Cheesy Foody Goodness

A couple of years ago I met a wonderful woman who is a midwife and all-around natural doctor for the Amish and other people in the area. She spends a lot of time in Cambodia helping people there. She was a traditional doctor at one time, then became more interested in natural remedies and it became her life. She never charges for anything she does. She and her husband are both totally vegan and live in the woods in a really nice cabin/house that is heated with a wood stove. I did an article about her for the paper, and I also consulted her about Grace's allergies and eczema. She had a lot of information for me. She GAVE me three vegan cookbooks that are based on whole, natural foods. She GAVE me a jar of coconut oil and a jug of blackstrap molasses. She broke three leaves off her aloe plant for Grace's skin. She was fabulously generous, warm and kind. She talked to me about leaky gut syndrome, which is probably why Grace got her allergies. The idea is that the intestinal lining can become too thin and let small food particles out. The body attacks those particles and they become a problem every time the body recognizes them in the future. There are also other symptoms, like eczema and gastrointestinal problems. Grace's intestinal problems have cleared up now, but they were pretty bad for a while there.

Anyway, in one of the cookbooks was a recipe for melty "cheese." It included nutritional yeast flakes, so I went out and bought some and am now addicted. I have since found other recipes for cheese sauces, but that one was really good. The books have a lot of sugar free dessert recipes that use things like dates for sweeteners, and a lot of other great things that probably jump-started my love of vegan cooking. I still refer to those recipes sometimes.

Last week I found a recipe for vegan queso that knocked the socks off any other vegan cheese I have ever tried. Grace and I dipped tortilla chips in it, moaning and licking the bowl and fighting over the end of it, it was so freaking good. Garrett even tried it, and he liked it too. Nacho cheesy, spicy, creamy goodness with no cholesterol, very little fat, and full of protein and vitamins (including the B12 that people think vegans can't get). I'm drooling a little as I type about it. I did not use a can of diced tomatoes in it, I just used some salsa instead.

Nutritional yeast (or nooch, as we cool people call it, because we're too busy to type out full names of things), has found it's way into a lot of my foods lately. Warm comfort food has become my friend. It makes things like soups, gravies, casseroles and grilled cheeze sandwiches taste unbelievable. If you happen to come across some, buy it. It's cheap. It's fabulous. It's cheesy. No animals harmed. If you don't know what to do with it, call me.