Cheese & Oats

I've spent years reducing the fat in my diet, yet I've knowingly turned a blind eye to cheese. I love cheese, and the only reduced-fat cheese I liked was the Cabot line (not that I tried many, since I left cheese in a favored blind spot). To my surprise, giving up cheese for Cale was EASY! I did it right away.

However, I admit I was pretty happy, especially after a hideous soy cheese attempt (had to throw the whole expensive chunk away even before we knew Cale was allergic to soy because it reeked too badly to eat), to find a cheese substitute that doesn't taste like it should be used as punishment. The answer is vegan-rella tastes somewhat like cheese, and does just fine for melting and flavor on a homemade pizza. And it's rice-based, so it's allergy-friendly.

When I discovered that Cale was very allergic to me eating dairy, milk products were out of my diet in a snap. He was uncomfortable after I had several veggie burgers (lunch and dinner, not all at once) in one day, so soy went out. Uncomfortable after I had a big tasty omelet for dinner, so eggs went out. The organic baby food with barley flour didn't sit well with him, so barley went out. I've been pretty ruthless so far for removing suspect foods. Even beans. If I have a small serving of beans, we're OK, but making a meal of beans doesn't work for Cale so I don't do it anymore.

Which leads me around to oats. Cale was uncomfortable after he had baby food with oat flour last week, and I caught myself rationalizing, saying that it must be the cold that he caught. It could be, but that doesn't mean I'm not also being softer on oats than I was on other food stuffs. With all of the items I've removed from my diet, I have become aware that I really enjoy oats, especially in cookies. A handful of oats in bread gives it an enjoyable chewiness. I like oats. I thought my blind spot was cheese, but it might actually be cheese. Once Cale is well, he's going to have to take another oats challenge. I don't want to drop oats from my diet after having dropped so much else!