Nut Cheeze

Is this thing on? I've been avoiding this blog out of sheer laziness for two months. It is such a pain to get photos off my camera because of this archaic laptop. Anyway. Since last I wrote, I have become mildly obsessed with nut cheezes. I'm trying to vary my diet because of a former soy dependence. Plus, making my own cheeze is so much cheaper it's pretty disturbing.

So I decided to make a raw muenster cheeze out of cashews. I consider it my own recipe, but it was adapted when I thought about combining the recipe for basic cashew cheeze from The Raw Freedom Community and the muenster recipe from The Ultimate Uncheese Cookbook. I tweaked a lot of things for what I consider a better flavor. The end result was a huge 3 cup block of cheezy greatness! Just a warning: this recipe is incredibly time consuming. It could take up to three or four days if you make your own rejuvelac.

Raw Muenster Cheeze
3 cups raw cashews, soaked overnight (8-12 hours)
2 tbsp rejuvelac (or water)
Juice of 1 small lemon (about 2 tbsp)
3 acidophilus capsules (just the powder, discard the capsule part)*

¼ cup nutritional yeast
1 tbsp tahini
½ tsp onion powder
1 teaspoon salt
½ tsp dry mustard
¼ tsp garlic powder
¼ tsp ground caraway seeds

paprika

Drain and rinse soaked cashews. Blend in a food processor or high powered blender until fairly smooth, scraping down sides along the way. Add rejuvelac, lemon juice and acidophilus. Blend until smooth, then scrape into cheesecloth and place in a strainer positioned inside a bowl. If you do not have cheesecloth, I have used a fine mesh strainer and placed a paper towel over the nut mixture. It works fine. Let this sit overnight.

Add remaining ingredients and nut mixture into a food processor. Blend until everything is incorporated.

Take some plastic wrap and spray/brush with oil. Sprinkle with paprika and place the wrap in whatever mold you want. Carefully spoon the nut mixture into the mold and cover with wrap. Place in the fridge and wait several hours for it to firm up.

This is best if let to sit in the fridge uncovered for a few more hours, in order for the outside layer to harden and the flavors to meld.

Enjoy with raw crackers, tortilla chips, or whatever you like!

*Acidophilus can be found in a health store in the vitamin section. It is often used as a yogurt starter. You could also use a bit of miso instead.

Above is a variation of Ani Phyo's raw Black Pepper Cheeze. I subbed in a cup of sunflower seeds, soaked them and the cashews, and added miso and tahini. I also covered it like her red pepper patty variation. Ultimately, I've decided I hate sunflower seeds in cheeze. Like...alot. But it looks pretty.

31 Days Later...

My first phase of the raw journey is complete. One month at 99% is done! I did my happy dance already. I've lost 11.4 pounds and am completely stoked. I'm going to get in gear with the exercise tomorrow. I'm hoping to get Wii Fit in the next few weeks.

Anyway. I tried a few things the past couple of days. I have experienced sprouting, which used to be a foreign concept. Actually, it still is. But in a few days I shall have delicious raw pumpernickel.

The other day I felt compelled to make oatmeal. I slightly altered Ani Phyo's Banana and Raisin Oatmeal recipe by adding some cardamom and drizzling with agave. So frickin good. The texture is right on. I felt it was even better in the dehydrator. There is no way I can eat oatmeal (raw or not) if it's cold. I can definitely see myself playing around with this recipe and eating raw oatmeal from now on.

Next, I decided to make a soup from The Artful Vegan. I made a raw version of the Chilled Avocado, Tomatillo, and Cucumber Soup with Saffron-Lime Ice. It was tasty. I had to subsitute lemon juice for the lime, so I imagine it would taste even better next time. I didn't seed my jalapeno all the way and it left a nice spice to it. Basically, this soup reminds me of a tomatillo sauce. It would probably make a damn good topping to enchiladas. The saffron-lime ice was especially fancy. It melts into the soup and creates these gorgeous orange swirls. I love when my food has movement and purpose.


Today was my first day eating cooked food in a while. As I said before, I'm dropping down to 75% raw. Surprisingly, I didn't go all crazy on the cooked goods. I had been thinking about KMouse's "tuna" melt for days and decided to make my own. The rice singles I used didn't get all melty though. But it was awesome. Below is the recipe for my own version of Chickpea "Tuna" Salad.


Chickpea “Tuna” Salad
15 oz can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
½ cup raw almonds
¼ cup Vegenaise
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1 Tbsp dijon mustard
1 tsp kelp powder
1 Tbsp dill relish*
Up to ½ cup veggies of your choice, small dice **
Salt and pepper to taste

Process the chickpeas and almonds in a food processor until everything is good and chopped. Add the Vegenaise, lemon juice, dijon mustard and kelp powder. Process until smooth, scraping down the sides of the processor as necessary. Place chickpea mixture in a medium bowl. Stir in dill relish and diced vegetables.

Add salt and pepper to taste.

* For the love of all things holy, put DOWN the sweet relish. It is an abomination to all things good.

** I usually add celery and carrot, as I’m not a fan of onion in my “tuna.” If I’m feeling saucy, I add red bell pepper.

I served the "tuna" melt with Mattye's Mustard "Potato" Salad from Frugal Raw. This was awesome. Kalamata olives, onion, dill relish! Nice. Jicama replaced the potatoes, which worried me at first. But there really is a lovely flavor going on. Plus her raw mayo is super smooth. A little trick saved me a bunch of time. The recipe calls for soaking cashews over night. Instead, I placed them in a coffee grinder and put them in a blender with the liquid ingredients. I let it sit for about ten minutes.

That is all I have for now. One day soon I will make a recipe for that raw miso soup I promised. Until next time...

Suavemente!

I've been making a lot of recipes from Ani Phyo's Ani's Raw Food Kitchen lately. However, I'm backing off of nut based dishes and going for stuff centered on fruits and veggies. I just made the Red Pepper Corn Salsa. It is, in a word, refreshing.

I’m pretty much anti salad. I spent a good part of my early vegetarianism eating salads…everyday. Recently, I’ve come to appreciate them again. I often like to make salsas and dips to go atop my greens instead of dressing. Case in point…this salsa. Lots of flavors going on. Sweet from the corn, a little kick from the jalapenos and garlic, green onions add another depth and cilantro packs in the freshness. Seriously love cilantro. Red bell peppers, tomatoes, and salt bring it home.

Simple and fantastic, yet it’s visually and orally stimulating. I did cut down on the salt, as I’ve found that some of her recipes are a tad too salty for me. But I’ve always felt that salt and pepper are very personal things. All in all this salsa is pretty great and versatile.


It would taste great on greens, in a wrap, or on some tortilla chips. And it could very well add a different dimension to nachos. Oh, how I miss nachos. Word.