Dr. Cow Aged Cashew and Macadamia Nut Cheese

Earlier this year, I had Dr. Cow Aged Cashew Cheese for the first time. I'm not much of a hard cheese connoisseur, but I was seriously blown away! The Aged Cashew Cheese is so delicious, I knew I had to buy some more so I could blog about it. To up the ante, I also purchased some Dr. Cow Macadamia Nut Cheese to compare. Dr. Cow promotes their cheese as Tree Nut Cheese, which is a cute way of saying it's Vegan without scaring off non-Vegans. Dr. Cow Tree Nut Cheese is also organic, raw, unpasteurized and gluten-free.  

I could probably eat the cheese by itself very easily, but I decided to pair it with some Late July Classic Rich Crackers. Classic Rich Crackers are very buttery, just like Ritz. A great organic cracker that I find myself buying all the time.

The Aged Cashew Cheese has some salty ranch notes. I can taste the cashew flavor, but it's so refined, you might not notice. Comparing it to real cheese, I would say it has a smoked Swiss flavor. I'm in love with Aged Cashew and will go on the record as saying it's (presently) my favorite cheese. Aged Macadamia Cheese has some fruity notes. I got a strong macadaminan flavor. Very tangy and a little mustardy. I found it a little softer than the Cashew Cheese, which isn't a bad thing.

So if you love hard cheese or cracker cheese, I think you'll really enjoy Dr. Cow. I can recommend the Cashew and Macadamia for sure, and I hope to try the other varieties soon! If you can't find it in your area, Vegan Essentials is having a 10% off sale for the entire month of October, using coupon code "mofo!"

Late July Vanilla Bean With Green Tea Cookies

Cookies are the best dessert! No, I'm not going to argue with you. One thing about being a Vegan, is that there is no shortage of cookies to choose from. My new cookie love is for the Late July Vanilla Bean Green Tea Sandwich Cookies. I used to be a big green tea drinker back in the day, so I was intrigued with how the flavor would represent in a cookie.

If you are expecting a crazy herbal cookie, you are out of luck. The green tea is just a minor note in a delicious sweet sandwich cookie, and I enjoyed it! The mixture of the vanilla bean, the chocolate cookie and the green tea extract is the perfect symphony of flavors. As you can see in the pic, I got a little almond milk to dunk the cookies in and they were sooo good soft. If you love the typical chocolate and vanilla sandwich cookies, give these green tea laced cookies a try. It's a flavor that you might not even know you like, but end up loving!

Heidi Ho Organic Hazelnut Cheezes

In the last couple years, Vegan cheeses have really blown up. I think it's an exciting time to try Veganism and one of the gateways is cheese. So having a multitude of choices is important. One of the newest entries into the Vegan cheese world is Heidi Ho Organics. Heidi Ho is different because they use hazelnuts instead of soy or tapioca. And I'm sure you're dying to know, yes, it does melt! For the time being these cheezes are only available in Portland, Oregon but will be available at their website soon.

Chipotle Cheddar was my favorite of the three. It had a hearty spicy taste that was begging to be shredded into some tacos (which I eventually did).

Monterey Jack had mellow buttery flavor that was delicious on crackers. A slice on a veggie burger would be yum also.

Smoked Gouda had a smoked tangy flavor. I've never eaten real gouda and the only reason I know about it is Mr. Mom. It would be good on a Tofurky sandwich.

For the tasting cracker, I went with the Late July Classic Rich. I found them to be very buttery and delicious. These would take down a Ritz cracker any day. Look how far Veganism has come, wine and cheeze all day!

Have a Vegan Pepperminty Christmas!

While I'm not the biggest Christmas fan, I can appreciate all of the treats associated with the holiday. Candy Canes, check. Cookies, check. Soy Nog, check. The common thread is the overabundance of peppermint. If you love peppermint then you must be doing cartwheels right now. My advice is to chow down out on this stuff while it's around!

The legend...Candy Cane Joe-Joe's. I've heard about these cookies forever. Now that Omaha has a Trader Joe's, I can finally try them out and see if they warrant all of the hype. The verdict? They are one of the most amazing cookies I've ever had! It's a basic sandwich cookie but the little candy cane pieces in the frosting make them divine. Seek them out.

These Dark Chocolate covered cookies from Late July has some similarities to the Candy Cane Joe-Joe's but ultimately I didn't enjoy them as much. They are dipped in chocolate and have peppermint sprinkled on the outside with a hint of a salt to go with the sweet. The cookies are fancily individually wrapped so you feel guilty when you eat 6 at a time. I see this as more of a gourmet cookie for all of you foodies out there.

Good ol' candy canes from Tru Sweets! I think everyone can agree Christmas isn't Christmas without a candy cane. These are pretty much the most awesome candy canes ever because they are Vegan and organic. I'd love it if they introduced other flavors like cherry or bubble gum, just because I'm weird like that.

This Chocolate Peppermint Stick Soy Beverage from Westsoy is the jam! I'm not sure if I'm under the spell of peppermint right now, but I enjoy it almost as much if not more, than the Silk Nog I reviewed last month. I even drank it a room temperature and it blew my mind. The chocolate/peppermint combo is a match made in heaven. I'm definitely going back to the store to stock up on this stuff.