Another Blog Bites the Dust

Just before the holidays, I decided to take a break from writing this blog. During the break, I had a chance to do some careful reflection about both my eating habits and the blog itself. What I realized is that, after nearly four years of weekly posts, the time has come to put Dairy-Free To Be You and Me to rest. Here’s why.

First, let me be honest: It’s been hard to find material. Although new dairy-free alternatives are showing up all the time, many of them are similar, and I’ve started to feel like a broken record. The last thing I want to do is “jump the shark,” like Fonzie did on those water skis. Better to admit I’ve run out of ideas.

Second, at the risk of being a cliché, I have embarked on a New Year’s resolution to eat more healthfully. For me, this means cutting back on carbohydrates and sugar. What I’ve noticed is that most dairy-free alternatives are paired with foods I shouldn’t be eating anyway — like pizza, grilled cheese, bagels, ice cream and other desserts. In my attempt to find material for the blog, I have actually brought more of these foods into my life.

Some of the sugary gifts we received this Christmas.

Giving up the blog will free up more of my time for healthy pursuits. I remember hearing an interview with Michael Pollan, author of The Omnivore’s Dilemma, in which he said that if people stopped watching cooking shows and spent that time actually cooking instead, they’d be eating a lot better. What will I do with the time I used to spend researching and writing this blog? Perhaps cooking that extra vegetable dish or prepping stuff for salads. Because the only thing keeping me from eating more salads is all that damn chopping.

Before I go, I’ll leave you with a few of my favorite dairy-free items, the ones I have come back to again and again. Consider it a “greatest hits” list.

Daiya “Cutting Board Collection” Dairy-Free Cheese Shreds
Ben & Jerry’s Non-Dairy Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough
Magnum Non-Dairy Chocolate-Dipped Ice Cream Bars
Peet’s Almond Milk Latte
Nutella Latte at Republic of Pie
Lebanese Rose Milk Tea at Labobatory
Dole Whip

Thank you to all my faithful readers. I’ve enjoyed sharing this space with you, and I wish you the best of luck in your dairy-free adventures.

Me as Freddie Mercury, singing “Another Blog Bites the Dust.”

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So Delicious Dairy-Free Ice Cream Sandwiches

The ice cream sandwiches that I used to get from the Good Humor truck still hold a nostalgic place in my heart. They were simple: vanilla ice cream between two rectangular chocolate cookies. Years ago, when I was on a month-long meditation retreat, we went on a day trip into town (the only time we left the monastery) and were given one dollar to spend on whatever we wanted. Other people bought a pint of fresh strawberries or dental floss. I bought a Blue Bunny ice cream sandwich.

A dairy-free ice cream sandwich like the classic has been surprisingly hard to find. (Tofutti Cuties are the closest thing, though they’re soy-based and I can’t eat soy.) But now So Delicious has come out with a coconut-milk ice cream sandwich that is very close to the classic Good Humor or Blue Bunny one. It’s smaller — about half the size — but that’s a good thing!

Usually, I like my cookies crisp. But the cookies in those classic ice cream sandwiches were soft and moist, almost like cake, and their forgiving texture made them easy to eat. Have you ever tried to eat an ice cream sandwich that has hard cookies? When you bite down, the ice cream shoots out the sides. It’s frustrating and makes a mess.

The soft cookies, on the other hand, allow you to take a neat little bite.

As for the dairy-free ice cream in the middle, it’s the right texture, but the flavor of coconut is too strong to fool you into thinking it’s real vanilla ice cream. If you like coconuts, this won’t be a problem. If you don’t, beware.

I’ve just discovered on the So Delicious website that they make an almond-milk ice cream sandwich. I suspect I’d like this one better. As soon as I can find it, I’ll try it and post my review.

Coolhaus Dairy-Free Cookie Dough Ice Cream

 

I first came across Coolhaus ice cream sandwiches years ago when all they had was a food truck. Now they’ve got a scoop shop in Culver City and many, many more flavors, including a few dairy-free ones.

The night I visited Coolhaus, they had three dairy-free flavors: Mocha Marcona, Cookie Dough Lyfe, and Mango Sorbet. I sampled the mocha and wasn’t compelled to eat more. The mango sorbet… who cares? Everybody has mango sorbet. But dairy-free cookie dough — those are the magic words I long to hear.

I’ve been waiting for years for Ben & Jerry’s to come out with a non-dairy version of their chocolate chip cookie dough, and I just found out (like two minutes ago when I checked their website) that they have! I’ll be reviewing it as soon as I can get my hands on a pint. But back to Coolhaus.

As you can see from the photo above, there aren’t many chunks of cookie dough in the Cookie Dough Lyfe (bottom right corner). But I ordered it anyway, hoping for the best. You can get straight-up scoops, but Coolhaus’s specialty is ice cream sandwiches, so I got my ginormous scoop of Cookie Dough Lyfe sandwiched between two chocolate chip cookies. I was going for the full chocolate chip cookie experience.

Though this ice cream sandwich was a thing of beauty, I didn’t like it at all. The ice cream was smooth and had a nice texture, but it had no flavor. I couldn’t taste any vanilla. And the cookie dough pieces were sparse and bland as well. The chocolate chip cookies were okay but nothing special.

I ended up throwing out more than half of my $6 ice cream sandwich. That’s another thing: Why do they make them so big? You have to dislocate your jaw to take a bite out of it. So you end up eating it with a spoon, and what’s the point of a sandwich that you can’t eat without utensils?

I look a lot happier before eating.

Later I asked the guy behind the counter what the dairy-free ice cream was made of. It didn’t taste like coconut or almond, the two usual suspects. He told me, “Peas and rice.” No wonder this stuff tastes awful! When it comes to dairy-free ice cream, the only decent choices that currently exist are coconut milk and almond milk. You cannot make an ice cream-like substance from peas and rice.

But here’s what’s great about Coolhaus: It was started by two women from Los Angeles, it’s got cute branding and packaging and, for those who can eat dairy, there are creative flavors like Fried Chicken & Waffles, Beer & Pretzels, and Passover (port and Manischewitz ice cream base with chocolate-covered matzo pieces). Back in my dairy-eating days, Coolhaus would’ve been a playground.

But now it’s just another ice cream joint I’m crossing off my list.

COOLHAUS, 8588 Washington Blvd., Culver City, CA 90232