Hi! I’m Lauren. I’m a 22-year-old Masters student living in Cambridge, MA.

Growing up, my parents always exposed me to delicious, gourmet food. Of course, my five-year-old self preferred eating grilled cheese sandwiches to anything fancy (except for filet mignon, that was probably second to grilled cheese).

Throughout middle and high school I would eat just about anything. It wasn’t until I was about 16 that I began getting horrible a stomach-ache every time I ate something really greasy or with dairy. I was eventually diagnosed with lactose intolerance and a diseased gallbladder.

Gone were the days of eating grilled cheese and filet mignon. I had to change my diet to exclude anything greasy, fatty, fried, cheesy, creamy, buttery, and milky. So basically, everything delicious was removed from my diet (except for bread, thank god for bread).

My first year of college I really didn’t care about my stomach or new dietary restrictions, so I basically ate anything and everything I wanted. My stomach was consistently horrible and by the end of my first year I knew I needed to make some changes.

I began getting into a fitness routine as well as actually following my dietary restrictions…and the results were amazing. As long as I didn’t eat dairy or anything fried my stomach was great. While, I did miss a lot of the foods I began to swap out dairy with alternative dairy products and found that the food I was cooking was just as great. I also discovered the beauty of a broiler. A broiler can make just about any food crispy and delicious and for a lot fewer calories than a deep fryer.

While cooking and baking for myself is never a problem, I still struggle going out to eat. I have found that restaurants are not always accommodating to my dairy allergy and if they are, they are willing to do so with some sort of fatty meat dish (like steak). After a few too many restaurants not wanting to entertain the idea of using olive oil instead of butter in their dishes, but still expecting me to pay, I decided to start a blog.

Food allergies are on the rise and while I do not know as much about gluten allergies as I do dairy allergies, I will try to incorporate restaurants and recipes that are also sensitive to gluten allergies.

You will see there is a section encouraging you to send me an email if you want to place an order for dairy free cookies, cakes and other items.

Enjoy!

Lauren