{Please welcome Candace from Candida Free Candee. She has a fabulous treat for you all today–a Dairy-Free Cheese recipe that is nut and soy free! I can’t wait to try this for my dairy-allergic son.}
I though it would be very appropriate to share this recipe here, at Whole New Mom because it’s basically Adrienne’s recipe! You see, I haven’t been able to eat dairy for years now and I had given up the hope of finding a delicious, candida-friendly substitute.
Every “cheese” I tried either had an unpleasant taste or some ingredient I either couldn’t pronounce or eat. Then one day, I stumbled upon Adrienne’s recipe for almond feta and it was amazing!
I thought it was such a brilliant idea to make cheese out of almonds. While I hadn’t tasted real feta in years, her recipe had all the creamy, salty, tangy flavor that I remembered, with just a hint of nuttiness. I was ecstatic! All of this flavour without a week of bowel discourse that usually followed any dairy consumption? Yes please!
We ate it on crackers, spread it on celery, added it to spaghetti squash and meat sauce, crumbled it on pizza,threw it in wraps, and made it the filling for some killer empanadas. It was nice to finally have a tasty substitute for cheese on hand and I knew I would be making it often! I think it would have been great on salads like this Broccoli Jimaca Salad too.
Fast-forward a few months and I discover, much to my chagrin, that my brand new breastfeeding baby didn’t agree with my new culinary discovery. It turned out she was having a bad reaction to the almonds in that tasty cheese, with symptoms that included bad gas, crying all night and blood in her stool, yikes! This all added up to one extra tired and concerned mama and, not to mention, one cranky baby. Her doctor told us she likely had an intolerance to the almonds and I should test out his theory by avoiding almonds for 10 days and then reintroducing them.
I followed his instructions only to confirm that almonds were surely the culprit. The doctor also mentioned that she might grow out of it (and I think she since has) but in the meantime I’d have to go without. Now, I know there’s controversy over the issue of whether to avoid foods during breastfeeding or not, but after seeing my baby in pain, along with several sleepless nights, good ol’ instinct told me to just cut it out.
Eliminating almonds from my diet was a bit of a challenge as they had become a staple for me. It wasn’t just almond cheese but also almond milk and even almond butter. What was a girl to do? Well, I switched out my almond milk for hemp milk and turned to cashew butter for an occasional spread (had to cut back when my candida returned) but how to replace my new found cheese?
It took me a few days of thinking, but it finally came to me when I spotted a giant bag of sunflower seeds I had purchased to make sunbutter (still haven’t) in the cupboard. Sunflower seeds would work for cheese, right? I mean they have a bit of a stronger flavour, so I might have to add something to mask the taste of the seeds. Then it hit me – garlic and chive.
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Well I got on soaking those seeds right away, and 24 hours later we were Vitamix-ing our way back into cheese heaven.
The result was a wonderfully creamy, flavourful cheese that reminded me of the soft spreadable chevre I had enjoyed so many years before. It was delightful. The sunflower seeds were barely detectable and not at all unpleasant. In fact my sister served this at a birthday party and everyone enjoyed it, even those that weren’t non-dairy! She formed the cheese into a ball and placed it on the BBQ on a cedar plank and it turned out lovely!
Another great thing about this cheese is that it’s nut free and a safe option for most playgroups and schools; a nice bonus for you parents out there. So go ahead, slather it on to your sandwiches, throw it on a pizza and spread it on your crackers…you won’t be disappointed!
Garlic and Chive Sunflower Seed Cheese
Ingredients
2 cups raw sunflower seeds (make sure to soak and dehydrate them first)
1/2 cup lemon juice
6 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2 cloves garlic (The Easiest Way to Peel Garlic)
2 tsp fine salt
½ cup chives, loosely chopped
Directions
1. Soak sunflower seeds overnight or up to 24 hours with 1 tsp of salt.
2. Drain and rinse.
3. In a high-powered blender, blend the sunflower seeds, and remaining ingredients until very smooth.
4. Enjoy!
5. You can bake this as well, but I don’t find it alters the texture much. Here are the directions to do so if you wish.
6. Preheat oven to 200F. Spread the mixture onto a parchment paper lined pan, or form into a disk, approximately ¾ inches thick. Bake for about 40-50 minutes. You’ll have a firmer top and sides to the cheese, which is quite nice. This cheese will still be very spreadable.
(From Adrienne–this is sooo familiar. Just like what I went through with my son in Food Allergies and Eczema–from Despair to Healing. You’ll see what I mean if you read this post. Talk about a restricted diet 
! It’s worth it to keep your baby healthy, though!
I’m thinking I would love this cheese:
- on this Focaccia Flax Bread
- on crackers
- gently melted and served on main dishes
YUM!)
Check out Candace’s blog. She has some fabulous posts and recipes like Dairy-Free Fudgesicles and Coconut Carob Cups. If you’re looking for recipes that will not aggravate candida, she has a nice collection starting up.
What would you eat this cheese on? 
Candace is a stay-at-home-mom, wife, graphic designer and food lover. She loves to make healthy, whole foods that are dairy free and candida friendly. She loves being a mom and is passionate about parenting, living healthy and helping others do the same. She shares her recipes and candida fighting tactics at: candidafreecandee.com. You can also follow her on Facebook and Twitter.
Garlic and Chive Cheese (Dairy and Soy Free) is a post from: Whole New Mom
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