Dairy Conscious or Overly Cautious?

     Even if you do not put a dairy ingredient into a recipe, there can still be "hidden dairy."  This can be milk fat in dark chocolate, buttermilk in bread crumbs, or even powdered nonfat milk in cereals.  It is something to always watch out for when buying things you would normally think would be fine.  I have gotten into the habit of religiously reading labels, even of products I have used before.  You never know when a company will change their recipe so it is important to always check.

     This is one of the problems I am having with my mom.  She has been wonderful with modifying a portion of a meal to meet my needs but she does have her moments with this "hidden dairy."  The most notable was dry stuffing she mixed into a meatloaf that was made with butter, butter milk, and nonfat milk.  Unfortunately, we did not find this out until after I had eaten half of my slice.

     Tonight I was making that same recipe for my mom and I called her to ask if the new stuffing was ok. (She empties the bag of stuffing into a plastic container which means no label.)  She said she checked when she bought it, but if I was still nervous about it to use the breadcrumbs.  It was a good thing I looked up the bread crumbs because they are made with milk and buttermilk.  Turns out these are the same ones she used in a few other recipes where I had some sort of problem after but I couldn't figure out why.

     I don't know if this is only me but I really take this stuff seriously.  I know my mom does as well but I feel I need to double check everything just to be sure.  You are the advocate for your own dietary needs.  This means you can't always depend on others since they might not even think of hidden dairy.