a dairy free christmas

So I have had a fairly eventful week. After a million soaked burp cloths much stress, I finally figured out that Eli is sensitive to dairy. So, since i'm nursing, that means i will no longer be workin' on my night cheese (ok if you don't watch 30 Rock then you will have no clue what I meant by that and you might be slightly freaked out.) Let's just say I can't eat dairy for a while. It might not seem like a big deal BUT I LOVE CHEESE. And butter. The butter is not as big of a deal because I also like Earth Balance, but butter substitutes don't work the same way in baking (not to mention buttercream frosting...sniff sniff tear...pull it together Mary...) Of course, the best time of the year to give up dairy is Christmas, duh. It's not like there will be dairy-laden treasures of culinary goodness surrounding me wherever I go... Alas, who could say no to this face:
Rest assured, though, I will be doing lots of experimenting in the kitchen and I might have just a few tricks up my sleeve for the holiday season. We'll see how they turn out. I have yet to make a full trip to the grocery store since my dairy-free revelation, so meal times have been rather sad for this dairy lover. I had to finish up making the meals I had already planned so that my current groceries didn't go to waste. Yesterday I made a giant pan of stuffed shells that Kian and Jonah and Chad enjoyed while I drowned in a pool of my own tears while I went out to get a long-needed eye exam. I should mention that we did have some really good dairy-free pancakes yesterday morning courtesy of some substitute rice milk and earth balance. I plan to make a Whole Foods run tonight to stock up on some dairy free essentials, but in the meantime I made myself a lunch of roasted fennel and red potatoes. It was delightful.
There will most certainly be updates to come on my dairy-free adventure. I am forced choosing to look at this as an opportunity to be more creative, so we'll see where that creativity lands me!