A Week Without Dairy is Easily Done
And so began the second week of January. Our “goals” still in focus and our efforts to get back into routine quite strong, we maintained a daily exercise plan and enjoyed a delicious set of dinners that were - surprisingly - dairy free! Was it hard to plan a week without cheese, butter, or cream? Hardly! In fact, I’d say it was simpler than expected and more delicious than most.
This won’t be the standard around here, but I do like to do dairy-free weeks from time to time. It’s a great excuse to explore different types of cuisine and stretch the imagination a bit.
Now, allow me to explain…
Chickpea-Harissa Soup
Recipe available via New York Times Cooking app.
Perfect for a cold winter night when you’re in the mood to be cozy, but don’t want to spend a long time cooking. This soup is filled with chickpeas and carrots plus plenty of harissa which adds a hearty amount of heat. I loved the bright flavors and bold spice, and found the soup to be quite filling!
Don’t be fooled by its low-key looks, this one is an all-star for all of your GF/DF needs. And actually, it’s vegan! So if you’re in the mood for a healthy, hearty soup that’s also just plain delicious, then make this one. The garnish on top, olives and cilantro, were the perfect final flavors. Yum! I can’t wait to make this (quick) one again.
Thai-Style Coconut Curry Chicken Tacos
Recipe available via New York Times Cooking app.
For the record, I hereby declare that this is the best dairy-free taco recipe. And the best meal of our week. Too. Delicious. For. Words. I loved it. I loved every single bite.
One wouldn’t expect a Thai-style coconut curry chicken to taste so good with a fresh pico de gallo on top of it, plus avocado, but you know what? Who am I to assume anything?! Those flavors combined to be so outrageously yummy; I was sold on bite one.
These tacos were served on corn tortillas, but another option would be to turn this dish into a taco bowl. Use a base of lettuce, rice, or both, then top with the coconut curry chicken, salsa, and avocado. Voilá! Another iteration of an extremely awesome dinner.
My final comment is that these tacos combined two of my favorite flavors (coconut curry, pico de gallo) into a dish I didn’t anticipate loving so much. I mean, I knew we’d enjoy it, but man, it was perfect. A perfect taco Tuesday. What more do you need?
Coconut Curry Chicken and Spinach Stir-Fry
An original recipe created by Seth.
Our plan for this night was a fairly basic chicken dish with a side of spinach. However, plans went out the window after those tacos and all I craved was more of that delicious curry-coated chicken.
Since we couldn’t make the tacos again, we decided to make a slightly different version, turning humble chicken and spinach into an excellent stir-fry. Thankful for my husband (again, always) who magically turns my cravings and random statements into magnificent meals. Should’ve added that to our vows. ;)
The result was a really yummy stir-fry with chicken, spinach, onion, and plenty of that coconut curry and harissa, again. You don’t need many ingredients to make a majorly flavorful dish. That shouldn’t be the newest of news, but I’ll say it again. It’s never a bad reminder.
Simply delicious, dairy-free, and very quick, this stir-fry was the next best thing to another night of those tacos. I’ll keep both dishes top of mind throughout the year ;)
Sheet-Pan Gochujang Shrimp and Green Beans
Recipe available via New York Times Cooking app.
For our final night free-of-dairy, we opted for the fastest sheet-pan dinner ever. No sooner were the shrimp and green beans broiling in the oven that it was suddenly time to eat! Awesome. By Thursday, dinner needs to be fast. I want to relax and eat!
While the flavors of this dish sounded great off the bat, we came to the decision that Gochujang may be a flavor best for meat. 😬 I’m not saying we didn’t enjoy this dish, because we did, but I think it would’ve been better with a different protein. Or maybe it was the kind of shrimp we used? Hard to decipher the true “issue” here without putting blame somewhere.
However, I liked it! And we liked it enough to stuff the shrimp and beans into a cassava-flour tortilla and create a makeshift taco (it kind of worked?), which was pretty yummy.
Maybe I was too biased toward the other meals of the week or maybe I just wasn’t in the mood for this one dinner in particular. I liked it, but didn’t love it. And I must speak the truth. I recommend this dinner, for sure, but I think we will swap the protein, or adjust the sauce a little, next time it’s on the plan.
For the record, broiling seafood allows for dinner to be on the table in mere minutes which is a total dinner time win. 😎
*************
As always, please let us know if you have any questions about any of the meals we made this week.
Enjoy!
