Mmm-mm "cheese"

I found a recipe for a vegan "Ricotta cheese" made with tofu...which means now I have something for a vegan lasagne, so naturally I had to make it right away.

It's goo-oo-ood.

The recipe was on the Vegan Outreach site. It spread beautifully (better than the cottage cheese I used in my previous life) and has a similar consistency to actual ricotta. Here is the recipe:

TOFU RICOTTA

- 1-1/2 lb. firm regular tofu, well mashed;
- 1/4 c fresh lemon juice (I used organic lemon juice);
- 2 tsp dried basil leaves - (I happened to have fresh basil in the house);
- 1/2 to 1-1/2 tsp sweetener of your choice (I used about 1/4 tsp);
- 3/4 tsp salt (whoah! I used about 1/4 tsp sea salt);
- 1/2 tsp garlic granules;
- I added a few grinder twists of fresh black pepper. (I live to improvise).

Mash all the ingredients together until the mixture has a fine grainy texture. (I threw everything in the food processor and pulsed it a couple of seconds). Use in veggie (I hate that word) lasagne or any savory dish that calls for ricotta cheese.

(Recipe originally from *The Uncheese Cookbook* (c)1997, J. Stepaniak. (Guess what book's on my Get list?)

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Cravings and old habits

I am craving cheese. Milk-made cheese.

I have been craving it so badly, I have had to think about it, and pay some attention to how it feels.  These cravings for cheese are making me wonder if I can really ever be a vegan.

I realized one day that the cravings felt very familiar. Especially their urgency and insistence and pestering quality.

And then it came to me: they were exactly the same kind of cravings I had--same kind of urgency, persistence, hammering at you--when I quit smoking.

Ah, so cheese is a habit?

Then it occurred to me that I might--might--be able to use the same techniques I used to quit smoking to push the cheese away. The cheese that was calling out to me...."Cheddar...mmm-mm orange, melted on whole wheat bread, over potatoes....a nice slice when you come home and you're starving and you don't feel like marinating tofu.... Cheese.......cheese calling------calling----calling....."

Oh, shut up, cheese.

Some of the distractions I used when the cravings for a cigarette were overpowering me were - go for a walk,  call someone on the phone, do some drumming, drink water, eat carrots, celery and portable healthy snacks, particularly things you could suck on. At least cheese does not want to be sucked.

And so I have been doing that. I've gotten myself through about ten days of really intense craving. Nothing really takes the place of cow milk cheese (thank goodness?).  The soy cheese isn't vegan (it's got casein in it). And the vegan cheese--Oh, Mother of God that is monstrous-tasting stuff. It's like eating melted shoe leather that a cat has urinated on.  Echh.

But the idea that some of these eating choices are actually habits just like smoking. Well that means if you want to go vegan, but you're having a struggle,  you can throw all the strategies for beating addictions at it.

I'm not vegan yet. I'm only vegan in my mind and heart, but not yet in my soul.