Name: Thrive! NCHE Homeschool Conference
Start: 2025-05-22T00:00:00-05:00
End: 2025-05-24T23:59:59-05:00
Location: Winston-Salem, NC

Tagged: dairy-free

This topic has 15 replies, 7 voices, and was last updated 12 years, 11 months ago by Polly.

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May 17, 2012 at 1:34 pm
Anonymous
Inactive
Does anyone know of a dairy-free yogurt alternative?
Also, what kind of dairy-free alternative could be used in a recipe for sour cream and/or yogurt?
May 17, 2012 at 1:45 pm
LindseyD
Participant
There are coconut milk yogurts available, but we have not tried them. I would not recommend any soy yogurts or sour creams. Is cow’s milk your restriction, or is goat’s milk an option? I know there are goat’s milk yogurts. Have you ever tried raw milk? Many people who cannot tolerate pasteurized, homogenized cow’s milk can tolerate raw milk and raw milk products, such as yogurt, kefir, sour cream, cheese, butter, etc.
May 17, 2012 at 2:03 pm
Anonymous
Inactive
Right now, we are restricting ALL dairy products….milk, cheese, yogurt, butter, etc…except she is having eggs. I don’t know about goat’s milk. We haven’t tried that. Raw milk isn’t an option to try at this point. But I don’t want to try anything dairy related for now, even raw milk. I also don’t want to try goat’s milk just yet. We are restricting dairy for at least 6 weeks…we are in week 4. Up to this point, I just haven’t given her any yogurt. She’s been okay with that. I just came across a recipe yesterday that looked really good but calls for sour cream. So I was wondering if there was something that I could use in place of the sour cream that would be dairy-free. I’ve modified recipes like using water in place of milk in my bread recipe…using coconut or almond milk in place of milk in other recipes, etc.
May 17, 2012 at 3:10 pm
blue j
Participant
We have used both Amande Cultured Almondmilk as well as the coconut yogurt… the name of which escapes me. At any rate, we like both of them. I have drained the Amande yogurt as one can do with dairy yogurt with live cultures to obtain “whey” to be used in soaking grains, etc. and using the solids as a cream cheese substitute. It has worked VERY well. The only reason that I haven’t done the same with the coconut yogurt is that I can only find it in small cartons in my area.
May 17, 2012 at 3:16 pm
LindseyD
Participant
The only brand of coconut yogurt I have seen is So Delicious, I think. They also make coconut milk ice cream.
May 17, 2012 at 3:22 pm
roseannvj
Member
Toffuti Brand makes a product called “Sour Supreme” or “Better than Sour Cream”. There is no milk (dairy) in it. We use it all the time for dips and on tacos and various other recipies that call for sour cream. When we serve it at our home for guests they are amazed at how good it tastes (they no we don’t allow any milk in our home).
May 17, 2012 at 3:25 pm
LindseyD
Participant
roseannvj, Is Tofutti soy-based?
May 17, 2012 at 6:02 pm
Anonymous
Inactive
Thank you everyone for your suggestions! I really appreciate it! I was wondering if you could use a dairy-free yogurt in the same way you do regular yogurt when you drain it to make yogurt cheese (or cream cheese like consistency). I used to make yogurt cheese more often and even made a chocolate mousse using yogurt cheese. It was actually very good.
I had wondered if tofu might work in place of a cream cheese or even in place of sour cream in a recipe…it would have to be the softest tofu though. I believe that’s called silken tofu, right? I have yet to ever try cooking with tofu.
May 17, 2012 at 6:57 pm
blue j
Participant
Tofu might work. There are a lot of people who non-culturally have come round to using it broadly in cooking. However, unfirmented soy has chemicals which can interfer with hormones – both in males and females. My personal idea, not necessarily supported by any medical data, is that people who have a sensitivity or porclivity to hyperstimulation of the hormone receptors in the body will react badly either acutely or more slowly, depending upon the person, to soy. It seems to be a source of “hidden” food induced reactions as well since soy is in a myriad of items. There is no way, to my knowledge, to test a person or family gene leading up to sensitivity. You can get blood tests for foods, but there again, sometimes this won’t show up in the first test – most often happening if a food has not been consumed by the patient.
I don’t mean to rain on your soy parade, and I know there are several people who have no problem using it. But if you are trying to heal from other food allergies, it is best to avoid soy as much as possible as well – this last comes directly from my Dr.’s mouth. As always, though, do what you think is best for your family… and I don’t mean to sound snobby about this. I know you’ve been working around a child(ren?) who have food sensitivities, and it is an AWEFUL feeling to think you’ve finally found a solution to something only to find that the solution has further aggrivated the original problem. (BTDT more times than I care to mention.)
Pax,
~jacqleene
May 17, 2012 at 7:05 pm
LindseyD
Participant
I’m so glad, blue j, that you mentioned the reasons behind avoiding soy. We avoid it at all costs. Nutritionally, there are far superior foods to soy, and almost none of them carry the risks of upsetting the delicate hormone balances of our bodies. Traditionally fermented soy products, such as tempeh or miso, are the only ones that are fermented enough so as not to be a danger to our bodies. Tofu is most definitely not fermented.
I, too, do not mean to sound snobby about this, but we have seen soy’s detrimental effects on a member of our extended family. She began drinking soy milk and within a few months was having health issues that seemed to come out of nowhere. She was fatigued, diagnosed with endometriosis, constantly sick, having headaches, and all sorts of other issues. Once she figured out that it might be the soy milk, she stopped drinking it. One by one, many of her problems began to disappear. So, if you can find other alternatives such as almond milk yogurt or coconut milk yogurt, may I humbly suggest you try those and make soy your absolute last resort? For my family, if soy products were the only solution, we would simply do without yogurt and sour cream.
Blessings,
Lindsey
May 17, 2012 at 8:16 pm
sheraz
Participant
Interestingly enough, Blue J, my youngest dd was one of those that the sensitivity to soy was not picked up by the blood test. She was on soy formula (this was prior to the whole food issue in our family) since the milk based on made her sick. Then she was on whole milk for about 6 months, then we tested and she was on soy milk for about 6-7 months.
When we got a blood test, she was off the charts for milk sensitivities like everyone else in the whole family. She still had little rough raised patches on her feet that wouldn’t go away. So I was reading the Oct/Nov 2010 Living Without magazine and found this article on the pro and cons of soy. After my dh and I read that, everyone came off soy. And her feet healed up nicely!
We are careful to avoid as much soy as possible. Here is a link to the article: http://www.livingwithout.com/issues/4_10/soy_controversy-2180-1.html
We use rice milk to cook and almond milk to drink. Believe it or not, we have sensitivities to coconut.
May 17, 2012 at 10:57 pm
Polly
Participant
I make my own coconut yogurt. It’s really easy.
May 17, 2012 at 10:59 pm
pangit
Participant
pollysoup – how do you make your coconut yogurt?
May 18, 2012 at 12:50 am
LindseyD
Participant
pollysoup, I would also love to know how you make coconut yogurt. We spend so much money on raw cow’s milk that I want to save it all for drinking, so I stopped making yogurt. What we don’t drink gets clabbered into curds and whey because I use whey almost everyday for fermenting and/or soaking. Yogurt hasn’t been missed too much, but I would like to be able to offer it again without buying it at the store.
May 18, 2012 at 2:54 pm
Anonymous
Inactive
Ladies, I just have to say how much I really appreciate this whole discussion! Yes, I asked about the possibility of tofu as a substitution for cream cheese, but as I mentioned, I have yet to ever cook with tofu. My Mom and I were just talking about the whole soy thing just this morning and I had mentioned that I typically do not like to use soy products. I have had others tell me about using tofu and I began wondering…well maybe soy isn’t something I need to avoid altogether and go ahead and give tofu a try. Mom and I were talking about that this morning and she was sharing how she knows that soy can suppress the thyroid function so she doesn’t use soy products. She said a little maybe every now and again might be okay but she doesn’t want to use soy products on a regular basis. We had a really good discussion about the whole thing and then I got on here and read your comments on soy. Thank you ladies for sharing all this information. Very timely! I think I am just going to stick with not using soy like I have been.
Pollysoup, I’d love to know how you make your own coconut yogurt too. And as far as the recipe with sour cream, we may be able just to leave the sour cream out altogether and it not make a big difference. If not, it’s no big deal. I just won’t make the recipe. 🙂