Cashew Cheese

We love us our cashews in this household and when Dylan came home from school yesterday, he was craving them, so I decided to try my hand at a raw cashew cheese. This recipe is based on the one here and the making of it was inspired by another mommy friend. The consistency is suitable for nachos or a rich, creamy sauce. Tonight, we drizzled it over brown rice and black bean enchiladas.

Ingredients

• 1 cup cashew nuts
• 1/4 c. roasted red bell pepper
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/4 cup nutritional yeast
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 1/4 cup shallots
• juice from 1 lemon
• 2 tbsp. Bragg's Liquid Amino Acid
• 1 tbsp. sesame oil
• salt to taste

Place everything into a food processor and blend until smooth.

Adjust consistency to your liking by adding more water to make it thinner or more nuts to make it thicker.

Roasted Red Pepper Cashew Dip

Adapted from VegNews (January-February 2008). This dip is another great VegNews find. It's super easy and super quick. We brought some to Candice's house on Christmas Eve and some to Cindy's house for Christmas.

Ingredients

• 2 large pieces of jarred, roasted red pepper
• 1 c. raw cashews (unsalted, unroasted, etc.)
• Water as needed
• Salt and pepper to taste

Put everything in a food processor and blend it up until smooth (about 4 minutes).

Add water 1 tbsp. at a time to get the desired consistency and add salt and pepper to your satisfaction.

Serve and delight your family and friends.

Baked Mac 'n' Cashew Cheese

Adapted from VegNews (January-February 2008). We spent so much time in the kitchen this past holiday, we decided to make something quick and comforting, so VegNews' Mac 'n' (cashew-based) Cheese recipe totally caught my eye! We got very positive responses at Candice's Christmas Eve gathering (including kudos -- in the form of actual consumption -- from Mac 'n' cheese connoisseur Tyler). Definitely a keeper.

Our modifications were minor: more garlic and less cooking water used.

Ingredients

• 2 tsps. sea salt
• 8 ounces macaroni (we used fusili)
• 4 slices of bread (we used sliced francese), torn in to large pieces
• 1/3 c. + 2 tbsp. Earth Balance buttery spread
• 2 tbsp. shallots, peeled and chopped
• 1 c. red or yellow potatoes, peeled and chopped
• 1/4 c. carrots
• 1/3 c. onion
• 1/4 c. cashews
• 3/4 tsp. garlic
• 1/4 tsp. Dijon mustard
• 1 tbsp. freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 1/4 tsp. black pepper
• 1/8 tsp. cayenne
• 1/4 tsp. paprika

Cook macaroni until al dente.

Using a food processor, make breadcrumbs by pulverizing sliced bread to a medium-fine texture with 2 tbsp. margarine. Set aside.

Preheat oven to 350F.

In a medium saucepan, add shallots, potatoes, carrots, onion and 1 c. of water. Bring to a boil, then cover the pan and simmer for 15 minutes or until vegetables are very soft.

Process cashews, salt, garlic, 1/3. c. margarine, mustard, lemon juice, black pepper, and cayenne in a blender.

Add softened vegetables and cooking water, as needed, to the blender and blend until perfectly smooth.

In a large bowl, completely coat the pasta with the blended cheese sauce.

Spread the pasta into a 9x12 casserole dish.

Sprinkle with breadcrumbs and dust with paprika.

Bake for 30 minutes or until the cheese sauce is bubbling and the top has turned golden brown.

Serves 6.