Vegan Queso Taste-Off

Once upon a time a young bean asked a server at Chi Chi's, "What is queso?"  The answer was, "It's like a big bowl of melted cheese", and she was sold.  But that was not the end, because years later she would become vegan and the big bowls of melted cheese would elude her.  Fast forward eleven years.

Nacho Mom's Ultimate Vegan Queso had been saved in my Pangea cart on my radar for some time when the Food for Lovers Vegan Queso came on the scene (I know they consider themselves "The World's First Vegan Queso"; this was just my own, personal discovery timeline).  Since I had already planned to order a bit of Daiya, I added both jars (and more) to what turned out to be quite a large shipment of vegan cheese products.

I have my own tried and true method for preparing multi-layered, baked vegan nachos that I adore, but I was anxious to get back into the old school swing of things with simple chips and queso.  And, once the cheesy smell started permeating the air, members of the esteemed tasting panel started coming out of the woodwork.

Let's start with Food for Lovers Vegan Queso.  I hate the name.  Ok, perhaps it's cute that the creators love animals, food, health, the planet, and each other...but it's cheesy.  Maybe that was the point?  It could just be me, but who gets all swoony about love when thinking about cheese?  I get swoony about cheese when thinking about cheese.  Besides that, the term "lover" just conjures up a different kind of love that has nothing to do with my cheese life.  But that's just one person's opinion and, admittedly, has nothing whatsoever to do with the taste.

• FFLVQ poured easily out of the jar into my microwave-safe bowl. 
• For some reason, the color became significantly more appealing out of the confines of the container. 
• It heated up nicely and quickly, with only a few breaks for stirring.

Overall: creamy, delicious, with a nice kick.  I think this was the schmaltzier of the two.

Onto Nacho Mom's Ultimate Vegan Queso.  The packaging is adorbs, but the company's site is actually a blog and I can't decide if it's not easily navigable or if it just doesn't contain that much information.  Either way, it would seem that it should be a bit more professional; I'd venture to guess that creating, marketing, and distributing a vegan food product is the hard part, not the website.  [Update 5/8/11: please see the comments for the updated link.]

• NMUVQ needed lots of prodding from various spatulas in order to be released from the jar.  When it finally did so, it was with an unappetizing plop.
• The color seemed more appealingly cheesy within the jar; once out it came across as more artificial.
• It required a lot of heating time and the gelatinous texture made it difficult to stir easily.

Overall: lumpy, good, with no discernable spice.  I think kids would love this.

At first I thought I liked FFLVQ much better (the creaminess is hard to resist), but as I stuffed my face continued eating I decided that they both had their own, distinct flava (not to be confused with flavor, although that too).  The rest of the esteemed tasting panel- one vegetarian and one omnivore, gobbled up every last drop of both with no obvious preference: proving that either could pass muster as authentic queso.  For the record, both of these options are fat-free and have similar ingredients: most notably nutritional yeast.  I generally like but don't love nooch; these each tasted definitively cheesy, not noochy.

The bottom line is, the more vegan queso on the market the better.  Heck, the more vegan products on the market the better.  Everytime an omnivore eats something vegan they're not eating something cruel.  Try them both for yourself; go ahead and share.

The Daiya Pepperjack Has Landed

Know what that means? 
Quesadillas!

I pre-cooked the cheesy holy trinity: peppers, onions & mushrooms.  Then, I lightly sprayed both sides of the tortillas with olive oil and filled them with cheese, toppings, cheese, and more cheese.  I baked them on a baking sheet at 375 degrees for ten minutes on each side, which gave me enough time to whip up some fresh salsa.  Quarter them with a pizza cutter and enjoy!

I've never tried pepperjack cheese before; I was impressed.  The company describes it as "smooth and slightly spicy" and I concur.  It was very good and completely different than the cheddar and mozzarella Daiya varieties.  More cheesy options than a vegan could hope for!

Because I'm not familiar with pepperjack, I'm having trouble finding its place in my mental recipe index, but don't worry; I'll find a way.

In the meantime, though, I have plenty of cheddar and mozzarella to tide me over.

Thank you for existing, Daiya (and Pangea for selling you in bulk)!

Daiya Ode to Chi-Chi's

Remember Chi-Chi's? Moreover, Chi-Chi's buffet? Endless platesful of sweet corn cake, Mexican rice and cheese & onion enchiladas...finished off with a pile of warm sopapillas drenched in chocolate sauce- no wonder they went out of business; I could really pack it away! I hadn't thought about them in ages until I placed my most recent Daiya order from Pangea and began brainstorming the use of my incoming bags of shredded cheddar. In the end it wasn't a quesadilla, nor the chili con queso, but the cheese and onion enchiladas that won the opportunity to showcase my cheese this time around.

In the interest of honesty, I will admit that when I imply that I chose to make the cheese and onion enchiladas, I invariably mean that I had the Daiya shipped to my vegetarian Mom, tracked its delivery from work, and sent her a text message immediately upon its arrival indicating that she should check her email for the detailed instructions that she was to follow. Said instructions included a very simple enchilada recipe, and began with some variation of, "This is your mission...if you choose to accept it". Of course she did; she's my Mom. And who can resist Daiya and the prospect of cheese and onion enchiladas? Right, no one.

Anyhoo, you'll note in the picture above the beauteauos pan-ful of enchiladas that she was able to create under such vegan duress: yum. I hesitate to mention that before partaking, the carnivorous Dad asked if we had any "real" cheese to cover it with (!). More important to note, though, is that after being refused, he proceeded to scarf down double the helping of the other diners, sans "real" cheese. Hmm, not exactly missing anything, was it, Carnie? No, I didn't think so.

To be clear to vegans, vegetarians and omnis alike, the Daiya smelled, melted, looked, stretched, and tasted just like mild, delicious cheddar cheese of vegetarian days gone by. The onions were suitably crunchy in contrast to the squishiness of the rest of the enchilada sauce laden, generously cheesed 'ladas and there were happy tummies all around. There is still quite a bit of Daiya left over from this delivery, but I think I am once again going to forego the baked macaroni and cheese in favor of a good old grilled cheese, some melty nachos with jalapenos, and cheesy fries (Nathan's, of course).

I will make a concerted effort not to order another shipment for at least a month, lest I become addicted as I once was with "real" cheese. In the interest of full disclosure though, I'll admit that I have two wheels of Dr. Cow in the fridge from my order as well; so, I'm not exactly cheeseless in the interim.

For those of you who may have missed it, please see my first Daiya swoon here on SuperVegan.

And for those of you who also miss Chi-Chi's, does anyone have the recipe for their moist, sweet, corn cake? You know the one: they used to serve it by the ice cream scoop! Gotta miss Chi-Chi's.

Night of Bliss, Courtesy of Luna and Larry's Coconut Bliss

Question: How do you get carnivores to admit that a vegan diet isn't all about the sacrifice of taste and open up a dialogue about the cruelty involved in the dairy industry?

Answer: Start with Luna and Larry's chocolate hazelnut fudge Coconut Bliss ice cream and go from there.

As one of the winners of the Night of Bliss contest, which provided one person from each state with enough goodies to host a Coconut Bliss party for 20-25 people, I decided to share the evening with omnivore friends in order to open up the world of vegan eating to them in a fun and light-hearted, make-your-own-sundae kind of way. Sure, I only serve vegan food at any gathering held at my house, but people who are used to consuming the standard American diet easily bypass the offerings that are more foreign to them (you'd be surprised at how many people haven't ever eaten lentils) and stick with the more mainstream and recognizable staples like hummus and guacamole. However, not many people can pass up ice cream: especially if that's the point of the whole event. And, the make-your-own-sundae aspect doesn't hurt either.

The ingredients: After canvassing the Coconut Bliss offerings within the tri-state area with ice packs and coolers in tow (thanks to Pangea Daiya orders), I wound up with a few pints each of the following assortment: Naked Coconut, Dark Chocolate, Chocolate Peanut Butter, Chocolate Hazelnut Fudge, Cherry Amaretto, and Cappuccino. Admittedly, I'm not a fan of fruit flavored desserts and so I chose to omit such Coconut Bliss offerings like Pineapple Coconut, Vanilla Island, and Strawberry Lemon Love from the offerings.

Some delicious toppings were provided as part of my contest winnings:

Essential Living Foods organic chocolate covered goji berries: To compare them to raisinettes would be a huge understatement, but you get the idea...multiplied by a million on your taste buds. Everyone went gaga over these and there was a lively debate over whether they were better enjoyed room temperature by the handful, or a little frozen from being paired with the ice cream. My vote: by the handful, so you could enjoy the tastes and textures to the fullest. These morsels are delicious, good for you, and good for the planet. Check out their website and order some goodies.

Grizzlies Brand organic Calypso Crunch granola: As a sweets lover surrounded by glorious ice cream and topping options, I uncharacteristically wanted to pour some of this granola into a bowl of vanilla soy milk and call it a day. Instead, I sprinkled it over some Naked Coconut ice cream and enjoyed it so much that I had to go back and taste each individual ingredient dry so that I could confirm the deliciousness. They have a ton of flavors (and other products) to choose from, but Calypso Crunch was right up my alley with coconut chips (giant, toasted flakes) and cashews.

Navitas Naturals sweet raw chocolate nibs Cacao Power: How can you go wrong with ultra dark, sweet, cacao crunchies sprinkled generously onto your already chocolatey sundae? You can't. This sweetened superfood reminded even me how healthy and delicious raw options are and I've learned even more by browsing their website; I urge you to do the same. If you do it whilst enjoying a sundae covered in nibs, more power to you.

And I also provided some house sundae topping favorites: Holy Kakow chocolate syrup, pecans toasted with cinnamon sugar and maple syrup, wet walnuts, Magic Bullet crushed Chick-o-Sticks, peanuts & raisins, Go Max Go candy bars, chocolate covered pretzels, Laura Lee's Flaky Peanut Butter Treats, and rainbow sprinkles.

More important than all of the delicious sundaes that were enjoyed was the fact that I learned something very important and had the opportunity to explain something that would have otherwise continued to go misunderstood. Without me knowing, these omnivores that I've known for a long time (some even before I was vegetarian, let alone vegan) didn't understand why people become vegan. They equate vegetarianism with "not wanting to kill animals", but don't understand how dairy factors in, since the animal has to be alive to provide milk/eggs. As strange as it sounds, the idea of these animals living lives of cruelty never occurred to them. And even now, as the term factory farming is in the news as being an environmental issue, the cruelty that is associated has yet to go mainstream. So here I was, thanks to my contest win, in the position to explain that the idyllic image of happy cows being hand-milked is a fallacy of the highest order. So, between my calm, fact-oriented explanation and the delicious Coconut Bliss, I think I may have changed some minds about veganism...or at least gave my omnivore friends an alternative option to reach for in the dessert freezer.

Thank you, Chocolate Hazelnut Fudge, for being the favorite flavor of the evening and to Coconut Bliss, for the opportunity.