Oh My Daiya! The Best Vegan Cheese Ever.
For so many vegans, cheese was one of the toughest things to give up. The quest for good, melty, tasty vegan cheese is a noble one.
The other problem with a lot of faux cheeses is that they’re often made from soy. It’s so easy to fall into the soy trap when you’re eating vegan.
That’s where Daiya comes in.
Daiya is pretty new on the vegan cheese scene, and the company really has revolutionized faux cheese. Rather than soy- or nut bases, Daiya is made from tapioca of all things! It’s gluten free, and I swear to you it melts and pulls like regular dairy cheese.
Until recently, it had been tough to find bags of magical Daiya cheese, but the other day I noticed that they now stock it at the Whole Foods by my house! SCORE!!
VegHub this week blessed us with a huge bunch of beautiful Swiss chard and some fennel. Something pasta-based was definitely in order!
Cheesy Pasta Casserole with Swiss Chard and Fennel
1 bag of whole wheat rotini
1/4c olive oil
1 Vidalia onion, chopped
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1 large bunch Swiss chard – chiffonade the leaves and chop the stems
2 handfuls of fennel leaves, chopped
2c Daiya cheddar shreds
1/2c raw sunflower seeds
Cook the pasta according to the package directions. While the pasta is boiling…
Preheat the oven to 375.
Heat the oil over medium high in a large frying pan and saute the onion, garlic, and Swiss chard stems until the onions turn translucent. Add the chard leaves and the fennel and cook for about 5 minutes more, or until the chard is wilted.
Drain the pasta and toss it with the veggies in a 9×12″ baking pan and top with the Daiya and then the sunflower seeds. Bake for 20-30 minutes, until the cheese is melted and the sunflower seeds are a little brown.
Good lord, you guys. Dave and I possibly ate this whole casserole in two meals: dinner on Sunday and lunch the next afternoon. It was amazing!
If you can’t find Daiya at a store in your town, Cosmo’s Vegan Shoppe has small and large bags that they’ll ship to your door! Daiya has also teamed up with PETA to host a contest where folks can win a 5 lb bag of Daiya shreds to host a party! You can bet I entered.
Have any of you guys tried Daiya yet?
Image Credit: Daiya Cheddar Shreds. Creative Commons photo by foonus
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That looks DELICIOUS! I LOVE a good casserole and this one looks like a real winner.
Ahhh Daiya. I have heard about the magnificence of Daiya and hope to try it…maybe in a decade or so, when it is finally stocked in Saudi Arabia!
What a yummy, simple casserole! I’m still Daiayless in my parts, but if I make it around to a Whole Foods in another town, I’ll have to pick up a bag!
Thanks, ladies!
@Tasha – You could probably use another nondairy cheese, even a home made one!
@Jes – If you get it out of town, you might want to freeze it and stick it in a cooler for the trip back. I know Cosmo’s ships it that way.
Wow thanks for the info on the cheese! I would love to try this sometime since our son has dairy allergies. Where do you find it? I would also use our favorite pasta that happens to “work” for some people with gluten intolerance – it is made with Kamut Khorasan Wheat! We jsut love it – and now I am excited to maybe be able to even make him a mac and cheese like dish! TY!
Your local Whole Foods should have it. If they don’t, you can ask for it and they might stock it for you. You can also order it from Cosmo’s Vegan Shoppe: http://www.cosmosveganshoppe.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=CVS&Product_Code=DAIVC&Product_Count=&Category_Code=
We just got Daiya at our local co-op and I am beyond excited! I’m also super excited about your blog. The first post I saw was the awesome Lost Roundup- the next a vegan post! Yay! I’ve subscribed.
Aw, thanks so much, Rachel! I just peeked at your blog, and it’s awesome! I added it to my Google Reader. :)