the sea x love

health + wellness

dairy free vegan alts & subs

If you’re one of the few avid readers of my blog, know me IRL, or follow me on Instagram you know I try to live a dairy lifestyle. This doesn’t always happen and I’ve known to visit the pizza shop near my apartment occasionally but for the most part, I stick with it. Why am I dairy free? Good question. First of all, I’m not really that big on dairy to start so it was pretty easy for me to cut it out for environmental and health reasons. Milk/dairy is kinda gross. It’s cow breast milk, it’s made for baby cows, not humans. I have trouble digesting dairy products so that was another reason I cut it out. I’m also not a huge fan of the texture of some cheeses and cheese products. Conceptually, I think cheese is pretty cool and its history is interesting, but I struggle with eating it. Anyways, I’ve tried a number of dairy-free alternative products over years and I wanted to share a few of my favorites. Do you have a favorite non-dairy alternative?

“Milks”

I have 4 favorite non-dairy milks: Ripple unsweetened plain & their new oat milk, Chobani Extra Creamy Plain Oat Milk, and Notco Not Milk Whole. Ripple and Chobani are my go-tos. I buy these two together. Ripple milk is a perfect sub for milk in everything (but drinking the oat one you can drink straight) and is the most nutritious of the plant milks. You can use this to make buttermilk, blend it for smoothies, or cereal literally anywhere you would use milk you can and should use Ripple. I bake with Ripple and use it in my oatmeal, mac, soups, and waffles/pancakes. Chobani is perfect for drinking I love the flavor and texture is better than dairy milk. It’s like the purest milk flavor without the flavor of the cow. It’s truly neutral and clean in flavor. This is the superior oat milk and I highly recommend you try it. Plus Chobani is immigrant-owned and founded. The Notco Notmilk is flavor-wise the most spot on for dairy milk. If you’re nervous about trying non-dairy milk, this is the milk for you. It’s a great sub for dairy milk in cooking and tastes great on its own (or with cookies).

Cheeses

Moocho Cheese shreds: These are the only shreds I use. They’re funky and delicious in salads, tacos, or chili. They also last longer than violife which is a huge bonus for me, because honestly, I don’t eat a ton of cheese. I’ve tried the Fiesta blend and the mozzarella on pizza both of which met my expectations.

Miyokos pizza cheese: I trekked all the way to the upper west side one day to try this cheese. It was perfect. They really knocked it out of the park with this one. I bought a bottle but I haven’t made a pizza yet with it but hope to soon!

Sheese Bute Feta: Fantastic feta for salads. I brought this and the moocho shreds back with me from Texas because I can’t find them in NYC 💔 which is truly a shame because they’re better than anything I’ve tried up here. I actually bought the violife feta and it’s way too slimy and wet for my liking, the flavor is good but I like my feta drier and crumbled. I want to try other cheese from this company but it’s hard to find even in Texas, but the feta and moocho shreds are available at HEB. I am dying to try caramelized onion cheddar in cheese crackers.

Violife Parm: Big fan, great stable parm that lasts for a while. I love this in pasta. Just as salty and umami as traditional parm. It will last a year in the fridge once opened and kept in a container.

Spero goat & herb spreads: I ADORE Spero’s goat cheese, it’s so great on sandwiches or as the base of dressings or in pasta. I love keeping this on hand even though I have to trek miles to get it. I love the herb cheese on my breakfast sandwich with vegan egg, spring mix, and avocado.

Butter

I only use one plant-based butter Miyokos. It’s exactly like regular butter in terms of flavor and can be used anywhere you use butter. This butter made me understand why people like butter. Huge fan. I keep blocks in my freezer because I always buy it on sale.

Yogurt

There are 3 different brands of yogurt I enjoy all depending on my mood and desires: siggis, culina, and foragers cashew. Siggis is the most like traditional Greek yogurt, even though this is technically supposed to be skyr (which isn’t yogurt but rather cheese 😅). The plant-based siggis isn’t as thick as Skyr and ends up more like Greek yogurt but that’s okay it’s still delicious and protein-rich. Culina is actually thicker and more like skyr, plus it comes in nice little jars that I reuse for spices. I love Culina and it’s a woman-owned business based in Texas. Foragers cashew yogurt is the perfect sour cream sub. I use this in my chickpea salad sandwich mix and tomato soup. I’ll be honest I’ve never tasted this straight but it’s tangy and works well in cooking.

Bonuses! Plant-based Queso

Credo foods: I never tried queso before because liquid cheese really makes me nauseous. Just the visual is gross, those stadium nachos with Ricos I’m sorry to say look and smell absolutely disgusting. I tried it once and 🤮. Yeah, not a fan. I learned about Credo food queso while living in Boston but it’s only available in some markets. It’s another Texas company so I tried it when I went home. Truly game-changing. I really loved this as a snack and accompaniment to whatever Tex-Mex I’m eating at home. I’m not used to eating queso so I don’t always grab it but this was really good. I had the chorizo queso which my parents who are not super open to plant-based alternatives also enjoyed.

Primal Kitchen: This was good. I tried it recently and is a great option if you live in a market that Credo doesn’t serve yet. If I buy some vegan chorizo, I’m definitely mixing them together. The flavor is solid and balanced, the texture is great, and it looks pretty similar to traditional queso.

I hope you all enjoyed these recs. I’ve had few requests for reviews on products I try so I’m going to try to do more posts like this.

Tranquil days + nights

Those of you closest to me know (or really interact with me regularly) know that I have anxiety and sometimes it can get pretty bad. A little strange, but since the pandemic started, I actually haven’t been more anxious. Although there were times were being indoors 24/7 actually took a toll. Normally, I manage my anxiety with a combo of exercise, quiet time with candles, and limiting sugar/consuming copious amounts of probiotics in different forms (so lots of fermented foods). I’ve spent a lot of quarantine reflecting. Quick update: I was furloughed pretty early into quarantine and was eventually laid off (it be like that sometimes), so I’ve had a lot of time to reflect and think about my next steps in life, work on my portfolio for grad apps, and really focus on my mental and physical health ( which really suffered during college). While, the reflection and refocusing is going somewhat well it’s actually incredibly stressful, because change is stressful. While, I normally take medicine when my anxiety gets debilitating, I prefer not to because the side effects less than desirable. So, I’ve on the search for something a little gentler but still effective. Enter, CBD. I started using this CBD muscle rub, which I swear by post-workout (especially post Barrys or Trillfit). I was a convert, because it works so ridiculously well.

I learned about Juna a while back and decided to give it a try, because I’m constantly indoors so I could safely monitor my reaction. I generally have less than ideal reactions to medicine/supplements. I did a bit of research into a few CBD supplements and I originally waved between Juna and Brown Girl Jane. I chose Juna because it’s a lower dosage and I wanted to more control over the dosage. I started with the Balance drops which honestly worked really well at keeping me calm throughout the day but I but I haven’t found I’ve needed them as much lately. I wasn’t super anxious when my Juna Balance drops arrived, but took it anyways because it’s safe/recommended to take every day. The first day I took 5ml/whatever a half a dropper is straight, which let me tell you was gross. It’s very herbal which I hate, but the taste dissipates quickly. I was already feeling somewhat calm, but I definitely did feel calmer and more focused after taking it. I was not at all drowsy, so big win. The next day I dropped the dosage, just to see if that would still be as effective. It was. About a few days into to taking it, I decided to try to not take it in the morning a compare my mood/feeling. Lol that was a mistake, because I definitely started feeling anxious around midmorning and decided to take it. It helped tremendously. I’ve been more focused and relaxed. It’s definitely helped feel calmer and breathe easier, so I would definitely recommend Juna daily to feel more focused and relaxed, and improve total-wellness.

Product 2! Eventually, I bought Nightcap which blew me away. I like Balance and I do think it’s pretty great, but Nightcap WOW! Besides my anxiety manifesting in during the day it also causes me to suffer from very vivid and terrifying nightmares. My sleep problems have worsened since quarantine because I’m not moving as much and as such I’m not as tired every night. Nightcap is truly the greatest product I started using in 2020. It helps me lull to sleep and calms my mind which means that my nightmares are less intense and I don’t wake up at 3 am feeling like I just ran a marathon. Although you can just take it straight out of the bottle I like to mix it with some cacao, ashwagandha, and warm plant-based milk like Chobani extra creamy oat milk (sometimes I add a little applewood smoked sea salt too). It’s a great little warming night drink that really helps me wind down and sleep deeply.