We ♥ Daiya Vegan Cheese

When I found out I had to stop eating gluten, I thought the sky was falling, but in time I learned that was far from the truth.  Without gluten, I felt great and over the months, I found ways to enjoy the food I loved.

When I found out the boy couldn't eat dairy, I was dissapointed for him, but it was manageable.  I'm sensitive to dairy myself and eat only yogurt, cheese and cream in my coffee.  I substituted yogurt in his diet with dessert tofu, I bought him soy yogurt and even soy cheese.  Although he loved tofu in any and all forms, he consistently refused the soy milk, soy yogurt and soy cheese after only a few bites.

It wasn't until we took him totally off the soy formula that we noticed a huge improvement in his skin.  When we also removed the tofu, stir frys and finally all traces of soy the difference was amazing; the boy was no longer covered in scaly eczema rashes ALL the time.  I could actually feel his skin.

I wasn't ready for the boy to have a childhood devoid of mac & cheese, pizza and grilled cheese sandwiches.  And now that we have found Daiya Vegan Cheese, he doesn't have to.  Daiya Vegan Cheese is gluten, dairy (including casein and lactose), soy, egg and nut free, it comes pre-shredded, it actually melts and best of all, it tastes good.  My lactose-free friend actually described the taste as 'buttery'.

So what is it actually made of?  The ingredients for both the cheddar and mozzarella are listed right on the website, and include tapioca & arrowroot flour, canola and safflower oil, pea protein and xantham gum.  All pretty benign from my perspective.  Nutritionally, Daiya does not have the calcium that regular cheese does, but in truth I don't feed Daiya vegan cheese to the boy for nutrition, I feed it for him so that we can both enjoy a lunch of tuna melts with sweet potato fries, or have pizza for dinner occasionally or what about scalloped potatoes au gratin with our ham, or quiche for brunch?  We've had all of those meals in the month or so that we've been eating Daiya; for me, it's all about giving my boy the experience of food he would otherwise be without.

If you haven't tried it, Daiya is about $5 a bag, a very small investment for a super tasty treat.  Plus you can freeze Daiya without any impact on texture, taste or melting, so you don't even have to worry about waste if you can't eat through 227g in 7-10 days.  I made a quiche and grabbed the Daiya right out of the freezer and you never would have known!  Seriously, this stuff is amazing, not to mention available throughout North America!