The Big O, the Big V, the Big C

Curious about day 3 of alphebruary?  Here’s a teaser.

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But before I get into that, I wanted to hear people’s thoughts on the way Oprah discussed veganism on a recent episode of her show.  I was talking whining about it to my mom yesterday and she brought up some good points. 

So, I’m not going to be the bitter vegan that brings up all the issues I had with it because after some consideration, I’m just happy veganism is getting the spotlight at all (regardless of the reasons The Big O is choosing to showcase plant-based living).  Her influence is enough to elect a President, so I’m optimistic that just bringing attention to veganism will help spread it’s potential for good.  Good for the body, good for the Earth, and of course good for animal rights.  So even if she chooses to focus primarily on weight loss (or highlights pre-made highly processed vegan products), at least millions of viewers who previously thought veganism was some mythical hippie worship now know exactly what the dietary part of the lifestyle entails.  For the record, I have family members who still can’t quite grasp the concept – “but butter doesn’t come from an animal, does it?”.  Yes.  Yes, it does. 

If nothing else, the show planted a seed of awareness in every person watching.  Dining out or cooking in, her viewers will start to think about where their food is coming from.  I truly believe it only takes one delicious animal-free meal to make a believer out of someone.  So it’s only a matter of time before the seed that Oprah planted begins to grow into a nation-wide epidemic.  She has that effect.  Remember?

Case in point, I bet Kathy Freston’s book is in the #1 bestseller spot by the end of the week.  Let’s just wait and see…

But whether or not the show (and/or the one-week challenge) results in Oprah and her 300+ staffers adopting a vegan lifestyle for good isn’t the point.  I’m glad her show is being used as a platform to spread a positive message (or any message) about veganism.  Did you see the show?  Thoughts?

Moving on.

Day 3 of Alphebruary means a “C” food.  Did you guess from the teaser photo what I made?

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Cashew “cheese”!

This has been on my to-make list for months.  Literally, months. 

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It took no time at all to bust out the ingredients (which are all staples that I have in the kitchen already), throw them in the food processor, and presto chango cashew cheese!

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I had already been soaking the nuts, so they were super soft and easily blended.

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I pulsed, scraped, pulsed, scraped.

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Added the liquid.

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And voila!

[Depending on what you plan on doing with the “cheese” you can add more or less liquid to thin it out.  It works beautifully as a dip when thick like this, while a thinner version would be a great sauce.]

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I. have. no. words.

This dip just made my day life.  I have big plans for it tonight.  🙂

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Comments (32)

  1. Olivia

    I think you’re totally spot on by saying that Kathy Freston’s book will be a top seller by the end of the week! Hah! I love your comment about family members not realizing butter is an animal product…how do people not know what they are putting into their bodies day in and day out!?! I loved watching Oprah’s show though and I think it was very informative for the average, meat-eating type especially.
    But omg, your cashew cheese looks amazing! I’ve only ever had it at restaurants, but it’s so easy to make your own; I’m inspired to make some now!! I really love your blog Elise, I’d love if you’d come check out mine sometime!!
    http://littlehealthjunkie.wordpress.com
    (I just started it up a few weeks ago!)

  2. Jan

    Well, Elise, I can honestly say I’ve had Cashew Cheese before in an absolutely delicious vegan lasagna my daughter made one time. Oh my gosh, DELICIOUS!!! Thin strips of zucchini for the noodles, and just chock full of delicious veggies, organic tomato sauce, and cashew cheese! I think she just kind of made it up as she went — using a couple of recipes! Well, it was a winner, and she’s made it a couple of times since! So that’s one idea for your cashew cheese!!!

  3. Amanda

    Looks AMAZING! Will you be posting a recipe? :]

  4. spabettie

    isn’t that amazing??? the first time I made it I just went nuts… adding different flavors (roasted red pepper! pimento! sundried tomato!) and more liquid for a “sauce” less for a dip…

    I literally had some form of cashew dip in my fridge all spring and summer. I’m making a few different kinds for our party this weekend! 😀

  5. Casey

    So curious as to what you’re going to do with it!
    I’ve tried it as a raw dip but it wasn’t to my liking.

  6. elise

    yup 🙂

  7. oatsandspice

    Cashew Cheese? Wow sounds delicious – how creative! I can’t wait to try it 🙂

    http://oatsandspice.wordpress.com

  8. Averie (LoveVeggiesAndYoga)

    I love making cashew cheezy sauces. They are the base of everything from my kale chip coating to my spicy “doritos” dip. Red pepper, nooch, cashews, lemon…is the start of good things. Love your cheeze creation.

    Oprah. There can always be more to be done and said, more to be done for the cause, but baby steps. Some (increased) awareness is better than none. She brought light to an issue than millions otherwise would never even think about. So it’s a start. Gotta start somewhere type thing. Focus on what she did and the good that will come, not on the bad/things lacking, type stuff.

    I personally didnt see the show but have read about it on…blogs 🙂

  9. julie

    one of my coworkers was asking me about veganism the other day because she heard about it from Okra. i was glad that she was asking about it thought because she had some preconceived notions about it that i did my best to fix haha

  10. Emily @OneSweetVegan

    I’ve got something similar to your cashew cheese just waiting to be made into kale chips–From Averie’s Love Veggies and Yoga blog. Yum!

  11. Angela

    I just made a baked ziti dish last night with cashew cheese and it was phenomenal! There are tons of uses for it, though I’ll never understand why it’s called cashew “cheese” and not cashew “butter.” But whatver it’s called, it’s delish!

  12. Lo

    i watched the show and although I was a bit angsty at how some of the Harpo peeps couldn’t give up meat and dairy for one week (such a small amnt of time), I did like to see the vegan dietary lifestyle get some spotlight and an overall positive response from those that took Oprah’s challenge . One thing I thought was interesting was how they talked about the increase of fast food or processed food sales b/c money dictates a lot of diets. A lot of peeps can’t afford the organic, cage-free, and what not products. You should do a post on how one can save $$ by eating vegan! Just b/c one isn’t as wealthy as Oprah, doesn’t mean we have to fall into the drive-thru/unhealthy eating trap.

    was that a bunch of rambling? I think so. lol.

    xoxo
    Lolo

  13. actorsdiet

    i’ve been wanting to try cashew cheese forever – it’s all over the RFD menu!

  14. movesnmunchies

    LOVE cashew cheeese!!! i cudnt watch it since i dnt live in thestaes.. but iv gotten a good sense of it just from reading peoples views on it!

  15. Sophie33

    MMMMMMMMMMMM,..your cashew & veggies cheese looks so tasty & apart too!

  16. Gabriela @ Une Vie Saine

    I love cashew cheese but I’ve never made it. Every time I get some at a vegan restaurant I just want a bowl and a spoon…I should probably try making my own too!

  17. Marci

    I blogged about Oprah’s show as a non-vegan opinion: http://www.marcigilbert.com/2011/02/03/vegan-ish/

  18. Jessica @ Dairy Free Betty

    Mmmm… you can get so creative with seed/nut cheeses too!! Afterwards, if you chop up a bunch of herbs and put it in…. SO GOOD!

  19. rebecca lustig

    1. i made your bbq tofu the other night and i must say– breading it in some flour first TOTALLY made all the difference!
    2. i saw the episode and i think that, overall, it promoted a great message, i wasn’t a fan of its promotion of processed vegan options (ie Kashi and other products probably paid them the big bucks). What I found to be most important, though, was its emphasis on the fact that we should be more aware of what we’re eating, where it comes from and how it affects our bodies.

    tgif, girlie!

  20. Alex @ Healing Beauty

    Looks delicious! I’ve been wanting to try cashew cheese for a while now! Great looking recipe!

  21. unmitigatedgrub

    Thanks for bringing up Oprah’s one-week challenge; I’m also conflicted about the whole thing–for various reasons.

    At the same time, like you pointed out, it IS great that veganism is getting positive attention. More people might actually learn what it is. Before I became (mostly) vegan, my mom thought “vegan” was just a shorter way of saying “vegetarian.” 🙂

    Oh, and your cashew cheese looks yummy!

  22. Juliette

    Hi,
    Just recently found your blog through doing a top vegan blog search and your super cute personality & awesome recipes have made your blog one of my favs. I am a vegetarian and hope to eventually make the switch to veganism someday.
    I did see a few minutes of the ‘O’ show on going vegan for a week and I agree that the positive exposure is really what veganism needs. There are so many people that think a vegan is something scary just because it is different and not the norm. Hopefully this will change with time & more exposure. Thanks for having a kick @*$ blog!

  23. elise

    Thanks so much Juliette. That’s so nice to hear. And I couldn’t agree more about the benefits of exposure outweighing any of the other issues with the details.

  24. elise

    I agree. I guess it never occurred to me that it’s essentially savory flavored cashew butter, but oh well. Cashew cheese, cashew butter, either way it’s dairy free and delicious!!

  25. elise

    Thanks Marci – I can’t wait to read your thoughts

  26. elise

    i enjoyed the rambling…after all, it’s pretty much what i do every day. ha. maybe i will ramble about the price thing and making it work with minimal funds.

  27. Laura

    Being an Oprah fan, I was really excited to watch this episode and overall thought it was pretty good. I was really surprised at how many people were ignorant to vegan food options – I guess not everyone has HungryHungryHippie as a sister and access to as many delicious options like I do in SF….I mean, I’ll take the Plant Burger over a beef burger any day and I LOVE red meat.

    The thing that really annoyed me was the people that chose to eat a vegan diet for a week and then just piled their plates with tater tots. I mean, who doesnt love a tater tot or two, but not really the point of the vegan diet, right? Along those same lines, many of these people were switching from a super unhealthy fast-food diet right to a vegan diet. I mean, good for them, but there is a happy medium peeps!

    Anyway, I did like the edisode though and hopefully the Oprah buzz will make people put down the Big Macs!

  28. elise

    This is probably the best comment ever. You are dead on with your points (although I may be biased since you’re my sister). But I completely agree with what you said – the fact that so many people are ignorant about vegan food options is alarming!

  29. carolinebee

    I thought it was overall a good show, love MP, and that meat factory part was insaneeeee. I think it’s a bit unrealistic though, considering 100% of people (minus harpo employees!) don’t have a staff of chefs and a vegan cafe to enjoy on the daily right!?

    PS so wait u don’t have mystical hippie worship ceremonies where you like, sacrifice an avocado or something..??

  30. kissmybroccoli

    I made my first cashew cheese when I made Ashley’s Vegan Mac ‘n Cheeze that she adapted from one of Angela’s recipes. It was fantastic! I couldn’t quit licking the my finger, the spoon, the bowl! Haha!

    It IS amazing how much of an influence that Oprah has! Glad it’s going toward something so positive!

  31. elise

    well, i do love me some avo sacrificing, but i dont think its something EVERY vegan does… 😉

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