Vegan Nacho cheese

 

Hello! Sorry for the radio silence friends. I decided that the daily “what I ate today”s were just too much darn work for me, and often I wasn’t eating anything new or different anyways! But today I do have something interesting. Nacho cheese! 

So, I just kind of made this up as a went along. I would encourage you to do the same so it will fit your taste,not mine. Basically I:

-soaked a cup of raw cashews overnight

-strained water, put in blender.

-add: lime juice,hot sauce,banana peppers, cayenne pepper, paprika, salt, nutritional yeast, garlic powder and water. Amount will very on your taste. But I would start with approx. 1tbsp lime juice, 1/4 water, 2 banana peppers, 2tsp cayenne, 1tsp hot sauce, 2 tsp nutritional yeast, 2 tsp salt, 2 tsp garlic powder, 2 tsp paprika. And then just add more of whatever it needs to taste. You dont want it super thin, so be careful of adding too much water. I put mine in a mason jar and in a warm spot in the kitchen overnight.

Enjoy!

What I ate today day 17 +homemade lasagna!

Breakfast: Fruit smoothie.

Snack: Cupcakes with some of my favorite people, Josh and Gwen. We went to thimblecakes on Bank st. 80-90 percent of the stuff there is vegan, all easy to find with a small V (for vegan) or D (for dairy) beside the cupcake name. They also make amazing coconut milk ice cream!

I had a chocolate chip cookie dough cupcake and a coconut milk latte. This was my first coffee in 17 days!! I realized early on that I dont really like soy milk. Just as well I figured since I didnt want to overdo soy and I do like tofu and a couple of my other dairy alternatives like tofutti sour cream and cream cheese are soy based. And I have been having a bit of an issue with caffeine making me feel squirrely, so I just stopped. Until today. It was totally delicious, I only drank half, I felt squirrely. Back on the coffee-free wagon I go.

Lunch: I was so hungry when I got home I devoured a spinach-tofu samosa as soon as I got in the door. I picked up some tempeh for the first time today and made such an awesome sandwich! Toasted rye with “cream cheese”, avocado, arugula and smokey maple tempeh.

Snack: Green goodness smoothie. Sooo good,

Dinner: I made lasagna! Ok, ok. I did use store bought noodles and sauce. So sue me.For the cheese I used silken tofu with spinach and garlic. I also added some daiya mozzarella to the mix and on top . And a couple olives, because I love them.

Not bad eh?

What I ate today day 16/Red and white event in support of Harmony House

Sorry this post is coming a little late. Yesterday was the big charity event I have been working on,planning, and stressing out about all week. It went great and I feel so lucky to have had the chance to be a part of it! My dear boyfriend came a long to help and I couldnt have done it without him. 

Breakfast: Bagel with cashew, banana and FEAR. Just kidding. But I was feeling a little nervous.

Lunch: I packed us up what I thought was a lot of food. I wish I had brought even more. We had sandwiches (cream cheese and cuke, Seitan and hummus) granola bars, vanilla cultured coconut and berries.

Dinner: A big ol’ salad. Hummus and tortillas. Plus a gift of delicious seitan and root veg phyllo  roulade from Caroline Ishii of ZenKitchen. She and Katie Brown of Beckta were the other Chefs participating. 

Snacks: We stuffed our faces when we got home! I had toast with cashew butter and banana, spicy peanuts, dark chocolate bar and green goodness smoothie.

Went to bed exhausted and happy:)

Here is a photo of me on the demo stage making perogies.

What I ate today, day 15

Breakfast: Bagel with cashew butter and banana. Apple. Chocolate almond milk

Snack: Dark chocolate. Left over pizza.

Dinner: Tofu “butter chicken” and rice.

Snack: weird expensive hippy granola bar. Apple.

Snack: Bagel with cashew butter and banana. Full circle 😉

 

I also ate the dish I am preparing for tomorrow charity event. It contained meat, dairy and eggs. 

What I ate today Day 13

I apologize that my blog post haven’t been very interesting lately. I am working, readying myself for an event on Wednesday, and it’s been a bit all consuming. Regardless, I will continue to at least share with you what I ate today.

Breakfast: Went to imperial with my bestie. We got Blueberry and banana pancakes with toasted coconut and maple syrup. Hash browns and bean stuffed roasted tomato. Toast. 

Lunch: Bow tie pasta with broccoli, tomato, cashew cheese, brussels sprouts and falafel.

Snack: Wheat thins and tofutti cream cheese.

Snack: Primal stick! This is a kind of a “slim jim” for vegans. Tasty, but missing that greasiness…

Late Dinner: Pizza, roasted cauliflower, olives, fakey chicken stuff, red onion, daiya mozzarella cheese. Chocolate almond milk.

What I ate today day 12/what I ate as an omnivore

I didn’t really eat enough  yesterday. I went to bed at 2:30 hungry and exhausted. Just one of those days.

Breakfast: pancakes with cashew butter, banana and maple syrup

Dinner: potato and herb perogies, tofutti sour cream, cole slaw

Snack: banana Bread

Snack: banana, chocolate cherrios

Snack: wheat thins with tofutti cream cheese.

Normally, when not being a vegan, my day would  go some thing like this:

Breakfast: sesame bagel, butter, fancy salt

Dinner: (at work, for free) mac and cheese, with tomatoes and cornbread croutons

Snack: (at work for free) pimento cheese and cracker, devilled egg

After work: Ketchup chips with sour cream

You can see a) how unhealthy that diet was, and b) how cheap and convenient it was!

Is this more expensive? Yes. feeding 2 of us strictly with food prepared at home is costly….Though only about 25% more. Which is kinda of strange considering how much more home food we are eating.

Off to have brunch at Imperial! Enjoy the mild slushy day:)

What I ate today day 11

Breakfast: Chocolate cultured coconut with fruit, rye toast with earth balance (vegan butter).

Lunch: Roasted cauliflower green curry with falafel. sliced apple.

Snack: Banana bread

Late night dinner: Grilled cheese and tomato soup

 

There was some talk on twitter today (you can follow me if you like @sarah_j_allen) about making coconut “bacon”. My dear boyfriend and I just acquired a smoker, and I am definitely game to try this out one day! I’ll let you know how it goes! 

 

What I ate today day 10/ b-a-n-a-n-a-s

Breakfast: Cashew butter on toast with banana. Tea and chocolate almond milk.

Snack: Banana!

Lunch: Grilled cheese (with Daiya cheese). Tomato soup. Simple arugula salad with cucumber.

Dinner: Chickpea burger on rye with avocado

Snack: buffalo wing pretzels, little bit of chocolate

Snack: Banana bread!! There are many recipes out there. This is the one I used, but I used regular flour and added a bunch of dried fruit, nuts and seeds.

http://vegiebug.blogspot.ca/2012/03/best-vegan-banana-bread-in-world-yep-i.html

Snack: Chocolate cultured coconut with fruit. Apple. Trail mix.

 

I also wanted to mention quickly how I feel. I feel great! Energy levels are high.  I have a way easier time getting out of bed in the morning. And I am having less “fuzzy vision”.  Just feeling super good and happy!

What I ate today day 9- plus some exciting news!

First the food.

Breakfast: Pancakes with maple syrup, jam, fruit. Seitan sausages. Tea. Super healthy fruit smoothie drink. For the pancakes I used egg replacer which my friend gave me to try. Worked like a charm!

Snack: Chocolate cultured coconut and fruit.

Early Dinner/Late lunch: Quesadilla, nachos and shake n bake tofu.

Dessert: chocolate chip cookie dough coconut ice cream

Late dinner: bow tie pasta with broccoli, olive, red onion, cashew cheese.

Snack: Wheat thins with tofutti “better than cream cheese”. first time trying this. Amazing product. Tastes exactly like cream cheese.

More snacks: Toast with cashew butter and banana (finally ripe!)

More snacks! I just could not seem to eat enough tonight. I also  enjoyed some mint chocolate bar.

And the news?

I was asked to fill in for a chef would was unable to attend the annual Red and White in support of Harmony House women’s shelter. It’s an honor to be asked and it will be a pleasure to participate! I will be doing a demo and one dish for 300  people! 

I would have definitely considered creating a vegan dish, but another chef in the event (my friend Caroline Ishii of ZenKitchen) has already filled that niche so I decided not to. I won’t ruin the surprise now though, you will just have to wait til next wednesday to hear all about it!

http://constantlycooking.wordpress.com/2013/01/09/the-red-and-the-white-fabulous-food-fuels-fundraiser/

In other news, I’m opening a restaurant! 

http://blogs.ottawacitizen.com/category/life/omnivores-ottawa/

What I ate today day 8

Breakfast: Rye toast with cashew butter (no banana, they are green and refuse to ripen!), lots of fresh pineapple.

Lunch: PIta and hummus,more pineapple.

Dinner: Pizza! Topped with tomato sauce, cashew cheese, broccoli, cherry tomato, olives, avocado, cilantro and lime.

I also had a couple glasses of chocolate almond milk to wash it down:)

Snack: A new product I am trying out, chocolate favored cultured coconut. Kinda of like yogurt I figured. Well it’s more like chocolate pudding. Either way I like it. I added some blackberries and kiwi to it for a snack to take to work.

Snack:more pita and hummus.