Dairy, Nut Free Cheese AIP

When the kids were younger a trip to the deli counter was a must when grocery shopping. My boys loved getting those cheese samples. The perks of being kids....cute kids :-)  They nibbled on that piece of cheese and made it last until the end of our grocery trip. It was always something they looked forward to. They were happy, I was happy to be able to shop in peace. 
  Who doesn't love cheese? Cheese is a staple food in most households. You can literally save a disastrous meal by throwing cheese in it. Ask me how I know? Then entered the diagnosis of "dairy allergy", that perk went out the window. No more cheese for my little guys and grocery shopping wasn't as exciting for them or easy for me.
 Since my boys have so many food allergies it wasn't feasible to try and buy the dairy free cheeses. There was always at least one or two allergens in it they couldn't have. Although a few years back I did muster enough courage to spend money and try one, I forget the brand name. Even with that brand, it took me a while to find one that was almost clear of all their allergens. It seemed okay but not worth purchasing again. I ended up finding a recipe and making my own cheese sauce for them. It was great recipe, they loved it. I had to put that recipe away because I recently learned that beans are an offending food item for them. Such a shame because beans are cheap, full of fiber, fill them up, easy to cook and the boys love them. They are on the AIP Leaky gut protocol now and hopefully one day I will be able to reintroduce beans into their diet. But that is another struggle, another blog post, another day...

I stumbled on a few of the "zucchini cheese" recipes on Pinterest.com. Mama Birdie loves her some Pinterest.com! I tried a few of the recipes as is and they were okay, but needed a little help. So of course, I had to kick it up a notch and "Mama Birdie-ize it. First off in this recipe I changed the main ingredient from zucchini to carrots. Why you ask? Simply put, I did not have any more zucchini on hand, but I had carrots.  And it worked well, particularly for someone who hasn't eaten cheese in three years and I like the cheddar cheese color. I will still use zucchini, but I will wait until they are in season, in over abundance, and free out of my garden. I also thought of using half zucchini half carrots just to give it the orange color. The great thing about this is you can change it up to however it suits you. I changed the lemon juice to apple cider vinegar - one of my sons has a food sensitivity to lemons. I figured that would be a good replacement for the acidity of lemon. The original recipe called for water, I used my bone broth instead, it added much more of a depth of flavor. The texture and taste of the cheese is similar to Velveeta and it easily melts. The Birdie boys absolutely loved it. I even made gluten egg free bread rolls so I could pack sandwiches for lunch. I overheard them talking to each other this morning saying they couldn't wait to eat lunch today. I'd be almost willing to bet money they danced while eating their lunch at school today.

This could work well also for vegans also, just substitute bone broth for either vegetable broth or water and gelatin for agar agar (vegan substitute for gelatin made with a combination of seaweed plants). I've read agar agar can be substituted for equal amounts of gelatin.  Not only is this Auto Immune Paleo (AIP), it also has great gut healing properties because of the bone broth and gelatin. So try it out, there are many variations that  can be made with this recipe, add chives, rosemary, parsley or even cayenne pepper flakes. Let me know how it works for you and what you've tried!

Ingredients:
2 cups canned carrots or 2 cups steamed zucchini*

1/2 cup homemade bone broth

2 Tablespoons melted coconut oil

1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar (ACV)

1 teaspoon salt 

2 Tablespoons Nutritional Yeast   

4 Tablespoons Gelatin - I use this brand

Directions:
1. Blend Carrots, bone broth, coconut oil, ACV and salt

2. Stir in nutritional yeast and gelatin, then blend. 

3. Pour into a plastic wrapped lined loaf pan. 
4. Let set for at least 4 hours

*I actually used yellow summer squash the first few times and I did not peel it but if you use the green zucchini you will want to peel it first then steam it.