Dairy-Free Raspberry Cream Cheese

Yesterday I felt like celebrating my excellent doctor's appointment with a treat. While I was shopping I grabbed a tiny container of organic raspberries. I ate about half of them and then thought of what I could do with the rest as they were a bit soft. I've really been trying not to waste food, and after paying $4.99 for about a cup of them, I was even less inclined to waste them.

When we lived in Fredericton, NB, about two hours from where we are now, we used to go to The Great Canadian Bagel. You could watch them make the bagels right there, and they had a fabulous variety of bagels and incredible flavored cream cheeses you could buy as well. We used to love getting their chocolate chip bagels and raspberry cream cheese. I've thought about that cream cheese over the years and always meant to try and make it at home, before I went vegan, but never did.



So, I thought, why not give that a try, but a vegan version. I first googled "raspberry vegan cream cheese" and came up with very little that interested me. I also tried replacing "raspberry" with "strawberry" to see if I could find a good, base recipe, but not much luck there either. At that point, I threw caution to the wind and just started tossing things in the blender. Here's what I came up with at the end.

Recipe:
1 cup cashews, soaked in water overnight
3/4 cup fresh raspberries
2 tsp. lemon juice
Sweetener to taste (optional)





Add ingredients to blender and blend until smooth, scraping sides down a couple times. You can add a bit of water, if necessary and a bit of agave or sugar if you want it sweeter.  Put in bowl and chill for an hour and try not to eat the entire thing once it's ready! I've made with strawberries as well and it was still delicious! I'm sure you could use just about any fruit for any flavor. I'll likely try blueberry next.

Pickled Jalapeños

A bumper crop of jalapeños sparked the need for a recipe. I found one in my Ball Blue Book of Canning for mixed Pickled Hot Peppers, I figured it could easily be adapted for just one type of hot pepper. 

Now if you've never made pickled hot peppers before, take note that you will need rubber gloves for this. If you don't use them, don't say I didn't warn you. Last time I cut dozens of hot peppers, my hands burned for days. Seriously, days. So rubber gloves always now, it's worth it.

You will need:
Rubber gloves
Pickling jars w/ lids, sterilized

2 1/2 - 2 3/4 6 cups white vinegar
2 cups water
3 cloves of garlic, crushed

First you'll need to sterilize your jars. You can do so by running them through the dishwasher, boiling them in water for 10 minutes, or by putting the jars on a cookie sheet and placing in the preheated oven on 250 for 10 minutes.

Once your jars are sterile and set aside, you'll need to make the brine. Put the 6 cups of white vinegar and 2 cups of water in a saucepan with 3 cloves of crushed garlic. Bring mixture to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer for 5 minutes.

While brine is simmering, wash and dry the peppers, then cut off the stems. Next, slice them into 1/2" slices and rinse them in a colander for a couple minutes to remove some of the seeds. If you really like heat, you can skip this step. Place in sterilized jars, leaving 1/2" of head space.

Fill jars with hot brine, leaving 1/2" of headspace. Remove any air bubbles and put lids on. Lids should only be finger-tight. Process for 10 minutes in a boiling-water canner. Remove bands for storage once cooled.