Faux Cheese, Muffins and Tofu That Will Never Go Bad

Yay, it's Monday! Which means a day off for me. I had a bunch of errands to run today, so I didn't get to cook as much as I would have liked, but I got alot of other things done, so it was a constructive day.

I'm really not into faux cheese (excluding cream cheese, which I'm addicted to). I was a huge cheese hound in my pre-vegan days and I figured I'd really miss it, but it's just not something I think about. We occaisionally try a new product to see what it's like, but it's more out of curiousity than anything. A few weeks ago, Michelle made a Cashew Cheddar Cheese from The Real Food Daily cookbook and I was actually pretty impressed with it. It had a nice texture and tasted great on a salty cracker, so I decided to give it a try.


If you can get past the fact that it is molded into the shape of a Gladware container (complete with #2 plastic symbol on top of it!), it turned out well. To those who may be interested in making it, it makes a lot. I made 2 blocks, each the size of the 2 cup plastic container, so you will have plenty. I will be halving the recipe when I make it again. This was my first experience working with agar and it was fun. It sets so fast and it was actually really fun to clean up, because I was able to play with the mess. It was a bit like string cheese. Jim and I had some of it on crackers. His quote, and this is coming from the man who thinks eating faux cheese is stupid: "This is so *$%#ing good!" LOL


I made some Carrot-Raisin Muffins from VwaV today. They turned out okay, probably the first recipe that didn't really impress me. They are a little dry and don't have the strongest flavor, but they'll work for breaksfast for the next few days. I still have some leftover cream cheese frosting in the fridge from last weeks' pumpkin bars, so they'll be getting slathered with that, anyway.

And now for something not food related. I've been spending some crafting time with my sewing machine lately, which has been really fun and relaxing. I've started making these little tofu pouches and I brought 2 to the store last Sunday and they both sold within hours. Apparently I'm not the only one that thinks they're cute!

They have a zippered top and are about 6 inches long and 5 1/2 tall. I got the fabric for them at a store by me and it's one of those silky, plush fabrics that is so soft you have to keep touching it. I've been really into making pouches lately, I don't know why. Maybe it's because it's the easiest way to sew in a zipper. Anyway, I'm going to be cranking out more of these little guys because they are just so fun!