooking stories after that. I know I am for sure making a Peanut Streusel Pie which I'm really excited about!! :) I'll share the recipe soon.

Soy Products

       I am trying very hard to stick to soy products to prevent the hives that come with dairy products. As I set out on my domestic journey, I am replacing any dairy product in a recipe with soy. Sometimes this is difficult to do and sometimes it is easy. Yesterday morning I made muffins for breakfast. I just used the mix that you add 1/2 cup milk too. So, I used soy milk. The muffins have a slightly different taste, but they are still good. I was satisfied. Last night, I made chicken enchiladas. I used soy sour cream and soy cheddar cheese in the recipe. I couldn't use cream of chicken soup to make the sour cream sauce so I had to improvise and make my own sauce with flour, chicken broth, chili powder, and cumin. It was okay for my first try. By itself, it had no flavor but with the chicken, onion, chiles, and salsa it was pretty great. Later last night I was craving a shake. I put my soy mint chocolate chip ice cream and some soy milk in a blender. It was good too!

        Tuesday night mom made Monte Cristo sandwiches. We alternate cooking sometimes. Tuesday I was out holding signs for my uncle's campaign, so mom cooked our sandwiches so it could be ready when I got home. She used soy milk in the egg/milk mixture for the bread and she used soy swiss cheese. There was NO taste difference in this dish. Chandler was even home with us and ate a sandwich. We didn't tell him until afterwards that we used soy products :) I know, that's probably kind of evil, but he wouldn't have eaten it if we told him before. He enjoyed the sandwich and only complained a little bit when we told him, not because it tasted weird, but just to complain! :)
      
        I've concluded that dairy products in any recipe (at least that I've tried so far) can be replaced with soy products. There might be a slight taste change or the cheese might not melt quite right, but for the most part, my life with soy is easy and enjoyable.