Broken Promises

To start off, I am breaking my promise to not mention Daiya for the rest of 'mofo. Why? Because today I procured about 2 pounds worth of "Block Cheddar." Thinking that this has to be the most amazing find ever, I brought it home. My drive home was anxious, as the smell drifted out of my bag, despite the tight wrapping of said block. My car reeked of CHEESE. Not of fake-smelling-weird-chemical-cheese, but it stank of the real deal! This only made my anticipation worse. I cut off a slice about 1/4 inch thick. I cut that slice into 6 rectangles. I got out 4 saltine crackers. Placed 4 pieces on the crackers, leaving 2 unadorned pieces to savor on their own. Took an eager bite of one of the lonely chunks. Nearly spit it out. Not good. Actually, it tasted quite like I remember cheddar, but the texture definitely left something to be desired. I placed the 2nd lonely piece on another cracker, knowing I would not eat it cold and alone. Still, not good at all. I was beginning to get depressed. I placed the remaining 4 cheese and crackers on a plate and zapped them in the microwave for 30 seconds...guess what?



PERFECTION!!!

I sincerely recommend the following:

DO NOT eat Daiya Block Cheddar cold, on it's own, or on a cracker.

DO enjoy it on a grilled cheese, or other toasty sandwich, or any other place you'd enjoy a thick, melty, gooey, stretchy bit of cheese.

DO continue to enjoy the shredded variety on pizza, in mac and cheese, tossed in a salad, or any other way you can think of to use it.

The key (for me, anyways) to enjoying Daiya, is to melt it.

Friday Night = Pizza!

Sure, any one of us could make a kick-ass-home-made-yeast-risen pizza, but, after a long, long work week, everyone deserves to have dinner delivered in a big, flat box. Even us vegans. The trick is to find a delivery joint that will deliver vegan pizza. Just find out the ingredients in the crust at your local pizza joint, and order it cheeseless with your favorite veggies on it. If you want to, doctor it up with some vegan cheese and enjoy! Even those of you that live in the least vegan friendly cities don't have to go pieless. Little Caesars has a vegan crust, as well as the breadsticks, as long as you specify "no-cheese."

I also live outside the delivery zone of any vegan pizza delivery joints, so tonight, mine is the "Crispy Thin Crust" from Domino's with mushrooms and roasted red peppers (and some added Daiya.



Happy Friday!

Cheezy Chikin Casserole

As soon as the weather hits below 90 degrees, it's time for comfort food. Growing up, my mom used to make casseroles. I absolutely LOVED them. I still make them. They are so easy to throw together and they make enough to heat up for practically the rest of the week. Another nice thing about casseroles is that you don't really need a recipe. You just throw a bunch of stuff together and then bake it. So easy.

Here's a picture right out of the oven:


Here's a close up, inside shot:


Here's what's in it:
1 pound prepared pasta (penne in this case)
about 1/2 cup Daiya Cheddar Style Shreds
about 1/2 cup Daiya Italian Style Shreds
about 1/4 cup Earth Balance
about 1/3 cup Tofutti Better than Sour Cream
about 1/4 cup Tofutti Better than Cream Cheese
about 2 cups Soy Curls reconstituted in about 2 cups water with "chicken flavored" broth powder
about 2 cups frozen peas and carrots
about 1/3 cup panko style bread crumbs sprinkled on the top

Here's what I did:
Boiled the pasta in salted water. Drained it and retrned it to the pot. Added the Daiya, EB, Sour Cream and Cream Cheese. Mixed it all up until it was creamy. Stirred in the peas, carrots, reconstituted Soy Curls along with the remaining broth. Transferred it all to an oven safe casserole dish, and sprinkled on the panko.

Baked, uncovered, at 350 degrees F for about 20 minutes, then I cranked up the heat to 500 for about 10 minutes to brown the top.

S-A-T-U-R-D-A-Y Night!

Bay City Rollers reference aside, Saturday nights are a time for fun, right? Well for me, that means an easy, early dinner, and a drink before heading to bed, since I have to get up at 4:30 am tomorrow morning for work.

Daiya Nachos with Refried Beans, Tofutti Better than Sour Cream, Salsa and Jalapenos:


My new favorite nondairy milk, Earth's Own Almond Fresh, the vanilla flavor, with Kahlua over ice:


Nighty-night kids. This old lady is hittin' the hay.

Daiya Vegan Shredded Cheese!

Okay, Okay. I took all of your advice and decided to give Tofurkey Deli Style Slices a try. This grilled sammy features the "Hickory Smoked" flavor (pretty good!), some Vegenaise, and...

...DAIYA Shredded Cheese!

Maybe you've heard of the stuff? Southern California Whole Foods Markets have rolled this out as an ingredient on their vegan pizzas. The product was so successful that the Specialty department (cheese and wine) decided to start selling it by the pound. My little Whole Foods in Laguna Beach doesn't have a pizza kitchen, so I was excited to get to buy it to try out on my own. It retails for $9.99 per pound around here, and I got a pretty decent amount for about $5. I bought both the white (Italian Style) and the yellow (Cheddar Style) and honestly, I couldn't really tell the difference between the two taste wise, but, guess what? IT MELTS AND STRETCHES!!! And it tastes pretty good to boot.

If you are wondering, on the side there, is a pasta salad, thrown together with some Vegenaise, Sri Racha hot sauce, green onions, pimiento, some of the white Daiya, garlic, onion, salt and pepper.