Dairy Free is the Way to Be

For May I'm eliminating lactose from my diet, for me no easy feat. Here are some of my friend Kris' (who's lactose intolerant) tips for dairy-free cooking:

"Dairy-free products:
for a butter substitute I like Earth Balance Buttery Spread, available at most grocery stores now.
milk: I like Silk, and if you are concerned about calories they have a light version that is good also. The Very Vanilla is sooo good, but I wouldn't cook with it. I do cook with the plain though, like if I'm making mashed potatoes or something.
mayo: mayo does not have dairy in it, but it does have eggs which are another thing I cannot eat. Not sure if you are thinking about giving up eggs too, but if so, I like Spectrum eggless mayo. I've only ever seen it at Whole Foods.
Chocolate: good quality dark chocolate does not have milk in it, but things like Hershey's and M&Ms Dark do, so be careful. I don't eat a lot of chocolate because I'm not a huge fan of dark chocolate, but there is vegan milk chocolate, made with (I assume) soy milk.
Ice cream: I have tried all the soy ice-cream products out there. I can say that Tofutti brand is the best (all Tofutti products are great), especially if you want plain chocolate or vanilla. Try their Marry Me bars, you'll never miss ice cream. I also like the Purely Decadent pints of soy ice cream if i'm looking for flavored varieties like cookie dough. So Delicious is fine, although their vanilla has a bit of a soy-ish flavor. Lastly, Purely Decadent makes a coconut milk-based ice cream, dairy free, that is good too. Definitely tastes like coconut milk, but if you like that it's great.
Cream Cheese and Sour Cream: Tofutti, hands down. Available in most grocery stores.
Cheese: I don't have a lot of experience here. I like the Galaxy Rice slices, but they have casein in them, which is milk protein, so you should stay away from them. There definitely are vegan cheese out there, just be careful when you're in the grocery store bc a lot of them that look like they are milk-free have casein in them, so look for "vegan" explicitly. I have heard great things about Chreese brand, but I can't get it here. Keep an eye out for it.
Baking mixes: I love Cherrybrook Kitchen's products. I use their dairy-free egg-free pancake mix alll the time. They also have a great chocolate cake mix, frosting mix, cookie mix, etc, and they are local. You can find all their products at Whole Foods.

Blogs and cookbooks:
I look for mostly vegan things, because it's a shortcut for dairy free, and if you are in the mood for meat you can just add it.

101cookbooks.com is a great site that features all kinds of food, not all dairy free, but it does have a vast dairy-free recipe collection. The common thread between all the recipes is the use of local, in season vegetables and whole grains.

veganyumyum.com is a good site, i'm dying to try the man n' cheese although i'm a little scared.

theppk.com is another good vegan site. I've made lots of stuff from it and been happy with most things.

I have a cookbook called Veganomicon that I really like, and aside from recipes for every occasion and meal it has good general info on vegan cooking. It is by two authors that are really well known in the vegan cooking community, leading the way with recipes. One author also wrote a book called Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World that has gotten a lot of press.
I also have a cookbook called Vegan Baking, but i haven't made anything from it yet.
It seems like everyone is in to vegan baking now, so even the NYT has some vegan baking recipes and articles. I think people think it's healthier...

Whole Foods has great vegan muffins!"