Nut cheeses

First I want to amend my previous blog. I think yams work better than sweet potatoes. My food processor cuts the yams into a creamy texture but the sweet potatoes stay on the crunchy side. I say try both and see what you like.

I am not 100% raw vegan yet. I still eat some cheese, especially Vancouver Island cheeses which are excellent. But I find nut cheeses are a nice and healthy alternative. I have yet to experiment with making real nut cheeses which involve cheese cloth and a number of days with weights on top of the nuts. Below are 3 recipes taken from raw food web pages. As usual, experiment to get the taste you like best.

Cashew Cheese:
4 cups of raw cashews
4 heaping tablespoon fulls of nutritional yeast
3 tablespoon fulls of lemon juice
1 tablespoon of Olive Oil
(1 cup pine nuts if you can afford it)

Blend all together in a food processor. You do not have to soak the cashews. If you do soak them, it makes it creamier. Experiment with the yeast. I like even more yeast then 4 tbs. This cheese can be eaten immediately or left out on table for 12 hours then refrigerated for a stronger flavor.

Sunflower Cheese:
3 cups of sunflower seeds
1 cup pine nuts
3 heaping tablespoon fulls of nutritional yeast
3 tablespoons of mustard powder
water

Blend all together in a food processor. Add just enough water to make it creamy (usually just a few spoon fulls). This tastes like sunflower butter but adding more mustard powder and yeast gives it a unique flavor. You can soak the sunflower seeds for 4 hours for a creamier texture.

Nacho Cheese:
4 small tomatoes
3 avocados
1 red chili pepper
3 small sweet red peppers
1 half red bell pepper
2 or more tablespoons of taco seasoning
black pepper to taste

Blend all in food processor. i usually am missing one of the peppers so go with what I got that day. If you do not like hot then omit the Chili pepper. More taco seasoning gives it a stronger nacho taste.