Cultured Cashew Cheese and Crackers

Ultimate Vegan Cheese and Crackers (so far). This recipe incorporates the raw cashew cheese, dragon snaps, spicy cashews and basil oil.

Assembly: Chop 1/2 C. sun dried tomatoes that have been marinated in olive oil, with half a cup pitted kalamata olives and a couple of handsful of fresh basil leaves. (basil should be around 2 Tbsp. when minced.) All approximate, don't fret about it.

I'm leaving the cheese whole, to serve family style.
For individual servings, cut in four or six and arrange.
Press the olive/basil/tomato mixture into the sides of the cheese. Cut tomatoes into wedges and arrange around the cheese.
Add micro greens. Sprinkle with spicy pine nuts. Drizzle basil oil around. Stick some dragon snap sails into this cheese ship. Enjoy making a space monster. Whatever makes you happy.

Serve quarters and have extra dragon snaps, tomatoes, greens and basil oil to drizzle at the table.

The texture and taste are fabulous. I wasn't expecting this.

Cashew cheese is a hit in this house! The Dragon Snaps were a spicy foil for the creamy cultured cheese.The basil oil is luminescent green and fun, even magical, to drizzle on bites and the spicy pine nuts are delicious.

Inspiration for this treat was from RAW by Charlie Trotter and Roxanne Klein, but there are a several changes (I've never been one to follow a recipe). I hope you try this and come up with your own variation.

For news of Roxanne Klein's latest vegan venture:

http://www.roxannes.com/roxannes_livingfoods.php

http://www.marinij.com//ci_8049307

Flax Chip Variation (from Dragon Snaps)

I've been trying variations of the Dragon Snaps recipe because we like these crispy critters. This last batch I added more onion and garlic, less tamari and maple syrup. I left out the garam masala and paprika. In some, oregano was added. I wanted, with these chips, to have both crispy and chewy parts, so small pieces of red pepper (previously partly dehydrated) and very thinly sliced pieces of onion were sprinkled on top of the large sheet of flax puree just before it went into the dehydrator.
These chips are wonderful with hummus, guacamole, salsa or anything else you would eat with regular chips....just a whole lot healthier!

This is how the mixture looks before it goes into the dehydrator. Any herbs can be sprinkled on top, as well as tiny zucchini bits or, as in the photo, onion and red pepper.

Dragon Snaps

This is the fourth recipe I had to make to get closer to being able to make the food in the picture in RAW. Maybe by tomorrow I can put it all together.

Soak 1 1/2C Golden Flaxseed in 2 1/2C filtered water for 6-8 hours. Combine in high speed blender with:
2 C water (You can vary this amount depending on how thick you want the mixture to be).
2Tbsp. tamari
2Tbsp. maple syrup
1 1/2 tsp. Thai chili powder
1/2tsp. garam masala
1/2 tsp. bittersweet paprika (you can try several different spices than these last three..whatever you like)
1/2tsp. minced onion
1/2tsp. minced garlic

***The way I do this is to blend all ingredients except the flax first. I cut the soaked flax into strips and feed them through the top of the vitamix gradually. I wouldn't do this if you have a normal blender because it could burn out the motor. If I didn't have a vitamix, I'd grind the flax seeds in a coffee or seed grinder, blend the other ingredients then slowly add the flax seeds.....even adding them by hand in a bowl is fine, but you need to be prepared to stir or whip like crazy so it doesn't lump up.*****

Spread the mixture 1/8th inch thick on teflex drying sheets. Dehydrate at 105 degrees until firm enough to flip the sheets onto the shelves. Cut into 1 1/2 x 3 inch pieces.

Store in an airtight container. Enjoy the crunch!

*****If you don't have a dehydrator, a convection oven set at its lowest temperature will work. I've never tried it in a regular oven.*****

These chips are snappy!




Have fun making variations. This isn't brain surgery or rocket science!