Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Sun Dried Tomato Nut Cheeze - Raw Cashews and Sunflower Seeds


This morning I decided that I wanted to make another raw meal tonight. Looking through my raw books I decided on raw pizza. Right after breakfast I started soaking the cashew and sunflower seeds for the raw cheeze. Since I wanted to be able to spread the cheeze on a crust I intentionally made this cheeze thinner and more spreadable than the last batch.

I had to sample a bit of the cheese on raw red pepper today so I could share the recipe with you. I suffer so that I can share with you. ;) If you believe that I have a bridge to sell. Here is the cheeze I made this afternoon.

Sun Dried Tomato Nut Cheeze - Raw Cashews and Sunflower Seeds
Makes 8 – 2 ounce servings

Ingredients:

1 cup raw cashews
1 cup raw sunflower seeds
1 lemon, zested and juiced
2 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
½ tablespoon yellow miso
1 tablespoon nutritional yeast
1 teaspoon oregano
5 sun-dried tomatoes, finely diced
Water, as necessary
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Cover the nuts and seeds with water and allow them to soak for 4 hours (overnight works too). Drain the nuts and seeds well and place them in your food processor. Add the lemon zest, lemon juice, garlic, miso, nutritional yeast, oregano and process. Drizzle water into the processor until you like the texture of the cheeze.  You will probably need to stop the processor and scrape the sides once or twice.

Remove the cheeze from the processor and stir the sun-dried tomatoes into the mixture. Taste and adjust the salt and pepper as necessary.

Refrigerate until needed. Use as you would flavored ricotta or cream cheese.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 182.98
Calories From Fat (70%) - 127.32

Total Fat - 14.85g
Saturated Fat - 1.94g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 68.87mg
Potassium - 222.36mg
Total Carbohydrates - 9.14g
Fiber - 2.73g
Sugar - 1.46g
Protein - 5.46g

Comments:

This cheeze is much thinner and will work better as a ricotta substitute on pizza. It would also be good on a wrap sandwich to hold the fillings in the flat bread. I like the addition of the sun-dried tomatoes in this cheeze. A few minced black olives would also be great in this cheeze. Even some capers or fresh herbs would work well in this cheeze.

Unrelated note:

Today has been much busier than normal. It probably wasn’t the best day to try something new like raw pizza. I hope to be back later with the other pizza components. So far it is a fairly simple process, but it does require making the cheeze, pizza crust and sun-dried tomato marinara. I can see how this would be a simple meal if you had the components prepared and waiting in the frig. I was wondering how I could send this with my hubby to have for lunch but I can’t come up with how he would warm it up other than to put it in a sunny window which doesn’t sound like the best idea to me. If anyone has an idea on this, other than a second dehydrator at his office, I would love to know.

For now I need to run and get a few things accomplished here before the snow starts again. We are expecting snow again in the next hour or so and I want to get home before it starts.

11 comments:

  1. Oh this looks fantastic. I just happen to have all the ingredients too. How convenient for me!!! I may get the nuts soaking tonight and make this tomorrow.

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  2. Heather,

    Please let me know what changes you make. I am always curious to see the twists you put on things.

    talk to you soon,
    Alicia

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  3. Wow, Alicia! This looks SO gooood!!! The recipe sounds really simple, I love it. I love sun dried tomato (I also liked the idea of using olive), I believe this nut cheeze must be tasty. I'm wondering how long we can keep this cheeze in the fridge. I'm thinking of making this and leave it in the fridge at work so I can use as a sandwich spread, YUM!

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  4. Oraphan,

    I would guess at least 4 or 5 days. There really isn't anything that will go bad quickly in it. If you added the sun-dried tomatoes when you made the sandwich instead of at the beginning of the week I feel certain it would last the week.

    Alicia

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  5. Hi, Alicia! This sounds yummy indeed! Cashews are so handy, we've done lots of "cheesy" things with them. (Wait, that doesn't sound quite right. LOL) We make a lovely hollandaise sauce with cashew milk and have made various vegan cheeses and ice creams with them too. I'm thinking this cheeze would be tasty as a bruschetta topping!

    Would your husband get funny looks if he put a toaster oven or microwave in his office? :-)

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  6. Lalo,

    Hollandaise and ice cream with cashews. You have my complete attention now! Sounds like a great idea for a post to me. ;) Oh wait, I am trying to reduce my calorie intake. Heck with it, we only live once, might as well enjoy it. ;) I can be so indecisive sometimes.

    Alicia

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  7. Wow this looks delicious - must try it soon.

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  8. Not indecisive, Alicia... more like, "whimsical." :-)

    The cashew ice cream recipes we've made can all be found in Vice Cream: Gourmet Vegan Desserts by Jeff Rogers. We used to make several of these recipes quite a bit, till we tried banana ice cream, and were besotted. :-) It's simpler (doesn't even need an ice cream maker), far less expensive to make, lower in fat and calories, creamy and delicious. I posted about it a few months ago and shared a photo and some of the variations we like. But the Vice Cream book has a lot more variety, since probably not all flavors will work very well with a frozen banana base. So if you can't decide, you could do the whimsical thing and try both the book and the bananas! :-)

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  9. Jenny,

    We really like this. I think you will too.

    Lalo,

    Thanks for the links.

    I have seen the Vice Cream book, but didn't buy it. I will look for it the next time I get to the bookstore.

    Alicia

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  10. Made this a few minutes ago. Yum! The only thing I did different was to add a little bit of basil. I think this would be super good with some cured olives as well (like kalamatas). Another winner!!

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  11. Heather,

    Thanks so much for letting me know. I am so glad you liked it!

    Alicia.

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