hiiii blog i always forget about. sorry. i have been busy with real life. who would have figured. i just got home last night from the most glorious of weekends in montana, in which i feasted on some delicious vegan treats and thought of my rather neglected blog. my love and i visited the green tea house in whitefish, mt. we lunched on red bean hummus wraps, vegan pizza, stir fry and dal, then couldn't resist taking some deserts home with us to try in a less food coma like state. we sampled such gluten free and vegan goodies as pumpkin pie, matcha sugar cookies, sun butter cookies, and coconut macaroons. it was the most incredible little day of gluttony in my vegan life.

anyways, i am just popping on. i remember a few months ago speaking of my employment at a little teashop which is still going down. and like i also mentioned, it has inspired me to explore which teas compliment which foods, also inspiring me to combine the two.
pictured here are some matcha green tea cupcakes.

SHEESE?!

so, i'm not sure how many people out there have tried the scottish cheese replacement "sheese," but i recently discovered its existence at my local planet organic (which i typically do not frequent as at this specific location i have two planet organic stalkers who tend to follow me around the store. plus, i accidentally once left my writer's journal there with my most embarassing moment enclosed inside, and i'm pretty sure they read it). but i digress...

now, normally i'm not the type to seek out such vegan luxury items. i am a rather content vegan. growing up lactose intolerant, i couldn't even tell you the last time i actually ate a slice of cheese. but given other ravings i have heard about sheese, i thought i would test it on my own, going in with zero expectations, and see how it holds up in items one would normally throw cheese into. so, i've picked up the classic, a "medium" cheddar variety, and opened it up for the first time...



upon opening the package, i was at first overwhelmed by its potency... it smelled like CHEESE. so much, that it actually threw me off for a second, and i felt a little nauseous as cheese has never been my favourite smell. i tasted a slice of sheese on its own.

again, it really did taste like cheese. or at least from what i can remember, as i went consciously vegan years ago. i live with my uncles right now, and got THEM to smell the cheese afterwards, and compared its texture to really dense velveeta, and declared it did smell like a sharp cheddar. they refused to taste it though.

anyways.... i decided to kick off these cheese by making a classic grilled cheese sandwich. a couple slices of bread, a little earth balance, and some sheeese in the middle. i did all this, and set it on the grill, waiting eagerly for the results. what WERE the results, you ask? not the GREATEST.


sheese doesn't melt! at least not well. the sheese, inside the sandwich, reached a certain point where you could tell it was affected by the heat, but never did it actually melt. i left it on a lot longer than i should have, with still no luck. it failed to bind the pieces of bread together, which i think in essence is what usually happens to a grilled cheese sandwich. it was a little awkward to eat, and i was a little put off by its sharpness. so much in fact, that i didn't finish half of it, eeeeeven after covering it in organic ketchup.



all these being said, i deem sheese okay if you're craving it as is. (although i personally wouldn't eat it this way). melting wise, it could do better, but such is life. i think i'm going to test it in a savoury scone before i go to class tonight, or maybe tomorrow. i will keep anyone reading this posted. which is probably no one.

coconut key lime "cheesecake"

i am going to start this off with a creation of mine from the past. mostly because i think it's kinda pretty. this is the coconut key lime cheesecake i originally came up with after a birthday request.
i have decided not to give out my recipes on my blog unless by request, as i'll be working on a vegan baking "cookbook" type collection anyways and will make everything available at once, hopefully over the summer.
plus i'm a pretty neurotic baker, so i have a super hard time articulating what i do onto paper anyways!
if you're absolutely dying though, i'm always happy to share! <3