Vegan MoFo #6 Cheese

I had two friends contact me wanting more information on cheese.

Not just any cheese...vegan options for cheese.

I was happy to oblige them with the little bit of knowledge that I have and a sprinkling of personal experience on top.

For me the jump to vegan was always held up by cheese. 

It was a food that I enjoyed, at least I thought I did.

Going vegan has meant experimenting and find new ways to enjoy old favorites.

So please allow me to present you my favorite cheeses on the market today, and these opinions are solely my own (I was not compensated in any way for this).

For starters, and my recommendation to my friends, was that it depends on what type of cheese you want to determine what company I would go with.

For example my favorite Parmesan substitute is:

 It has the consistency and similar flavor to that of regular parm.

Sometimes with a sandwich I like to have a melted slice of cheese, my preference is for (by Galaxy Nutritional Foods, same makers of the parm): 

The cheese melts nicely on a bun.  It has the same consistency of conventional cheese slices (I think you would be hard pressed to know the difference in a taste test).

One of my favorite foods to eat is pizza.  Where as I was not a huge mozzarella fan I think people look at you a little weird if you eat naked pizza...enter Daiya:

When melted it is gooey and stretchy.  If I don't feel like making pizza at home I have found that Brixx and Mellow Mushroom both offer daiya as an alternative (without any extra charge).

Lastly cream cheese.

I have a tie here for favorite:

Tofutti and Follow Your Heart both have a smooth and spreadable product.  Neither has an odd flavor to it, in fact the flavor is more more mild than traditional cream cheese.

In additional to spreading easily on bagels they also perform admirably in baking projects (and have made it possible to still enjoy cheesecake).

This by no means an exhaustive list, as there are products out there that I have seen in my local stores (like Daiya sliced cheese).

Additionally I have done very very minimal experimentation in the making of my own cheeses...although I did make this cheese spread from Dianne over at Veggie Girl.

Do you eat vegan cheeses?  If so which ones?

Have you tried making your own?  If so link up a recipe?

Sharing is caring :)

I hope you all have a wonderful Tuesday and I will be mofoing it again tomorrow!

Tweet

Blueberry Lemon Cheesecake

Last night I looked at my ingredients and was inspired to make a dessert.

I had fresh blueberries from the farmer's market and vegan cream cheese (compliments of Follow Your Heart).

I decided vegan blueberry cheesecake was in order and I thought "Hey let's throw in some lemon."

I felt I needed some inspiration and had to look no further than Inspired Taste.  Adam's fantastic photography and Joanne's delicious recipes are enough to make your mouth water. 

I searched around their site and found this recipe.

I made some modifications.

For the crust:

6 Lucy's Ginger Snap cookies
1 Tbsp sugar
1/8 C Earth Balance melted

Crush the cookies, my favorite method is in a ziploc bag and then smash the hell out of it with a meat tenderizer. 

Mix with sugar and Earth Balance then press into your dish.

Bake at 325 degrees for 10 minutes.

I have a sidebar here to illustrate just how much fun it is to have kids.

While the crust is cooking I hear a phrase I don't ever want to hear again "Mommy I have a kernel up my nose."

Seriously?  Who thinks it is a good idea to put a popcorn kernel UP your nose?  Well apparently Caroline did.  However after several attempts to get it out (q-tip, tweezers, bulb suringe, and pepper) it fell out due to her nose being a little lubed up from crying.

It was a harrowing 25 minutes and luckily I was able to get my crust out without burning it and allowed it to cool before I moved on to the next step.

Continuing with the recipe...

For the cheesecake

8 oz vegan cream cheese (I recommend Follow Your Heart)
zest of 1 lemon
juice of 1 lemon
1 "egg" (I used ener-g egg replacer)
1/4 C sugar

I put all of the ingredients in a food processor and whipped it together in no time.

OH MY GOODNESS!

It was good enough to eat straight out of the food processor as a dip (and since it was vegan there was no fear of food issues like salmonella)...I know because me and the boys tried it (several times).

Place the lemon cream mixture in your cooled crust them top with fresh blueberries.

I baked it for 40 minutes at 325 degrees (with a convection oven).  It will take a little longer if you use a conventional oven.

The cheesecake came out a little thin, but the flavor is PHENOMENAL.

The vegan cream cheese reacts and turns out just as regular cream cheese would, and this for me is a big plus, as I am a big cheesecake fan.  Now I can enjoy it vegan and take another step towards less dependance on dairy products.

Next time I make it I will double the recipe so that it will be typical cheesecake size.

I hope you all have a fantastic Tuesday and as a public service announcement "be aware of popcorn kernels you never know what trouble lurks."

If you have kids have they ever put anything up their noses?  Or as a child did you ever?

Tweet