200 Best: Lactose-Free Recipes

For the lactose-intolerant individual, the experience of enjoying delicious meals without the tell-tale symptoms of stomach upset can be a rare event. They can't imagine sitting down to eat without having to have at least some special foods, as well as having to pass on tempting dishes reserved for others. This book ends this isolation. Its collection of recipes offers great-tasting alternatives to dishes that usually contain substantial amounts of milk, butter and cheese. Meals you thought you'd never be able to enjoy again like cream soups, salmon mousse, cheesecake and ice creams are just a few of the rediscovered delights. All these dishes contain substitutions that not only eliminate or substantially reduce lactose levels, but also provide additional health benefits. Imagine the taste sensations that await you with recipes like: Cream of Butternut Squash Soup; Caesar Salad with Creamy Garlic Dressing; Florentine Lasagna; Lemon Cheesecake; Fudge Pudding. Each recipe also contains a full nutritional analysis as well as tips on nondairy sources of calcium to maintain dietary balance.

About the Author :
Jan Main is a professional home economist and caterer who has taught cooking and writing about food for 20 years.

Review :
It is suggested by some experts that half of the world's population is lactose intolerant. The inability to digest and absorb lactose (which is the sugar in the milk) is considered to be a genetic disorder. Fortunately many restaurants are now indicating on the menus which dishes are lactose free. In the meantime, those of us that are lactose intolerant have to learn to cook without using dairy or dairy products. 200 Best Lactose-Free Recipes certainly gives us many options. For the purpose of this review we are asked to test three recipes. I decided to try Creamy Stovetop Rice Pudding. Using apple juice instead of milk was a good substitute but I didn't feel it was a good enough to make again. For me it was too sweet and wasn't as creamy as I expected it to be. But, giving this recipe another chance I tested it using coconut milk instead and the rice pudding ended up being very delicious.The second recipe I tested was Fettuccini Alfredo. The recipe called for 2 percent lactose-free milk. I liked the flavor of the bay leaf and nutmeg. Using 2 percent milk cut down the richness of the original Alfredo recipe but was nice. I'll try this again using coconut milk instead. For my last recipe in the test I made Double Pumpkin Muffins. The recipe called for soy milk and is a good substitute. I like the combination of cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves for spices but I especially liked using pumpkin seeds, currants, and sesame seeds in the muffins. It's a good recipe and I will make it again. Perusing other recipes in 200 Best Lactose-Free Recipes, I noted that most ingredients could be found in a kitchen pantry and certainly at a local grocery store. I've been using coconut milk as a substitute for cow's milk for about a year now and love it. It is thick, creamy, and rich. It can be found in the dairy section of most grocery stores as it is becoming a very popular substitute. I believe it can be used in any of the recipes in this cookbook. I believe this cookbook would be a good addition if needing to cook without using dairy.--Irene Watson"Reader Views" (02/11/2011)