A Note About Dairy

Okay so as you've noticed, I consume a lot of dairy for one who is paleo. While I will try to represent dairy-free recipes on here as well, I will admit that I'm more primal (of the Mark Sisson's Primal Blueprint variety -- see link below) than paleo. There are some things that I just can't seem to give up, and dairy is one of them. I think it has to do with my torrid love affair with cheese. I personally have no problem digesting dairy, although I do consume fewer servings per day than the SAD (Standard American Diet) would have me do. If you do want to use dairy like I do, then great! I use raw cheese when I can find it, plain full-fat Greek yogurt, pastured and/or cultured butter, and non-homogenized whole grass-fed milk. I'd use raw milk if I could get it, but thanks to the laws in the bonny state of New York, I can only get raw milk if I buy a cow for $100 and then pay to board it at $25 a month. On a twenty-something's  budget, I just can't make this happen as much as I desperately want some raw milk.

If you don't want dairy, here are some suggestions to replace it:

I'd replace milk, cream, and yogurt in my dishes with full-fat coconut milk. The cream and Greek yogurt can be replaced by putting a can of coconut milk in the fridge overnight and then spooning the solid stuff off the top. You can also use coconut Kefir (Mark Sisson has a lovely recipe for that here.)

If you're looking to replace butter; coconut oil, ghee, or any animal fat will work best. In bread recipes, I'd suggest using an animal fat since coconut oil tends to add it's own flavor to the mix and messes with the simple taste of bread. In the fall and winter months, I'd suggest goose or duck fat because:

1. It's goose and duck season.
2. It's very French (think foie gras and duck a l'orange.)
3. I will because I have a huge frozen vat of rendered goose fat in my freezer from when I made a Christmas goose last year.

For the rest of the year, go ahead and use bacon fat. You know you want to anyway! ;)   For the sweeter recipes, I suppose it wouldn't hurt to use the coconut oil. I will end up using ghee in certain recipes anyway, so just use that when I do.

As far as cheese goes, I'm sorry but I just can't find a replacement for it. Like I said, I have a love affair with cheese. I will say that I am not much for processed cheese; I much prefer the brie and the chevre and the aged artisan cheddar over the slice of American or deli provolone. If you're still on the edge about cheese, go raw if you can. Some recipes I'm sure you could even omit it altogether. Others, however, the cheese is central. Just use your best judgement in these cases.