Raw food rocks (oh, and its good for you too). Our household isn’t vegan, but we do have dairy allergies so we find ourselves looking for many vegan alternatives for our favorite foods. Cheese is one of them! Here’s a super simple Raw Parmesan Cheese recipe. It can be used as a sauce or dehydrated into thin layers and broken up for parm topping. So good, even the cows approve. Yum-O!
Nutty, Cow Approved “Parmesan Cheese”
- 1 cup each raw cashews and pine nuts, soaked overnight
- Juice from a lemon and lime equal to 1/2 cup
- 1/2 cup water
- 3 Tbs. nutritional yeast
- 1/2-1 tsp Celtic sea salt (depending on how salty you like foods)
- We like add ins, go spicy with cayenne or opt for garlic and pepper or basil. Add just a dash or two (depending on taste preference).
Process until smooth in a blender (if using a Vitamix, be careful that you don’t allow it to pulse long enough to heat up, or you will cook your cheese and deplete nutrients).
If you want a sauce, use it as is… otherwise, spread thinly on your dehydrator sheets or natural parchment paper and dry for about 14 hours (flip it over half way through to dry both sides). Be sure to use a dehydrator which has temperature controls and can be set at or below 106 F to keep your cheese raw. Once dry, crumble and store in a sealed glass jar.
Eat Well. Be Well.
Photo credit: Rude Cow! by FoxyPar4 on Flickr under Creative Commons License.
Here’s another vegan parmesan recipe that requires no appliances and is delicious:
-almond meal (they have this at Trader Joe’s)
-lemon pepper
-garlic powder
-onion powder
-nutritional yeast
-sea salt (micro powder works best)
-asefoetida (VERY strong, use a tiny amount)
I’ve never measured it out, but try a few cups of the almond meal and a few tablespoons of the rest, except the salt and asefoetida (teaspoon of those).
mix all together in a bowl. stored in a fridge it lasts for months.
Go Veg!