I'm usually slow to jump on the "new product" bandwagon, but I chanced upon some of the new Daiya vegan cheese that everyone's talking about, and decided it was worth satisfying my skepticism. I'm all for having vegan/vegetarian versions of foods, if that's your preference, but I have yet to find a vegan cheese I felt was worth eating, let alone recommending.
I have to say I'm fairly impressed with this new Daiya stuff. Impressed enough to tell you to try it anyway.
Different tastes and textures appeal to different people. I liked it. It was melty and stretchy and gooey and cheesey-tasting enough for me to justify hunting it down again some day.
Since going vegan, I usually just avoid recipes that depend heavily on cheese or poor vegan substitutes. And I really don't feel like I'm deprived of a major food group. But I just might drag out the enchilada recipes or the pizza pans a little more frequently now! (Yes, I'm quick to point out, I can make perfectly delicious enchiladas and pizza without cheese, but even after being vegan for years, I still prefer them cheesy!)
No real "recipe" here, just crust-sauce-veggies-cheese.
Several years ago, I was sent a sourdough starter and it's still providing me with plenty of opportunities for breads, biscuits and, my favorite, pizza dough. I blogged about it way back here... Don't laugh at my misshapen crust, we were feeling rather "free-form" tonight...
Here then, is my mostly-mushroom pizza with cherry tomatoes, red bell peppers and onions from the garden - the sauce too, is some of my famous Crockpot Tomato sauce that I posted just a few weeks ago. Topped off with the new "cheese" and baked at 475° for about 10 min. Pretty awesome and cheesy!! It's definitely worth trying, if you get a chance!
