Creamiest Ricotta "Cheese"

I will be honest, I never wanted to attempt or make vegan cheeses. Every social media post, every recipe online and every vegan "cheese" on the market seems to have a recipe list as long as the grand canyon and the process as complicated as a rubix cube. Nah my @vegan.brooklyn.foodie fam-bam. That is not my style.

Ingredients:

1/2 a block of Firm Silk Tofu

1/3 Cup of Raw Unsalted Cashews

3-4 Tbsp of Nutritional Yeast (found in ANY healthful store or really any store for that matter)

1 Tbsp of Avocado Oil

Seasonings I will leave open to you Be creative! The best part about this ricotta cheese base is that you can make it into ANY flavor. For instance, I made lemon pepper ricotta using lemon pepper seasoning, garlic ricotta, ricotta with a kick (cayenne pepper) or plain old ricotta with a little salt.

Using a vitamix (shout out to the roomie), blender or food processor, combine the tofu and cashews. This will take about 30 seconds. I prefer a chunky ricotta so I left in on for less time but if you want a smoother cheese then let it blend a little longer. Next add in the avocado oil and nutritional yeast. Make sure to do the J-hook (aka swoop your spatula or spoon to the bottom of your cheese and bring the contents on the bottom to the top!) because some-times the yeast can settle to the bottom or reside on the sides! Next up, add your spices! I used about a 1-2 Tbsp of whatever spice I am feeling that day.

This cheese can be baked, sautéed, roasted, microwaved or eaten raw! My favorite way to cook this cheese is by baking it because it posses more of that gritty ricotta texture. So you can turn on the oven to 350 degrees, top your dish, pop it in the oven for 20-25 minutes until the cheese becomes slightly golden, take it out and fall in love.

*Mini-Recipe alert*

My Not Really Lasagna:

Starting from the bottom layer: Sautéed Kale (I boiled water and kale together until the water evaporated and I was left with just kale!). Then I topped the kale with a layer of tri-colored Guinoa (I boiled about 1/3 cup of quinoa+2/3 cup of water. Once the water boiled I then reduced the heat and covered the quinoa for 7-10 minutes). I then added some diced tomatos and dollops of my ricotta cheese. I then Repeated this layering process twice (Kale+qunioa+tomato+cheese). I then placed two huge portabella mushrooms smack down on top of the lasagna, gave them a little spray of coconut oil, added some diced tomatos and ricotta cheese inside/on top of the mushroom and then popped the whole contents into the oven at 350 degrees fahrenheit. After 30 minutes, I took it out and dug into the massive layers of veggie, cheese, tomatos, grains and mushrooms!

Okay so basically you just learned how to make ricotta cheese in about 5 minutes and a one-pot lasagna. Now it is your turn! Show me what you got and don't forget to tag @vegan.bklyn.foodie.