It’s been a busy, long, hot summer with lots of travel and fun. Now, it’s time to roll my sleeves up and experiment in the kitchen again. I have been tinkering with the recipes below for the last few weeks, and I am very excited to share them with you!
It’s been fun and enjoyable making vegan cheeses — which we will sell at our shop soon. The following two are very easy for you to try. The first is almond cheese; it’s soft, spreadable cheese that’s slightly sweet and wonderful when matched with Sprout Momma brioche — what an elegant pair!
Almond Cheese:
Ingredients:
- 1 cup almonds, soaked over night in filtered water
- 3/4 cup water
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 3 tablespoons lemon juice
- 1 clove garlic
- salt to taste
Directions:
- After your almonds are soaked, the skins should just pop off.
- Put skinned almonds in a Vita Mix or blender and pulse. Add each ingredient one at a time to give it time to blend. This will take patience — scrape the sides of your blender and incorporate it all into a creamy consistency.
Now you have three choices in what to do next:
- Leave it and enjoy as a spread
- Spoon it into a cheese cloth and refrigerate over night to allow all moisture to come out.
- If you have a dehydrator, pop it in a mold and dehydrate for 6 hours on 115 degrees, then it will have a rind.
How easy is that????
Cashew Cheese:
Ingredients:
- 2 cups cashews (soaked over night)
- 2 cups spinach
- 1 tablespoon flax seed
- 1 tablespoon chia seed
- 1/2 cup nutritional yeast
- 2 Tablespoons olive oil ( you can eliminate if your trying to go oil free and use water…I just like the richness)
- Juice of half a lemon
- Salt to taste
Directions:
- After soaking you cashews over night, drain and dry. Roast them for 15 minutes in 350-degrees oven until oil golden brown.
- Cool them after for 15 minutes.
- While they are roasting, sauté your spinach in a touch of olive oil till just wilted and still bright green. Let that cool.
- Next, put cashews, flax, chia, nutritional yeast and lemon juice in a Vita Mix or blender, pulse.
- Add oil slowly to help pull it all together.
- Add salt and spinach (I like to see the bits of spinach— so, pulse again)
- At this point, you can spoon into a container and refrigerate or dehydrate (115 degrees for up to 24 hours depending on how hard you want it)
I am going to toss together some vegan mayo today to have for the week. I thought I would share this recipe as well.
Vegan Mayo:
Ingredients:
- 1/2 cup plain soy milk
- 1 1/2 cup olive oil
- 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
- 1/2 teaspoon dijon mustard (or dry)
- salt to taste
Directions:
- Start blending the soy milk and slowly incorporate the olive oil to the consistency you desire.
- Add everything else!
- I am starting with this plain recipe. Then, I’ll play with flavors — such as fresh garlic, roasted pepper ands fresh basil or any other herb!
Have fun and enjoy!!!