DAIYA!

Okay. It's been nearly a year since my last post, and so much has happened. But you didn't come here to read about my schooling or my various wacky adventures did you?* No, I'm pretty sure that you came here because, like the rest of the vegan blogosphere, you are in love with/fascinated by Daiya vegan cheese, and that's okay!! I was once like you; perusing the interwebs for any morsel of information and delectable photo of any and everything related to this product. So here you go, my obligatory Daiya post! Yay! P.S. this post relates to my experience cooking with daiya, and therefore has no restaurant reviews. I may do a review of daiya pizzas in the future, but (at least for the sake of this post) the future isn't now. Yet.

If you aren't familiar with the product o' the  day, daiya is a soy free vegan cheese product that has been lauded as the best vegan cheese analogue to date. It melts, it doesn't have that soy flavor that so many have an aversion to, and it makes insanely great sauces. Made from cassava root, it has a good, cheese-like texture and consistency and a slightly sweet flavor straight out of the package. I first tried daiya on a pizza and wasn't super impressed (I may get my vegan card revoked for that statement) as it was sort of liquidy under all that beautiful melty, pizza-ness. While I didn't fall in love with it as a pizza topping, my first reaction wasn't that of disappointment. Rather, I thought, "This is going to change vegan macaroni and 'cheeze' forever!"

I'm not usually the type of person to say "I was SO right", but I will say it here. I was SO right.

Macaroni and daiya cheese. Not pictured, the amazing chipotle field roast

sausage I sauteed and chopped into it later. 

There it is, in all of its creamy, delicious glory. The flavor was reminiscent of a certain boxed macaroni product that usually uses shells as it's pasta of choice, and honestly, that was fine by me as I used to really enjoy said product as a vegetarian. So creamy and cheesy without all the cholesterol, saturated fat and animal cruelty of dairy mac and cheese.

Here's how I did it:

1. Boil your favorite macaroni product. I used regular semolina elbow macaroni, though whole wheat or rice pasta would work too!

2. Make the daiya sauce. In a saucepan over medium heat, melt 1/2 tablespoon vegan margarine (I use Earth Balance). Add 1 cup Daiya Cheddar style shreds and stir until melty. Begin adding your soy milk ( I used soy, but if you have a soy allergy or an aversion to soy products, you can use which ever non dairy milk you like, just make sure it is unsweetened). I started with a half cup and went on from there. I didn't measure it completely, but ended up using around 1 1/4 cup of non-dairy vegan milk. Continue stirring until the sauce is creamy and saucy.

3. Add your seasonings to the sauce. I added a scant of salt, LOADS of fresh cracked black pepper, a bit of season salt and a touch of cayenne pepper, as I am a spicy freak.

4. Stir in you pasta. At this point, you could also add peas (as I did), finely chopped broccoli, or anything else you fancy in your mac.

5. EAT IT!!!

xoxox
~S

*I know it's rather presumptuous of me to tell you  why you came to this blog, but c'est la vie!