Tips, tricks, hints & faves

MadamSarcastra said:
I've always hated American cheese, even as a kid. Yuck indeed. :yuck: American cheese slices, Velveeta, all that crap... they actually taste less like actual cheese than the vegan stuff! LMAO
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And what's awful is that in a lot of cafeterias and certain other places, it's the default cheese. Some places will have other choices, but if you're vegetarian and your only hot choice is a grilled cheese sandwich with American cheese, you're extremely grateful when there's a salad bar.
 
Amy SF said:
And what's awful is that in a lot of cafeterias and certain other places, it's the default cheese. Some places will have other choices, but if you're vegetarian and your only hot choice is a grilled cheese sandwich with American cheese, you're extremely grateful when there's a salad bar.
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That sounds like around here.... Any vegetarian offerings in this town are pretty much five-cheese somethingorothers... or a side salad. :dismay:
 
Amy SF said:
I hate American cheese. It looks, smells, tastes, feels and melts exactly like plastic. In fact, I'm not entirely sure it's not actually plastic being passed off as cheese. :yuck:
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Oh my gosh - I used to LOVE American cheese! When I was pregnant with my first, I ate American cheese sandwiches every single day (and soft-serve chocolate frozen yogurt with sprinkles, but I digress...). Kraft American cheese - not the individually wrapped ones, but the ones that came in the big block - solid 1 ounce slices, yes indeed. And while I usually ate them with wheat bread, what I really craved was white bread, and a generous serving of Miracle Whip and crunchy ice berg lettuce. Near the end of my pregnancy, when I was getting up to go pee in the middle of the night, I would make myself a half an American cheese sandwich before I went back to bed. :lol:

And while I was never a fan of Velveeta by itself, it makes a killer cheese dip with a can of Rotel stirred in and all heated up.:up:

And yeah, I can see why people say the Chao reminds them of American - it's so very mild. It probably reminds me more of Monterey Jack.
 
Poppy said:
Oh my gosh - I used to LOVE American cheese! When I was pregnant with my first, I ate American cheese sandwiches every single day (and soft-serve chocolate frozen yogurt with sprinkles, but I digress...). Kraft American cheese - not the individually wrapped ones, but the ones that came in the big block - solid 1 ounce slices, yes indeed. And while I usually ate them with wheat bread, what I really craved was white bread, and a generous serving of Miracle Whip and crunchy ice berg lettuce. Near the end of my pregnancy, when I was getting up to go pee in the middle of the night, I would make myself a half an American cheese sandwich before I went back to bed. :lol:

And while I was never a fan of Velveeta by itself, it makes a killer cheese dip with a can of Rotel stirred in and all heated up.:up:
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Oh, dear god, woman! :argh:I won't hold it against you, you were pregnant.... :p :kiss:
 
To be honest, I probably ate some form of American cheese nearly every day of my life until the day I went vegan. Although I did come to love all kinds of cheeses - even strong, stinky ones like roquefort and Stilton - I never, ever minded American.
 
Hey... admittedly, I absolutely LOVE boxed mac-n-cheese.... and I mean the sh*t with the cheesy powder packet. :fp: :rolleyes: I missed it so badly for about two years, but now that I know Annie's has the organic & rennet-free stuff (and I have a coupon!), I'll be picking up a couple boxes at the store later... ya know, to have on hand. ;) I don't use butter or spread, only hemp milk now. I can't go all mac-n-crazy, though.... stupid sodium. :confused:
 
Funny. I used to like the plastic type individually wrapped cheese. One of my ex-boyfriends ate ham, cheese, lettuce and mayo sandwiches for lunch at college and he got me into them too. :D I know you could buy vegan cheese slices that tasted very similar.
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I loved American cheese for grilled cheese, and Daiya cheddar shreds taste exactly like that to me! I'll only have a grilled cheese if I have pickles on the side-bread and butter ones preferably.
I did love almost every cheese. Finally I can say I prefer a vegan one over the real one. I feel like I passed the biggest hurdle of all. Olives are better. Daiya blocks are better. tofu ricotta is better
And Just Mayo with a lot of nooch is a winner of a cheesy sandwich spread
 
I love the Daiya block cheddar because it reminds me of Velveeta. :p
 
For me, it's a bit like looking up the history of (dairy) cheese in shops.

When I grew up in Europe (Austria/Germany, not a cheese-loving country like Switzerland, Netherlands of Italy) in the 70's, the thing typically available in the grocery store was called "Cheese according to the Dutch style" which was a pretty bland block cheese with little taste but a pleasant chewiness - I guess if you cut that to slices and wrap it individually, you have "American cheese".

There were also a few local stronger tasting cheeses available, but those were more popular in the local regions where they were originally produced, and not so much in the urban areas. For people wanting a stronger taste, there were a few stronger tasting versions available sold as "Tilsit cheese" or "Emmental". Only a few decades later, with the refinement of taste and the development of customer requirements (likely together with better logistic coverage and refrigeration in supermarkets), more specialized cheeses were offered and demanded by the customers, e.g. Gorgonzola, Gruyere, Roquefort, Cheddar, the many Swiss and Austian specialty cheeses and so on...

Nowadays, you will mostly find the tasteless, bland cheese as processed cheese slices, while the normal contents of a cheese refrigerator in a supermarket will contain a variety of (trademarked) special cheeses, also higher priced (but still cheaper than vegan cheese).

For me it seems that the vegan cheese industry is now somewhere at the place where dairy cheese was in the 1970's to 1980's, that most vegans are happy to have anything that is somehow cheesy available widely in supermarkets, but that the refined taste versions are not widely available yet. Of course, I am not slamming anybody who prefers the not-strong-tasting cheese, but I prefer something that tastes more strongly. I am also happy myself to pick up the plasticky-tasting Wilmersburger cheese that is now available in many supermarkets in Germany if I don't have the time to go to the local vegan specialty shop that carries the special options - it is the same cheese marketed as "Chao", "Field Roast", "Violife", "Bio-Cheese" in other regions of the globe, made by the same Greek manufacturer. It actually brings back fond memories of that bland block cheese of my youth :D.

Luckily, there are now also some (more pricy) versions of the more refined vegan cheeses available, e.g. the Vegusto cheeses or Artisan cheeses like Miyoko's. Let's hope those also become more widely available as time (and vegans' tastes) move on....
 
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I would love to find a vegan cheese that truly mimics the taste of blue, Swiss, provolone, Parmesan. When the nut cheeses first came out I didn't like them and ended up throwing good money down the drain. I remember buying Dr. Cow from vegan essentials.
I think it Kite Hill that I tried from WF. Kite Hill cream cheese was good but I still prefer Tofutti...lucky for me because KH is double in price.
At some point, I will try them again. I know improvements are being made and the world of vegan products is getting very exciting.
 
Need a tip!
Can't find the right thread and in a hurry. Ran out of bottled lemon juice and wondering if one type was better than others. I just buy generic brands, but wonder if something is better? I like the convienence, cause I'm bad for not using fresh lemons in time
 
I think it depends on what you use it for. I've always used Real lemon for the convenience. I think I bought generic once and didn't like it.

The frozen one is good, too...Minute Maid I think.
 
Why are we all talking about cheese?:p I wish they would come up with a vegan halloumi cheese, I used to love that so much when I was vegetarian. You just slice it and put it under the grill until it browns. I might try this, Vegan Halloumi Cheese Recipe I'm not a fan of nutritional yeast usually but it might work.
 
silva said:
Need a tip!
Can't find the right thread and in a hurry. Ran out of bottled lemon juice and wondering if one type was better than others. I just buy generic brands, but wonder if something is better? I like the convienence, cause I'm bad for not using fresh lemons in time
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I buy a bottled-in-Italy brand that is much, much better than Real Lemon. Actually, both bottled in Italy brands that I've tried have been much better than Real Lemon.
 
KLS52 said:
For instance, nothing is beating Tofutti Better Than for sour cream and cream cheese.
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I agree about the sour cream, but IMO, the Trader Joe's house brand of cream cheese is far superior to the Tofutti cream cheese.
 
KLS52 said:
I would love to find a vegan cheese that truly mimics the taste of blue, Swiss, provolone, Parmesan.

At some point, I will try them again. I know improvements are being made and the world of vegan products is getting very exciting.
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I actually like the Follow Your Heart shredded parmesan. I'm not as keen on the nuggets that come in the sprinkle jar, but the shreds are pretty darn good, imo. They broil nicely, like on top of lasagna or as parmesan toast.

I adore Tofutti's Better Than Sour Cream. I think it's name fits.
 

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