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The Most Interesting Thing I Ate Today …

27 April 2010 15 Comments

To be clear, I don’t miss cheese, I don’t crave cheese, I don’t think about cheese … in fact, if it weren’t for Go Dairy Free, cheese wouldn’t even come onto my mental radar. But, in the name of trialing as many dairy substitutes as I can for the viewers, I give vegan cheese a go whenever I come across it and the ingredients don’t look too scary.

And once in a while, I like it. Not because it tastes like cheese (some of it kind of does, some of it really doesn’t), but because it is simply delicious in its own right. And such was the case for today’s snack …

I have been working my way through the We Can’t Say It’s Cheese line from Wayfare Foods, and wow is it packed with flavor! But today’s really got me, Dairy-Free Hickory Smoked Cheese Spread. Seriously, hickory smoked … who thought of that? But it does have a great bacony scent and a nice smoked flavor that made this my favorite of the bunch.

I have some of the hickory smoked and the regular cheese spread left and am trying to think of a few recipes to trial it in. Thus far I have had it slathered on rice cakes (truly a magical combination – seriously) and with the carrots pictured above. I have also made a quick cheese sauce (literally melted it with some unsweetened coconut milk beverage) with the regular version …

But I want to really see what it does for recipes. It is very much like a soft cream cheese in texture, but with a cheddar flavor. Any general recipe ideas?

Oh, so why am I mentioning this product here? Because not only does it taste good, but the ingredients are also pretty respectable and worth the occasional splurge. Here is the nutritional make-up of the Cheddar-Style Spread (which is dairy-free, soy-free, wheat-free (they don’t seem to use certified gluten-free oats) and vegan!) …

Ingredients:

Non-GMO whole grain oatmeal (water, oats), vegetable oil blend (may contain coconut, safflower and olive oil), sesame, pimentos (pimentos, water, citric acid), nutritional yeast, sea salt, calcium carbonate, onion powder, evaporated cane juice.

Nutrition Facts:

Serving size – 2 tbsp. (28g)
Servings per container – 8
Calories per serving – 60
Total fat – 5g (3g saturated, 0g trans fat)
Sodium – 190mg
Total carbohydrate – 3g (1g fiber, 0g sugars)
Protein – 2g

You can buy it online for a fair price (ships throughout the U.S.), and it is actually on sale at Vegan Essentials right now. Since you will be paying for a cold pack and may need upgraded shipping (depending on location), I recommend ordering in multiples – a sampler pack perhaps? I’m hoping it hits store shelves soon.

Next up: Daiya – as soon as I can get to Whole Foods which is a good 45 minute, over-the-9000 ft-mountain-pass, trip away. But, I hear it is worth it and have to way in my opinion. Have any of you trialed it?

Embarrassing Story of the Day: I sent an email to my sister, a personal one, only I accidentally addressed it to someone else (you know when you start typing a name and just hit tab/enter when it pops up with the familiar name – wrong familiar name). And the worst part? It was an employee at a state business agency that I had been emailing about quarterly reports last week. Whoops! This is the second time in one month that I have mis-addressed an email. Does this ever happen to you? No? Just me?

Okay, time to change this embarrassing subject … back to the cheesy stuff …

For more of my recipes and special diet information, see Go Dairy Free: The Guide and Cookbook, and my other two sites, Go Dairy Free and One Frugal Foodie. ~ Alisa

15 Comments »

  • Sarena (The Non Dairy Queen) said:

    I don’t miss cheese either. I guess I have just gotten so far removed from it…I saw a review of this the other day and thought it sounded interesting. I will have to see if I can get my hands on some. Maybe it would be good on a pizza or in your Au Gratin Potatoes? Mac and Cheese would be good too! Sorry about the email…that stinks!

  • Tanya said:

    I love Daiya! I use it on my whole wheat pizzas. Works great. I’d love to try “We Can’t Say it’s Cheese”…..made from oatmeal!!! Wish I had access……maybe I’ll have to buy it online one day.

  • heather said:

    oh now I really really miss cheese. I lOVE cheese and since going dairy free I miss pizza, real mac n cheese, cheese on sandwiches, cream cheese, shredded cheese on salads and cheese in general, lol! However I just found Amy’s gluten free & dairy free mac n cheese. It’s made with Daiya cheese. It’s quite good too! I’m so happy to atleast have that back in my life. I did pick up some shredded Daiya Mozzarella cheese so I can make a pizza. I hope it’s good! I’ll be interested in hearing your daiya review whenever you try it.

  • Lindsay said:

    ohhh, I’ll have to try that smoked cheese. Glad there’s no soy in it. Looks creamy! I’ve tried Daiya….tis pretty good but I still prefer Lasanit almond cheese. It rocks my socks off!

  • admin said:

    Heather, good to know the Daiya is pretty good, at least on the Amy’s!

    Lindsay, yes it is surprisingly creamy. Excellent texture and a good taste. I tend to like the vegan “spreads” better than the shredded versions, and this one is no exception!

  • Katie said:

    I don’t ever miss cheese either. Actually I can’t think of any dairy that I miss. Maybe ice cream, but even then there are some pretty good alternatives out there.

  • Jessica @ Dairy Free Betty said:

    I wish I could find a yummy cheese here!! 🙁 Time for canada to get on the bandwagon!! 🙂

  • Gaby said:

    How weird that you posted this today! I never miss cheese or much dairy (with the exception of yogurt) because seriously, soy yogurt sucks. But anyways, mostly when I try cheese substitutes or things with a bit of cheese thinking a little bit can’t kill me, I just don’t like it. It’s been so long that I no longer associate it with a food type taste and it’s weird.
    I do keep some cheese substitutes around once in a while, like vegan parm, or I recently bought some shredded cheddar for recipes I’ve had bookmarked for a while.
    So last night at 3 am, I woke up after what felt like hours of intense dreams about boxed mac and cheese. In the dream it was “wacky mac”, don’t ask me why. But I could not wait to eat a whole box of wacky mac all by myself in this dream. So it was weird when I woke up because all I could think about was the old school kraft powdered cheese. I figured I should just go with it, maybe I was lacking on protein or something funky, so I got up and made myself a melty cheese sandwich in the microwave because obviously I didn’t want to take the time to make mac and cheese, or waste time pulling out the pans. There was abundant cheese to cover up the microwaved mushy bread taste and I snacked on handfuls of the stuff from the bag while I waited.
    Weird, but in the moment it was the greatest thing ever!

    Sorry for the long ramble, I just thought it was too funny not to share! I’ve tried Daiya and it’s pretty good as far as those cheeses go, my friends said it really did taste like cheese since I can no longer be a good judge, and I do like the ingredients list.

  • Mastering Public Health said:

    Thank you for spreading the word about this product. I am usually very in-the-know when it comes to new healthy/vegan foods, but I had not previously heard about this item. I am also looking forward to seeing Daiya become more widely available through retail (discussed on my blog) — as I’ve heard it’s quite good — but I may order this based upon your bringing it to my attention. Enjoying this blog — good work!

  • Lacey Vander Plaats said:

    Oh Alissa! Can I tell you how much I love you? Is that creepy? LOL! Anyway, I always thought that you could only buy non-dairy cheese that was made from Soy and I just can’t handle soy, it doesn’t like me… I love, LOVE cheese. You just made my day. I am going to order some ASAP!

  • Mastering Public Health said:

    PS- Consider that tweeted! (@MasPublicHealth) ~ thanks again.

  • Jessie (Vegan-minded) said:

    I love We Can’t Say It’s Cheese, especially on crackers. Yum. Daiya is amazing for pizzas and quesadillas by the way!

  • 5 Star Foodie said:

    I will definitely look for this hickory smoked cheese spread, sounds yummy!

  • amy said:

    @ Gaby: i agree about soy yogurts but if you’re missing “real” yogurt you should try out this is a way easy, way delicious recipe for tofu yogurt:
    http://www.bigoven.com/26134-Tofu-Yogurt-recipe.html

    you’ll be happy if you do 🙂

  • IamMelissa said:

    A local pizzeria uses Daiya upon request. It tastes better than it looks (it looked horrible) – but not good enough to make me want to order it again.