Veggie Cheese
Real talk — cheese is delicious. If you are taking a break from it, avoiding dairy can be annoying — especially when it comes to not having cheese.
Vegan cheese alternatives a.k.a. "fauxmage" (from the French "faux" for fake and "fromage" for cheese) have become extremely popular in the last few years. There are tons of cheese alternatives in grocery stores, some of them are convincing and some are 100% gross. Let’s talk about the ingredients for a second. Manufactured cheese substitutes are often so full of processed oils, soy proteins, starches, gums, binders and fillers that any benefit you may get from not having dairy is met with an equal and unfortunate downside.
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This cheese was made with zucchini, but you can use all sorts of veggies. Turnips work really well and add complexity and extra cheesy flavor.
At the same time, it’s hard to get veggies in the diet at the same time as getting all the comfort food tastes we miss so much. Some of the people who need the most help eating vegetables are those with a plant-based diet! Sometimes, the good things we want to do for our body can turn into a narrowed list of “yes” and “no” foods, and we miss the bigger goal of eating more plants. And by plants, I mean vegetables, not soy chorizo or pouring a can of pinto beans over a plate of tortilla chips.
There are a lot of emerging ingredients and foods out there, many of which are unfamiliar to the average home cook. While we might hear things about gelatin and nutritional yeast, it’s often not obvious how to use those things. So what do we do with these weird ingredients? We make vegetable cheese!
Keep in mind that nothing will ever be cheesier than actual cheese. But vegetable cheese is pretty dang good when you are avoiding dairy. It melts, slices, is easy to make, delicious and cheesy.
While what I just mentioned are always the main selling points, vegetable cheese has a high nutritional value, too. It’s all about what goes into the cheese.
Gelatin contains collagen, proteins and trace nutrients and can be nourishing for the digestive tract, hair, skin and fingernails. Most high-quality gelatin is made by simmering the hides and/or bones of animals for a long period of time. Sounds gross, but it’s really just like making broth.
Olive oil is full of Omega-3s and antioxidants, which can help decrease inflammation in the body. There is evidence that olive oil may be cardio-protective due to its anti-inflammatory qualities. Olive oil is a huge part of the much-lauded Mediterranean diet, which has been linked to longevity.
It should come as no surprise that vegetables are good for us. For the most part, they are full of water, fiber and polyphenols and other nutrients. We should be ideally eating 9-11 fist-sized servings of vegetables per day, while the average person in the US eats 1.4 servings. [1]
Some of my favorite vegetables to make cheese with are zucchini, summer squash, cauliflower and butternut squash. Incorporating other vegetables can add flavor. Garlic and onion are some of the veggies I like to use to add a little spiciness to the other vegetables I’m using.
Nutritional yeast is one of my favorite ingredients to cook with. It adds a salty and tangy, umami-esque flavor to things. Great for making things taste cheesy, nutritional yeast is in the same family as the yeasts used to bake bread and brew alcohol, except the cultures are not live. Even though the yeast has been deactivated through the processing necessary to make it a food product, nutritional yeast is packed full of benefits.
Rich in B-vitamins, trace minerals, all 9 essential amino acids and protein, [2] nutritional yeast is a staple in the kitchen of many a health-conscious cook.
There are two types of nutritional yeast — fortified and non-fortified. Here’s why that’s important to know. Fortified foods have nutrients added to them, which sounds good on the surface. What’s not to love about more vitamins and minerals? I wish it were that simple. Cyanocobalamin is added to increase the amount of B-12 (cobalamins), a vitamin that has been linked to energy, mental clarity and helping the body make and use other nutrients. synthetic vitamins and are poorly absorbed, so while it looks good on paper, the juiced-up nutrient status is really not that great.
A better way to get those nutrients is by taking a high-quality multivitamin or B-12 supplement containing methyl-cobalamin or hydroxy-cobalamin The synthetic form of b-12 used is cyano-cobalamin. [3]
Whenever you can, use non-fortified nutritional yeast, to keep your food as close to nature as possible.
Ingredients
4 cups chopped zucchini, summer squash, butternut squash, turnips or cauliflower
a tip for the lectin-sensitive: peel and deseed (and possibly ferment) first
1 cup water, brine or broth
4 tbsp olive oil
4 tsp lemon juice
1/2 cup (8 tbsp.) nutritional yeast
1-1/3 tsp sea salt
2 tsp onion powder
1/3 cup (6 tbsp) grass-fed gelatin
Putting it all together:
Heat the veggies and water over medium heat and simmer for a few minutes.
Put oil and lemon juice in a food processor or blender.
One the veggies are hot, strain and discard the liquid, and put into the the blender.
Blend until smooth.
Gradually add the nutritional yeast, salt and gelatin and blend a little more.
Pour into a pan and let it cool for a few hours to set. If you are using this recipe for cheese sauce, skip this step.
Now your cheese is ready to eat! It melts perfectly on pizzas, works as a cheese sauce, can be added to things to make them creamier (like mac & cheese), or as a substitute for other ingredients (like using veggie cheese instead of eggs and cheese in Italian Spinach).
Be aware that this cheese can be a little runny when it melts, which we found out while trying to make a grilled cheese sandwich (you have to use only a little).
Since vegetables can be anything now, go crazy and experiment. You might surprise yourself!
Adapted from a fantastic recipe you can find here: https://gutsybynature.com/2014/07/19/zucchini-cheese-dairy-free-nut-free/
[1] https://www.ers.usda.gov/amber-waves/2019/june/americans-still-can-meet-fruit-and-vegetable-dietary-guidelines-for-210-260-per-day/
[2] https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B9780128114407000090
[3] https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B012227055X002571