I have mentioned previously, that I LOVE cheese. This love for delicious, scrumptious, creamy cheese has had me regularly trolling the pages of Pinterest trying to find the best of the BEST in vegan cheese recipes. Switching to this type of diet has me constantly searching for copycat type recipes of the foods I used to indulge in, and to see how I may be able to make them my own.
Now, if you go onto Pinterest and you do your own searches, you find an array and splatter of different recipes. Many of them will have ingredients with names you can't pronounce, and ones that you usually can only find in specialty stores. Thank goodness for the Organic Food Depot on Granby Street in Norfolk, or else I don't know how I would be able to get through my weekly cooking experiments!
Again, Pinterest did not steer me wrong and took me to a great vegan cheddar cheese recipe by VegKitchen. The original post can be found here .
As always, I worked this recipe with my own twist.
Check out the recipe below!
Ingredients
1 cup cashews
1 carrot (peeled and chopped)
1 cup almond & cashew milk
1/4 cup agar powder
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
1 lemon (fresh squeezed)
1 tsp. Dijoin mustard
1 tsp. Mesquite liquid smoke
1 tsp. smoked paprika
1 tsp. sea salt
1 tsp. garlic powder
Pinch of black pepper
Pinch of tumeric
Pinch of cayenne pepper
Pinch of chili powder
Olive oil
Directions
Bring to boil a pot of water. Add the cashews and chopped carrot. Boil until carrot is tender.
In a blender or food processor; blend the milk, spices, liquid smoke, lemon juice, and nutritional yeast. Pulse until mixed.
Drain the pot with the cashews and carrot.
Add the milk mixture to stove on medium heat. Add the cashews and carrot. Stir frequently and cook on medium heat for 2-3 minutes.
Add mixture to blender or food processor and pulse until smooth. Scrape the mixture down the sides, and add additional milk (if needed). The mixture will be thick.
Grease a small loaf or round container with olive oil. Add the cheese mixture and press down smooth. Sprinkle the top with smoked paprika.
Cover and place in fridge overnight. When ready to eat, remove from container and slice at room tenperature. Cheese will be sliceable, but will also be a soft/cream cheese texture.
Serve with crackers, pretzels or veggies.
Now, I will say that my coworkers have tried this smoky cheese; and they have given their thumbs up! Do you dare to give it a try? 😉
I hope you all did something fun this Sunday!
