Cheese. Ice cream. Pizza. Lasagna. Do I really need to explain further?
I believe that I was 11 or 12 when it finally became clear that I was lactose intolerant. I know I cried about it, but I also remember being really happy that I finally knew why I was always sick. I had horrible stomach cramps probably since the age of 7, and we could never figure out what it was from. My mom also had the same symptoms, and it wasn't until a woman at church told her she must be lactose intolerant that she was able to figure it out. Once we knew about my mom we were able to figure out that I had the same problem. Of course this was after years of doctors appointments, tests, upper GI's.
Being a lover of food it is really difficult to have dietary restrictions. I hate having to check labels and having to tell people if I'm going to eat at their house for the first time. It's always super awkward. I don't know why but I always feel like such a whiner or something. I hate being that person who says "Yes, I would love to eat your dinner as long as it is free and clear of this list of things" (insert handing list here). For a good while I stayed away from gluten, but have luckily found out that it's not that bad of an issue for me. I think most people have a hard time with gluten, but luckily I don't have celiacs. I would shoot myself if I couldn't eat dairy and wheat! I mean, I think it's pretty obvious that I love cake!
Lucky for me there is Digestive Advantage to allow me to eat dairy. I don't take it on a regular basis because it's kind of expensive and I need to double up the dose. So I save it for special occasions and then I binge on dairy until I.....well, you know what cheese does.
I LOVE goat cheese because I can eat it whenever I want. Being lactose intolerant just means that I can't have cow's milk but I can have goat's and sheep's. YAY! I could live off of goat cheese, red wine, bittersweet chocolate, bacon and avocado. It's that good.
Recently I have been hearing a lot about halloumi cheese. I had never come across it (or maybe I just didn't notice it) until I bought Nigella Express. She has recipes using halloumi and since then I've been seeing recipes all over the place using it. Halloumi is a greek cheese that is a blend of goat and sheep milks. It has a very salty flavor and is super cool and fancy because you can grill it and it won't melt. We had it for dinner the other night when we made hamburgers, yet again. I really liked it. I also happen to enjoy salty food so for people with a distaste for the salty, it might not be your thing. Another reason I like it is because it kind of squeaks when you chew it. As if there was a mouse in your mouth, but that would be a different texture....gross and very unnecessary. Please don't associate that with the cheese. The cheese doesn't deserve that.
Anyway the moral of the story is dairy is good/amazing so if you aren't lactose intolerant have an extra scoop of ice cream tonight in honor of me!
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