Jonesing for Real Cheese

Today was a little tough because I was really craving some real cheese.  I felt like a serious addict as I drove away from my house on a quest for "cheese".  I had to make a mad dash to the Rainbow Coop and hunt down a few vegan cheese options (full well knowing I was probably going to be on a fruitless mission).  Nonetheless I came home armed with a plethora of, let's call them, pretend cheeses.  Now I haven't tried very many of them so I can't offer ratings yet as I will save that for a future post.  I promise to be candid and include specific brand names and photos so you can give me your opinions on my selections.  One I did try, however, blue soy something or other, managed to stave off my craving, for now.

I told my husband that I might just have to be a cheese-eating vegan (I realize that makes no sense at all).  But for now, I'm not going to give into the temptation.  Prior to becoming vegan, cheese was basically all I ate.  I mean, I'm kidding of course, I ate EVERYTHING.  But there were very few snacks and meals that didn't include cheese in some form or another.  Having formerly been a big fan of Atkin's diet plan, cheese was what I reached for when I needed a snack.

I've already embarked on making my own cultured nut-cheese.  So far (I have some aging in my refrigerator) they actually taste pretty darn good but seem more like a nutty hummus than an actual cheese but, that's not a bad thing.  I adore hummus and anything resembling it.  It's likely I'm one of the most creative folks in the kitchen but this is a double-edged sword.  My creative creations either come out really amazing or super strange tasting.  Generally the former.  I am a great home cook.  I'm using this blog in part to help me document my creative endeavors so when I make something really good, I can recreate it, step by step and share it with all of you.  Who knows, maybe one day I'll start a youtube channel so you can see my creative juices in action.

Speaking of juicing, we did a lot of that today.  First up was an awesome meyer lemon orange juice that we mixed with champagne and sipped Mimosas while lounging in our hot tub in the backyard.  Being a vegan sure is tough!  Sarcasm!  Ok.... then some more heavy lifting with a fresh line-up of organic apples, celery, cucumbers, broccoli, kale and more meyer lemons.  Yum.  Did I tell you how much I heart my new juicer?

Have a great night!  See you tomorrow!  Oh one more thing, today I made roasted golden beets, have you tried those?  Delish!  'Night.