The following 3 vegan cheese recipes are light alternatives to regular dairy cheese as well as heavy nut-based cheese.

It’s easy to buy into the vegan cheese craze, which takes the beloved cheese-noshing experience and reimagines it so that you not only get to have your cheese but save a few cows along the way, too. Vegan cheese is marketed to be healthier and more body friendly than regular dairy cheese. However, just because its vegan doesn’t mean it’s necessarily doing your body any favors, especially if it’s based in caloric nuts. Luckily, you can whip up a truly light, pure, plant-based cheese in the comfort of your own kitchen and can eat as much as you want. These 3 vegan cheese recipes demonstrate just how easy it is to be persuaded to pursue a plant-based lifestyle.

White Cheese Whip Party Dip

Servings vary

Ingredients

• 1 head cauliflower
• 2 tablespoons Earth Balance butter
• 2 teaspoons mustard
• ½ teaspoon sea salt
• 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast

Directions

In a large pot over medium-high heat, bring water to a boil. While the water heats up, take the cauliflower and remove its leaves and tough stems. Once the water is boiling, add the cauliflower to the pot. Reduce heat to a simmer and cook for about 10-15 minutes, or until the cauliflower is tender throughout, but not so soft that it breaks upon being touched. Drain the water and rinse the cauliflower with cold water.

Add the cauliflower to a food processor along with the remaining ingredients. Blend until smooth.

Serve in a dip bowl and serve with vegetable crudités or chips.

Creamy Cheddar Cheese

Servings vary

Ingredients

• ½ baked sweet potato, skin removed
• ¼ teaspoon mustard
• Juice of half a lemon
• 1 tablespoon nutritional yeast
• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
• Dash of salt
• Dash of black pepper

Directions

Blend all the ingredients together in a food processor until smooth. Mix into cooked noodles or use as a cheese topping for vegan nachos.

Firm Peppery Cheddar Cheese

Servings vary

Ingredients

• 2 cups + 1 1/3 cups water
• 1 cup oats
• 1 cup cooked sweet potato
• ½ cup nutritional yeast
• 1 tablespoon smoked paprika
• 1 tablespoons sea salt
• ½ teaspoon white pepper
• 1 teaspoon onion powder
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 2 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon agar agar powder

Directions

Blend until smooth the 2 cups water with oats, sweet potato, nutritional yeast, paprika, salt, white pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, and lemon juice.

In a medium saucepan over medium-high heat, add 1 1/3 cups water and agar agar powder. Once the mixture is boiling, reduce heat to a simmer and continue to stir until the mixture has a thick consistency.

Add the agar agar mixture to the blender with the other ingredients and blend until well combined.

Scoop the mixture into desired shaped moulds and place in the refrigerator to set. The cheese should be firm after about 30 minutes. Remove from moulds and serve with vegetable crudités, chips, or toasted pita bread. You can also grate this cheese over soups, salads, pizza, or cooked veggies.

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Almond and Dill Vegan Cheese Recipe

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The post The Alternative to the Alternative: 3 Nut-Free Vegan Cheese Recipes appeared first on EcoSalon.

The secret is out: you don’t need dairy to make delicious, crave-worthy cheese. So many vegan cheese recipes are easy enough to tackle in the comfort of your home kitchen, and all they require is a bit of foresight (and a powerful blender or food processor).

The following vegan almond and dill cheese recipe is a savory and fragrant version of vegan cheese that combines the healthy fats and fiber inherent in almonds with the tartness of lemon and vinegar, the natural sweetness of maple syrup, and the uncanny cheesiness of nutritional yeast. The result is a cheese spread that is a great go-to dish for when you want to indulge in the density and flavors of cheese without the dairy.

While this vegan cheese recipe calls for dill, you aren’t limited to the herb. You can significantly alter the recipe’s flavor profile by changing up the herb component – try rosemary, thyme, or marjoram for a change and see what suits your fancy.

Baking means that this vegan cheese recipe is not raw. However, you can skip the straining and baking step and just enjoy the cheese as it is after blended. It will be considerably thinner and thus be best featured as a dip or spread. However you have it, you won’t be disappointed!

Vegan Almond and Dill Cheese Recipe

Serves 4

Ingredients

• 1 cup almonds
• Juice of 1 lemon
• 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
• 2 garlic cloves
• 1/4 cup nutritional yeast
• 1 teaspoon maple syrup
• Dash of sea salt
• Dash of black pepper
• Handful of fresh dill

Directions

Soak the almonds overnight in water. The next day, drain and rinse them and place them into a food processor. Add in the lemon, vinegar, garlic, nutritional yeast, syrup, salt, and pepper. Blend until smooth. You may have to add 1-4 tablespoons of water in order to blend the mixture properly until smooth and creamy. Add the dill and then pulse 2-3 times, just enough to distribute the dill evenly but not completely break the dill up so that the mixture turns green.

Pour the mixture into a cheese cloth and place the cheese cloth into a strainer that is set over a bowl, which will collect any water that drips from the almond mixture. Place in the fridge. Let it sit there for at least 8 hours.

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees Fahrenheit. Shape the mixture into 2-3 balls and place onto a parchment paper-lined baking sheet that is lightly greased with olive oil. Flatten the top lightly.

Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until the surface of the rounds are golden brown.

Serve hot with toasted pita bread or vegetable crudites.

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The post Almond and Dill Vegan Cheese Recipe appeared first on EcoSalon.

The following vegan Parmesan cheese recipe let’s you have your taste and your figure!

Parmesan cheese has a strong salty taste and a dense, chew-worthy texture, so it is not the kind of cheese you are eating in excess at any given moment. However, it adds so much to salads, cooked vegetables, lasagna, and eggplant Parmesan, that is it worth taking another look at to see where you can make healthy changes. Because, let’s face it, we all want to add more Parmesan cheese than appropriate.

If you assess regular Parmesan cheese, otherwise known as Parmigiano-Reggiano, you will see that it doesn’t offend your health too much, because it is often used in small quantities. But if you love cheese, what starts as a sprinkle soon turns into an avalanche.

In one ounce of Parmesan cheese, there are 122 calories, 8 grams of fat, 5 grams of saturated fat, 433 mg of sodium and 25 mg of cholesterol. While the same serving does provide 11 grams of protein and 31 percent of the RDA of calcium, these facts are overshadowed by the fact that such nutrition comes from an animal source and is often compromised during processing.

In addition to being dairy-based, regular grated Parmesan cheese brands often include cellulose powder to prevent caking and potassium sorbate to protect flavor, making the cheese not as natural and “real” as its simplicity would argue.

To remedy this situation, given my love for grated Parmesan, I decided to make my own vegan version. The result is a divine vegan Parmesan cheese with lots of flavor, texture and bulk. The walnuts give great texture and the nutritional yeast provides that iconic cheesy taste. The olive oil marries the flavors together while the salt keeps the vegan Parmesan cheese savory. Enjoy!

Vegan Parmesan Cheese

Makes about 1/2 cup

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup walnuts
• 1 tablespoon nutritional yeast
• 1 teaspoon olive oil
• Dash of salt

Directions

In a food processor, blend the walnuts for a few second, or until grainy. Add the remaining ingredients and pulse a few times until evenly combined but still textured. Store in an airtight container in the fridge until use.

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The post Vegan Parmesan Cheese Recipe: A Step Up from its Dairy-Based Counterpart appeared first on EcoSalon.