Is there a really good soy-free vegan cookbook?

[moss]

i'm mostly looking for soy-free dairy alternatives...cheese, cheesecake, that kind of thing.

thanks

[PikkuMyy]

Oh. Sorry, can't help you there although I'm sure the Uncheese Cookbook has lots of soy-free recipes.

Vegan Mediterranean is an amazing cookbooks - no soy because all of the recipes are authentic from poor people all around that Sea.

[cathe]

The Food Allergy Survival Guide has some great recipes that are dairy free, soy free as well as all other common allergen free. I don't know about cheese cake though - I'm not sure what else could give you that texture . . .

[G&B'sMama]

Just bumping this because I am interested in this too and would like as many suggestions as possible.

The mediterranean vegan cookbook sounds good. I will have to try that one. My DS can't have any dairy because he is allergic and so we have been searching for some good vegan inspiration. It's such an eye opener to have him allergic to milk- I can't believe how much dairy we used to eat!

[melissa17s]

You could get experimental and try to develop you own recipe... what about making coconut rice pureed and mix into agar agar... Could be interesting. Tried googling and all the recipes were all about the same with tofu. I think if you could make a thick "custard" with an alternative milk, it might have a similar texture... but have never tried. What happens when you boil down coconut or almond or rice milk...

[moss]

Originally Posted by melissa17s

You could get experimental and try to develop you own recipe...

i was sortof thinking that if i can make a nut milk yogurt and then strain the whey off to make nut yogurt cheese, that i might be able to get a cheesecake out of that. i havent made any dairy free yogurt yet though, i guess that's the next step. i was sort of hoping to find a recipe to save myself the experimentation time/energy/potential food waste.

thanks for the cookbook ideas, i'll be making some interlibrary loan requests.

[Ruthla]

I've made a vegan "cream sauce" by pureeing nuts or seeds in water or broth, then blending in white beans, then adding spices. Something similar would probably work for mock cheesecake, obviously with much less moisture.

ETA I've done a little bit of a websearch and found a recipe that might work. Substitute 8oz of rice milk for the evaporated milk in this one

[kayakjen]

I would check out some raw food cookbooks/resources. I can't really tell you any, but my raw friends are always sharing incredible desserts, dips, 'cheeses', crackers, etc. with us that are nut/date/coconut based. Good luck!

[cathe]

Originally Posted by moss

i was sortof thinking that if i can make a nut milk yogurt and then strain the whey off to make nut yogurt cheese, that i might be able to get a cheesecake out of that. i havent made any dairy free yogurt yet though, i guess that's the next step. i was sort of hoping to find a recipe to save myself the experimentation time/energy/potential food waste.

Oh yeah - great idea. Here's my recipe for cashew yogurt . . perhaps that would work in a dessert. Also the book Vice Creams has great ice creams using cashews as the base. I have also been making ice cream with coconut milk with good results.

Cashew Yogurt
This creamy, nondairy yogurt just takes a few seconds to mix up. The incubation period is 8 to 24 hours depending how warm you keep it.

1 cup raw cashews
1 cup water

Place cashews in blender and grind to a coarse powder. Add water and blend until smooth. It should have a consistency of heavy cream. Pour mixture into a jar and place in warm location (70ºF to 100ºF). Cover with a light towel or napkin. Start checking the yogurt after 6 hours. First you should notice bubbles forming. When it has formed thick curd with a layer of liquid (whey) on the bottom, cover and transfer to refrigerator. Chill for at least one hour. When ready to eat, stir the whey and yogurt together. Add a little honey, agave nectar, maple syrup, molasses, fruit, or jam if desired. Yogurt will keep refrigerated up to a week.

Makes 2 cups

Note: Choose a place where the temperature will remain constant to incubate your yogurt. I like to fill a small cooler with warm water and place the jar in the water (make sure the water is below the level of the jar). Another good place is on top of the pilot light in a gas stove. As long as the temperature in your house is at least 70ºF, you can place the jar anywhere. Keep in mind, the lower the temperature, the longer the incubation. At 70ºF, it will take about 20 hours.

[moss]

Originally Posted by kayakjen

I would check out some raw food cookbooks/resources.

thank you!

you've got to look at this cheezecake recipe: http://www.rawguru.com/recipe36.html



thx for the cashew yogurt recipe! looks really easy peasy to make. i was thinking about adding the powder from non-dairy probiotic capsules too. so, with nut milks, you dont have to heat first like you do with dairy milks?

[cathe]

I've read that you don't even need to heat milk that's been pasturized. The article said that practice was a holdover from when people made yogurt from raw milk and the heating was to kill the bacteria. Never tried it without heating though . . . .

Anyway - no you don't need to heat the nut milk - however you want to keep it in a fairly warm place to incubate. I've had it not work once and I think I didn't have it in a warm enough place.

Sproutman's Kitchen Garden Cookbook has more nut/seed cheese recipes.

[G&B'sMama]

Okay- I hope this doesn't seem like a dumb question- but to make the cashew yogurt you don't put any culture in?

[cathe]

No - doesn't need culture - it's like sourdough - it pulls the bacteria from the air.