The other day I bought these great Provencal olives that were pitted and sliced: ready to use in a recipe.  It brought me back to the days when I ate dairy and really enjoyed cream cheese with olives. I haven’t had dairy in close to 20 years yet I still miss cheese at times.  I know there are soy brands like Tofutti cream cheese, but I need to avoid sugar and soy so this isn’t the option for me.

I use cashews a lot as a cheese substitute when I make pesto and also to thicken up and richen soups.  And I know it is a common cheese replacement for many raw recipes. Raw cashews just have a cheese type flavor.  So I thought, let me see what recipes there are for me to try and make my own cheese at home.

I did a little search and found a great simple recipe on one of my favorite food blog sites, Chocolate&Zucchini.  I didn’t do everything exactly to spec.  I soaked the nuts for 8 hours (overnight is optimal) to release any toxins and all the great nutrients locked inside.  Instead of measuring the lemon juice I just squeezed the juice of one and a half lemons into the mix.  But everything else I followed as proscribed.

Once the cheese was ready I spread it on some toast, topped with sliced olives, and took a bite.  It was not a replica but it gave me the savory essence to a snack I always enjoyed.  The next time I made this cheese I mixed in sun dried tomatoes adding another delicious option to my ‘cheese’ cupboard. Cashews are a great base for creating vegan cheese.