The Everything Non-Dairy Thread

I don’t consider vegan cheese to be healthy. It has little to no nutritional value. I was excited to see Three Girls Vegan Creamery mentioned as they are only ten miles from me. I really need to get there. Covid has put a damper on that.
 
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I don’t consider vegan cheese to be healthy. It has little to no nutritional value. I was excited to see Three Girls Vegan Creamery mentioned as they are only ten miles from me. I really need to get there. Covid has put a damper on that.
I've been doing a lot with cashews and either a probiotic or soy yogurt to culture. I did buy raw sunflower seeds hoping to switch, but just bought two pounds of raw cashews on sale.
Honestly, I guess it's more like cream cheese or maybe a mild some kind of soft white chese, but really good. This one is just cashews, soy yogurt, tapioca starch and agar, and easily seasoned.
I have found it's better to just put in a glass container rather than scoop out in cold water! I love this with za'tar seasoning
 
So this article came out.
A lot of it is just the authors opinion but there is a lot of good general info. And some surprises.


For baking and cooking she likes coconut cream in cans.

And when you buy those cans, reach for coconut cream versus coconut milk. The former is much more versatile—you can thin coconut cream with water, but you can’t make coconut milk thicker. I like Let’s Do Organic as well as Native Forest for coconut creams.​
For butter she likes Country Crock. and for cultured butter she likes Miyoko's

She doesn't like any of the yogurt or sour cream alternatives. For cream cheese she likes Kite Hill Creamery and Miyoko’s.

This is what she has to say about cheeses
The winners in this space are Daiya for both slices and shreds (I love the provolone slices for lasagna), and Violife, which does nice harder cheeses for grating or crumbling. Some supermarket brand versions of sliced and shredded cheese—like those at Whole Foods—are also pretty good. If you want gourmet cheeses, both in terms of spreads and small wheels, once again Miyoko’s is a favorite for artisanship and taste. Kite Hill has some nice spreads as well, and also makes “cheese” ravioli and tortellini.​
and ice cream
So Delicious has consistently good products that are widely available. Mainstream brands like Ben & Jerry’s also have a wide array of vegan ice creams. NadaMoo is a more niche brand​
 
While refined coconut oil is great for cheeses, how in the world people can think coconut milk, cream, or unrefined oil is alright to use in sauces or cheese??? I've tried recipes where they swear "you can't even taste it", and absolutely I can taste it!
I'm highly opinionated too, and love soy yogurt!

My picks are:
Cheddar slices or shreds-- Violife
Smoked guoda--FYH
Mozz shreds-- still on the fence with these. I'll use Daiya provolone blocks, but hard to find. FYH provolone slices are good
Parm--FYH shreds the best!

Now someone needs to sell a low priced, good tasting, vegan mayo--like Just Mayo
 
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I used to be able to find Go Veggie in stores. I would use it as a topping on pasta. Since Cornoa, I have not found it in any stores. I need something, maybe parmesan shreds. I'll look for the FYH product.
 
I can't figure out why a virtual pop up museum needs to be temporary. but anyway...

During the month of February you can visit Milk Future.

Of course I haven't been there yet but I'm looking forward to my visit.

Judging by the press release and the sponsors it could be pretty commercialized. But I think it will be interesting.

 
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I’m having some serious pizza cravings during this cold spell. I need to find a vegan equivalent. A vegan pizza available in a nearby store.

As for non-dairy in general, I like Rice Dream, and a variety of vegan ice creams. There are so many good ones.

I think So Delicious is kind of hit-or-miss these days. I liked them better back when they were Soy Delicious and completely soy based. The transition to other bases has been kind of iffy, imo. But some of the cashew milk flavors are excellent.

Here, we have Van Leeuwen’s (sp?), which is expensive but very good. There are a few more brands that I like. I’ll come back and update this after I think of them.

 
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I found that most restaurant made pizzas are vegan if you just order it without cheese.

However I have totally got back into making pizza at home. I made another one last night. Check out the pizza thread.


I want a pizza with vegan cheese.

Unfortunately, I don’t have an oven, and this is not a veganful part of the city. We have a few stores/restaurants, and there are other local vegans, but I think I’d have to travel north for fresh vegan pizza.
 
I want a pizza with vegan cheese.

Unfortunately, I don’t have an oven, and this is not a veganful part of the city. We have a few stores/restaurants, and there are other local vegans, but I think I’d have to travel north for fresh vegan pizza.

not having an oven sucks but you can still make a great pizza if you have a non-stick pan and a stovetop

use pizza dough, a large pita or even pieces of bread, put your sauce, vegan cheese and toppings on it, in the pan, put on the lid and put on medium/medium low and cook it that way - the pan/lid acts as a mini oven

I used to do this when we had an off grid cottage that only had a woodstove - we would cook on the top of it using pots as mini ovens - even cooked a full Christmas dinner that way

even tinfoil can act as a lid/oven on top of a pan if you don't have the proper lid

Emma JC
Find your vegan soulmate or just a friend. www.spiritualmatchmaking.com
 
not having an oven sucks but you can still make a great pizza if you have a non-stick pan and a stovetop

use pizza dough, a large pita or even pieces of bread, put your sauce, vegan cheese and toppings on it, in the pan, put on the lid and put on medium/medium low and cook it that way - the pan/lid acts as a mini oven

I used to do this when we had an off grid cottage that only had a woodstove - we would cook on the top of it using pots as mini ovens - even cooked a full Christmas dinner that way

even tinfoil can act as a lid/oven on top of a pan if you don't have the proper lid

Emma JC
Find your vegan soulmate or just a friend. www.spiritualmatchmaking.com
Emma to the rescue.

I can't find vegan pizzas here either. So I just get a pizza without cheese. You get used to it. :)
 
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not having an oven sucks but you can still make a great pizza if you have a non-stick pan and a stovetop

use pizza dough, a large pita or even pieces of bread, put your sauce, vegan cheese and toppings on it, in the pan, put on the lid and put on medium/medium low and cook it that way - the pan/lid acts as a mini oven

I used to do this when we had an off grid cottage that only had a woodstove - we would cook on the top of it using pots as mini ovens - even cooked a full Christmas dinner that way

even tinfoil can act as a lid/oven on top of a pan if you don't have the proper lid

Emma JC
Find your vegan soulmate or just a friend. www.spiritualmatchmaking.com
I've done that with a cast iron skillet. Beyond sausage is perfect if you fry it up in crumbles first, then remove and set the rolled out dough in the pan, cover and cook till it starts to dry on top, then add everything, cheese underneath toppings
 
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Not much new but I like this article's slant.

It appears that this law may even be stupider than we were led to believe.

the law would prohibit it and other plant-based food companies from using the phrase "does not contain milk" to describe "products that don't um…contain milk."


maybe "NoCow Soy Liquid", "NotFromACow Oat Wet Stuff" or "CowFree Almond Drink" would get the message across... they seem very frightened

Emma JC
Find your vegan soulmate or just a friend. www.spiritualmatchmaking.com
 
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I can't figure out why a virtual pop up museum needs to be temporary. but anyway...

During the month of February you can visit Milk Future.

Of course I haven't been there yet but I'm looking forward to my visit.

Judging by the press release and the sponsors it could be pretty commercialized. But I think it will be interesting.

I just got back from my visit to the Milk Future museum

Way less commercialized than I had feared.

Lot of little interesting facts and history. I thought the history part was the best part.

However, I found the layout to be illogical. Taking the guided tour works pretty good but its hard to find a way to wander around and see things in a logical order. Even taking the guided tour - its hard to make sure you don't skip stuff. I'm pretty sure I missed stuff and I'll have to go back and try to figure out what I missed.

Concept-wise I really like this. With schools and real museums closed, I think kids are going to find themselves going to virtual museums for learning experiences.

So what did you think of it?
 
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