I have just GOT to have something to substitute for cheese. We gave up dairy about a year ago, but would really, really like something to put in blintzes, in lasagna, and on pizza.
No dairy (including goat and sheep cheese), and no soy. It doesn't have to be vegan. Suggestions???
Thanks!
Janeen
almond or cashew cheese
Thanks, but so far, all of these I have found on the market have casein in them, which is dairy. But maybe I should check again to see if there are other brands? Or do you have a recipe for almond or cashew cheese you like?
Thanks!
Janeen
I saw this today and thought I'd post it here for you. It is a recipe for make your own cashew cheese. Needless to say I've never made it nor can I vouch for how it turns out. Good luck with it.
http://www.astray.com/recipes/?show=Agar%20cheese%5E
I hope it's ok to post a link as I couldn't find anything saying not to. If not, would someone please let me know?
Thanks! I've never tried working with agar before... I'll have to try it!
There is a recipe for a live cashew cheese that might be helpful. With no agar or chia or anything to gel it, is stays as a spread, but is great for lasagna, wraps, etc. For one who stays away from fermented things, this wouldn't work due to the miso.
Blend 2 cups of cashews with 1 cup of water and 4 tsp of light miso. Let sit in a strainer or cheesecloth overnight (or up to 8 hours) in a warm place to drain any liquid out.
Then blend the cashew mixture with 2 Tbsp olive or grapeseed oil, 1/4 c lemon juice and 1/2 tsp salt. All of these can be adjusted to taste. Let it chill for a while and then eat.
This is also really great with some chopped olives added to it.
Glad to help. Enjoy!
edited to add
Ok, got off here and thought "if there is one recipe out there there should be more". So I did a search for "recipe for nut cheeses" and came up with this one. It looks delicious..and easy. Looks just like cream cheese.
http://www.reallyrawfood.com/2008/07/13/raw-vegan-recipe-macadamia-nut-
Maybe you should do some more searching? You never know what you might come across. Maybe just the one you are looking for.
edit
Now I'm on a kick. Found a couple more that sound really interesting.
http://chocolateandzucchini.com/archives/2008/11/raw_cashew_cheese.php
scroll way down, she says it comes out like homemade ricotta.
http://www.godairyfree.org/Alisa-s-Blog/Alisa-s-Milk-Free-
this one just sounds so good!
Hope that helps
Ok, two more.
http://www.ehow.com/how_2053821_make-raw-almond-cheese.html
http://nuggetmarket.com/recipes.php?id=267&page=
The term "raw nut cheese" brings up quite a few too.
Thanks, Kellir.
LOL, bakingfool, I am amazed, impressed, and grateful! I think the problem was my searching process. I just kept looking for dairy-free cheese, and wasn't getting anywhere. The nut cheese search seems to have worked so much better!
OK, I'm off to make cheese!
Thanks!!!!
Janeen
You're welcome. Please let us know which ones you try and how you liked them.
If you can handle soy, silken tofu can be mashed with a fork and used in place of ricotta cheese, like in lasagna.
The Nut Cheese Experiments, Part 1 :)
I looked through all the recipes, and it seems as though a number of them have rejuvelac as an ingredient. I didn't really know what that was, so I looked it up. Turns out, it is a sprouted wheat or rye item, and since we are gluten free, I can't do that. I wasn't really sure what the purpose of the rejuvelac was anyway, and I didn't want to start off the bat with subbing ingredients in unknown recipes, so I just skipped those.
Next, I made Elena's Creamy "ricotta" dip
http://www.elanaspantry.com/creamy-ricotta-dip/
It is made with pine nuts. It was yummy and very ricotta-like. The dip was too lemony for using in lasagna, I thought, but that seems an easy enough tweak.
I was thinking that making a lot of pine nut cheese might break my grocery budget, so next I tried the cashew cheese.
http://chocolateandzucchini.com/archives/2008/11/raw_cashew_cheese.php
This was very good, but not quite as good as the pine nut one. It had a bit more of a cashew taste, which again, is good, but is not ricotta. I put the cashew cheese in the lasagna, and my family loved it, but I thought it had a bit of an off-taste. Either it mellowed or I did, though, because the leftovers were just scrumptious. :) I'll try a less-lemony version of the pine nut dip in the lasagna next time.
In the meantime, I made this artichoke pate:
http://www.godairyfree.org/Recipes/Appetizers/Artichoke-Pate-Vegan-Gluten-Free-Soy-
Free.html
and served it to my homeschool-mom-friends who came over for a fun evening. We all really liked it. The almonds and artichokes make a nice base, but it mostly tasted like garlic... no complaints, though. :)
Next, I'm going to try the macadamia cream cheese.
http://www.reallyrawfood.com/2008/07/13/raw-vegan-recipe-macadamia-nut-cheese/
I have a GF carrot cake mix, and I would just love some cream cheese frosting for it.
WOW! Janeen, you've been one busy cook! Thanks for letting us know how it's going for you and the family.
I was wondering on Elana's "ricotta" dip if substituting most or all of the lemon juice with olive oil might work best in lasagna. You've made the dip and I haven't.. but I thought the olive flavor would go well there. Just an idea to mull over.
If you've tasted dairy at all in the past I don't think you will ever make a nut based recipe taste like it. I do however, think you can get used to the taste of nut based dairy foods. I wonder if making the nut cheese a day ahead would give the flavors time to blend and mellow and taste less off to you.
Looking forward to the next report...
wasn't showing I posted.
I made the raw macadamia nut cream cheese. I don't have a vitamix, so I just used my food processor. The food processor did *not* get the mac nuts to a fine enough consistency that anyone would ever mistake this for real cream cheese. It is still pretty good, but not really good enough to warrant the hassle of making it, IMO. Might be different with a vitamix, though.
We'll see how well it makes a frosting. :)
A Vita Mix is so worth the investment. I bought a refurbished one for lots less than retail.
The macadamia nut cream cheese makes a divine cream cheese frosting. It is still a lot of work just to get to the starting ingredient, though.
That's good to know, janeen. Thanks for all the reports.
I guess if I ever do make it to completely dairy free I had better really want a cream cheese frosting, to be willing to go to all the trouble of making the "cheese" before even starting on a cake, as I (like almost everyone else here) already have to cook and bake everything I eat.
I can have cream cheese frosting again?? I'm on the verge of screaming with enthusiasm... WOW thank you for doing all the hard experimenting for us haha
Carrot cake here I come!
I'm with you, bakingfool. I have to make everything from scratch almost, so I will *not* be making cream cheese from scratch very often, at least not this way. I did enjoy it while I had it, though. :)
Meanwhile, I found out about Daiya shredded cheese. http://www.daiyafoods.com/
I bought mine from Vegan Essentials.
http://store.veganessentials.com/daiya-shredded-vegan-cheese-p2767.aspx
Lordamercy, my 8 year old is in heaven! We got both the cheddar and the Italian blend, which is sort of like mozzarella with maybe a hint of parmesan. We've been having cheese omelets, pizza, tuna melts, quesadillas, and all kinds of things cheesey. It's not quite real cheese, for certain, but it is so much closer than anything I've been able to fashion. It is casein free and soy free, too. Rather expensive, as well. It has been doing the trick, though. :)
With Passover right around the corner, I'm already thinking ahead to Shavuot, with blintzes and cheesecake. I think I might revisit that pine nut "ricotta" of Elana's for the blintzes. Any ideas on cheesecake???
Janeen, that cheese looks delicious! Unfortunately it also contains ingredients I can't have. So... Hopefully the link will help many others though.
I can't really come up with an ingredient to substitute for cheesecake except the "cream cheese" you've already tried. That would take alot of work to make enough to do a cake. I will keep you in mind if I come up with anything.
Oh, I just thought, what about a ricotta cheesecake? I know there are recipes out there and maybe you could use a very mild flavored oil and no spices to make the ricotta? Still alot of work to get the base ingredients for sure. HTH
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