What do you mean when you say "no dairy"?

N celebrates his four month birthday with my friend Nikki and a vegan chocolate cake. 

Though it's certainly not a very scientific sample, of the seven or eight new moms I know, four of us had to give up dairy entirely, for months, so that our babies' digestive systems could catch up to our desire for pizza and ice cream.

I still remember my follow-up call to the pediatrician.

"So, what about things like banana bread?"

"Oh, that's probably fine."

"But, it has butter in it, is that OK?"

"Oh, well, if it has real butter. Most products these days don't."

"Well, I'm making it, and I use real butter."

"Oh, yeah. Well, you probably don't want to have that then."

And so began a year of dairy-free. For the first few months, I was so busy trying to keep N alive and happy that I didn't really have time to think of anything dairy-free to eat besides Luna bars and pita bread. I was shocked to discover that most things I ate were fundamentally based on cheese, or had "milk powder" half a mile down the ingredient list no matter how undairyish they seemed. I quickly lost the 30 pounds I gained during pregnancy and then another fifteen or so more, taking N on two hour walks so he could sleep and eating my standard Luna bar breakfast halfway through, then nursing N when he woke up. Soon I didn't recognize my face shape anymore and I was near tears an awful lot.

Why isn't there more back-up for the TONS of moms who end up going dairy-free? Though I could scare up a few vegan cookbooks at the library once I finally had time for that kind of thing, I have mostly been fending for myself on what to eat, what to try introducing to Nate and when, and when this whole thing might blow over. Our absolutely wonderful pediatrician (I'm serious, he's great) just keeps saying to challenge it periodically. So we do. And it doesn't go well.

Anyway, I started to figure out the no dairy thing and gain a bit of weight back after a few months and I'd like to offer some of my favorite dairy-free recipes here now and again. I'm not into the kind of dairy-free recipes that are based on something that is supposed to have dairy, like dairy-free pizza. No, though I'm willing to bake with a little almond milk now and then, the recipes and meals I've finally figured out how to make and eat this year rely a lot on fresh bread, fresh produce and lots and lots of chocolate cake.

This chocolate cake from the Post Punk Kitchen, to be specific. I've probably made twenty-five of them this year. I kid you not. They've allowed me to feel OK time after time when I have to say "Oh, thanks, I'm going to eat at home" at that party serving a dairy-ful menu, "Oh, I'm not hungry" when dessert is ice cream, "Oh, I already ate" when I'm invited to pull up a plate of blueberry pancakes. Etc. It's not easy being dairy free - as you probably know if you're still reading this post- but the chocolate cake helps. Seriously. I've had two pieces already today.

I recommend making this as a layer cake, with ganache in the middle, on top, and dripping all around the edges in giant fudgy lakes.