What I'm all about

        I decided to start this blog today while I was cooking.  I have a self-diagnosed milk allergy.  I don't break out in hives or have trouble  breathing--I break out in eczema and acne and my digestive system gets messed up.  So it's not life-threatening but it is a culinary challenge!  I only discovered this problem a couple of years ago and I still struggle with how to cook and eat while avoiding all the delicious foods that milk makes possible.  I won't pretend that I don't stare longingly at the boxes of mac'n'cheese in my pantry or fantasize about the creamy deliciousness of a pudding cup.  I have been brought to tears of frustration by the lack of quick and easy dairy-free entrees.  I am a rehabilitated dairy addict, though not by choice.
       So I have made it a mission to find recipes I like that can be adapted for my needs.  I love to cook!  I am not a cook of the Food Network ilk by any stretch of the imagination, nor do I claim to be gifted with amazing culinary skills.  I am not a fancy food-eater; I prefer good, old-fashioned home cooking.  I am the kind of cook who works under the most extreme conditions--life and parenthood.  I bravely enter the kitchen and attempt to ply my craft amid the tumult created by my two sons, two cats, and a husband.  I dodge cats, toys, and kids, block out the endless barrage of Spongebob episodes, and shoo my husband out of the kitchen in an attempt to produce edible food that my kids will never touch but will provide my husband and myself with the energy to do battle in parenthood for a few more hours.
       But I digress.  My point is that I need an outlet for my culinary creativity.  I rarely follow a recipe to the letter and most of my recipes have notes written in the margins so that I can remember what I did the next time.   If nothing else, this blog will be a compilation of recipes I enjoy so that I may find them time and again.  You know, without digging through the giant pile of schoolwork and art projects that my recipes inevitably end up in.  At best, I hope to inspire other dairy-free sufferers, I mean, eaters/cooks with a variety of easy and delicious meals.  Sometimes it's as simple as a dairy substitution but not always.

Mommy Moo