Just a Healthy Mom

It’s Daiya…. And delish.

I am following up from my post ‘Addiction to Cheese’ and I did a taste test of the newest cheese alternative today and I was pleasantly surprised. I was so excited when I found it at my Whole Foods that I had to try it. I made a vegetable pesto pizza that I usually top with goat gouda and used the Daiya Mozzarella Style Shreds. I taste tested it before I cooked it and was thinking it would be awful like all the other rice, almond, soy cheeses I’ve tried yet it tasted and felt like real cheese so much so I checked the ingredients and nope…. no dairy or casein. Baked it was very melty and almost stretchy like real cheese. Daniel knew this was not the regular goat gouda that I use on pizza because of the look and taste but gouda is pretty distinctive. He did say “the melted cheese is soooooooo good” and also described it as cheese with a little salt.

I think this is an excellent alternative for vegans or families that are sensitive to dairy or cheese like ours. It is also free of all common allergens. I felt fantastic after I ate it. No stuffy nose, indigestion, itchy throat, and no heavy digestion feeling.

I have not met my goal of eliminating cheese from our house yet but baby steps. Daiya will definitely my pick for when I get a cheese craving.

Pesto Pizza
1/2 bag of Daiya Mozzarella Cheese
1/2 red, yellow or orange bell pepper
1/2 can quartered artichokes
handful of thin asparagus (if desired)
big handful of organic spinach sliced into thin ribbons
Whole Foods Organic Whole Wheat pizza crust
1/2 recipe basil cilantro pesto (recipe below) or store bought pesto

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Spread pesto over pizza. Top with vegetables of choice and cheese. Bake for 8-10 minutes until cheese is melty and pizza crusty is brown.

Basil Cilantro Pesto
This is my favorite pesto that I use for everything – on pasta, wraps, pizza, fish, chicken, etc. I try to make a double batch and keep half in fridge and freeze the other half.

2 cups loosely packed basil leaves
1 cup loosely packed cilantro
1/3 cup of sliced almonds
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
2 tablespoons of fresh lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1/4 cup of olive oil

Put everything except the olive oil in the bowl of a food processor. Process until pasty, scraping the sides of the bowl as needed. With the machine running, slowly drizzle in the olive oil and process until smooth.

Enjoy!