Magic Cashew Cream

Its been a slow transition and I've mostly been eating these amazing protein bars I concocted with the help of a few different recipes, quinoa salads, and polenta with sautéed veggies.

I was wondering how I could give the bars a creamy kick and I came across a few recipes for CASHEW CREAM. Its literally just cashews and water, but its magic! Cashews are full of good fats,or monounsaturated fats, that are heart healthy (also found in avocados and other nuts)! These fats actually help us burn fat and lose weight! They are cholestoral-free and a great source of fiber. So to use them instead of cream cheese or ranch is a great idea!  It has a buttery consistency that makes it the perfect nut to use as a creamy substance. 

 This is my favorite recipe as it is short and sweet! It is about 2 cups of cashews (unsalted!) and enough water to make it as creamy as you want. You can make it thinner to use in soups and other recipes that call for cream. Or, the batch I made is thick and creamy to use on bagels with sliced strawberries or maple syrup. It is actually also really good in my salad with a little bit of vinegar! 

To add it to my protein bars (more on them later!) I added a little bit of vanilla and a little bit of maple syrup to the cream, and it made a delicious and creamy breakfast treat! 

If you are considering going vegan, but sad about leaving some yummy creamy treats behind, fear not, cashew cream is amazing! 

Already vegan and using cashew cream liberally? Let me know how you use it and share your favorite recipes! 

More info? Check this website out!

(This is not meant to be medical advice, just some things that work for me!)

Day one...I love cheese.

This is going to be such an interesting journey! I plan to eventually learn to make some things myself rather than buy them for outrageous prices, but for now, the store is as good as it'll get. 

The saddest part about not eating any meat or dairy is the fact that I LOVE CHEESE. I have been a vegetarian for a while so, while I occasionally shed a tear (ok not really) for orange chicken, its easy to fry up some tofu and pretty much get the same thing.  But cheese, cheese is happiness. Cheese goes with anything, is always yummy and is just well, cheese. The sad thing about cheese is it makes me sick. For years I thought that I was lactose intolerant after a really bad ten day bought with the stomach flu, so I tried to eat cheddar cheese (which has minimal lactose if you are L.I. and curious!) and lactose free ice creams, etc. I would still get a stomach ache which was really weird. 

Well finding out that no matter what cheese it is, I'll feel sick and have a stomach ache and wake up even sicker means I have to find alternatives. But enough about my love, hate relationship with cheese.

Today, My little sister was making a quesadilla and I was aching for some cheese.  I knew that my new diet choices limited the quesadilla to the whole wheat tortilla only. So, I went to the store to check out my options. I caved and bought a bag of these Daiya Mozzerella Shreds. It was about 5.49 at the normal store I go to, so I  am hoping to find it cheaper at a speacialty store that caters to different diets or a specialty store online (I'm pretty cheap, but more on that later). While I must say that I try to eat "whole foods" and keep my ingredients list at 5 or less, my love for cheese makes it perfectly reasonable to make this purchase. There are natural ingredients, but there are a lot of them. So heres a disclaimer that they really aren't "healthier" than real cheese. However, if your diet is limited whether for health or earth loving reasons, this stuff does the trick when you need a fix! If you happen to try it out, or are vegan and swear by it, let me know what you think in the comment section! Im curious about the different brands/flavors/recipes, Etc!

Thanks for following this crazy new eating journey!