Easy cheesey

Cashew cheese. Sounds weird, right? It's DE-LI-CIOUS. You'll make this every day. It's creamy and satisfying, and takes about 2 minutes of hands-on work. It's also versatile--you can treat it like goat cheese and roll it in "Stuff" to boost the flavour. Cracked pepper, herbs, spices, citrus peel, sun-dried tomato, dried fruit or even nuts--nut cheese rolled in nuts? I know, it's crazy--so crazy it's nuts! (Sorry, I can't resist...) And if you want to serve it as a trayed appetizer, you can make it all fancy by pouring something over the top, like those baked-brie concoctions that were popular a few years ago--only these will be more awesome because of their vegan-ness. Try red pepper jelly, antipasto, tapenade, pesto and pine nuts, caramelized onions, sauteed mushrooms...seriously, I'm getting hungry just thinking of it!
But first, you have to make the cashew cheese. When you see the recipe, you'll realize it's basically soak, drain, puree, mold, chill. I soak overnight, which requires planning ahead a bit, but the link suggests only 2 hours. You can also add extras in before you wrap and chill --the recipe suggests lemon juice, garlic, and pepper, but you could add herbs, spices, etc. to the pureed cashews before wrapping and chilling. The recipe also suggests putting in a bowl before chilling, but if you scrape out the pured cashews into a sheet of parchment paper, you can roll it up and shape it like goat's cheese. Or line a ramekin or French onion soup bowl with plastic wrap and you can shape it like brie, for fancy pouring of stuff over top. Or you can do like I do--however it's molded, spread it over toast and then put the tapenade directly on top.
Considering how easy, delicious and versatile this is, I'm surprised everyone just doesn't serve this all the time. Easy cheesey!

Vegan pizza FTW!

I made some pizza and took it to a friend's as munchies for a clothing swap tonight. I ran out of time to make anything else, so when I was making pizza last night, I eventually realized that two crusts came in the package--so fine, I'll just make two!

When the hostess asked what I brought, I said, "Vegan pizza." She said, "That's great!" We re-heated it in the oven, then I cut it into inch-wide slices and put it out.
It went over very well. I was actually expecting to apologize for the pizza--cheese is one of those things that people say they can't live without. So I wasn't sure vegan cheese would cut it. But the hostess said it was fantastic; I heard someone proudly saying, "It's totally vegan pizza!"; another guest said she didn't realize it was non-dairy cheese until I mentioned it; someone else even authorised me to describe the yummy food noises she was making as "orgasmic". Yes, organic noises over vegan pizza!
Unfortunately, the pizza pictured is not the pizza I brought. I took a picture with the camera phone, but now it doesn't seem to exist and...I don't want to talk about it. (My smart phone has never before been so cruel...)
The pizza I took to the party was ridiculously simple; it takes about 10 minutes to assemble. I use Shasha  spelt pizza crusts, which handily come two in a package. Instead of tomato sauce, I used store-bought tapenade over the crusts. As with all packaged food, check the ingredients to make sure it's vegan! You can also use store-bought pesto, bruschetta, etc... Anything with flavour will do the trick. Top with mozzarella-style vegan cheese and heat in a 350-degree oven until is melted to your preference. Then take to a friends and impress the hell out of everyone there!

The best meal I ever had

Picture it: Florence, 2011. (Okay, so it doesn't have the same ring as when Sophia from Golden Girls says it, but I got stuck for an opener.)
I was on vacation in Italy with my mother. Before out trip, my mother had been worried I wouldn't get enough to eat in Italy. She even said she thought I might have to "forget about" being vegan while I was in Italy. Hellz to the no, mom!
But it wasn't always easy. The first place we visited, Venice, had plenty of vegan things to eat, though everything was ridiculously expensive. Next we went to Cinque Terre, a series of small towns on the Ligurian coast in Italy. As vegans know, finding non-animal foods in small towns can be a challenge. Whether this was the cause or whether it was just the style of food in this area, I did have trouble finding food. I lived on veggie sandwiches and plain pasta for 3 days. Thank god I took an online vega'ns advice and brought peanut butter with me! Otherwise I would have been starved for 3 meals a day instead of 2 and a half.
So the most delicious meal I ever ate was our first meal when we arrived in Florence. Taking our guide book's advice, we generally tried to find non-touristy places. Since we were usually in touristy areas, this was difficult. Especially because mom let me scan the menu and see if there anything I wanted before we went in. On arriving in Florence, we checked in to or hotel and walked down the street almost the first restaurant we saw had a ton of things I could eat. And I was so hungry! I didn't realized how hungry I was for real food, after three days of eating protein bars and instant shakes. I order three dishes, and let me tell you, I ate every single bite. My appetizer was olive tapenade; mom didn't get an appetizer but I don't think I shared with her. I also got white beans in love oil--I found this dish throughout Florence and sometimes beyond, so I think it's a typically "Tuscan" dish. Thank god for beans! I gobbled it up. And finally I had pasta with veggies. It had pasta with veggies throughout my visit, but after 2 solid courses before the pasta, I finally was full. Grazie!