Now, cheese may seem like a small matter to those of you who can eat it or have completely cut it out of your life. But to someone who made peace with saying goodbye YEARS ago, thinking that I would never again taste the sweet taste of a cheesy panini, nachos, grilled cheese, cheese pizza, sliced cheese with wine… okay I think you get the picture by now…it’s a gaping hole in my culinary consumption.
Well, that was pre “Galaxy”! I can’t tell you how excited I was to be able to eat some form of “cheese” again! We happened upon the Galaxy Food’s rice based shreds on a recent trip to Whole Foods a few weeks back when it was on sale. I love trying new things almost as much as I love a good sale, but still have the tarnished taste of some “alternative food” taste tests gone wrong so I was a bit apprehensive about venturing into the world of “cheese alternatives”.
But, looking at the nutrition info I was quite surprised! Take a look :
Serving Size 1/3 c.
70 calories (35 from fat)
4g Fat (1 gram saturated, 0g Trans)
6g Protein
0 mg Cholesterol
370mg Sodium
3g Carbs
Look at that protein content in ONE serving! That’s the thing that I miss about cheese, it’s a quick and easy non-meat protein. I feel like an entirely new playground of culinary fun has opened up to me again! It also delivers 30% of your daily calcium, which is important for building strong bones and something that those of us that are dairy-free or vegan to keep an eye on since it’s usually found in dairy-based products.
The day after we bought it to try I literally woke up and the first words out of my mouth were… CHEESE!! There was a bee-line to the kitchen and I was eating it right out of the package! Now this is coming from the girl who doesn’t like eating first thing in the morning! (Which has inspired a “Breakfast” series I’m working on… stay tuned!) I looked like the little kid who got caught with one hand half in the cookie jar and the other already delivering a handful of cookies to my mouth!
The taste is actually quite good, the melting leaves a BIT to be desired on the cheddar, it didn’t melt very well on nachos but when I tried the mozzarella shreds on top of my spaghetti squash for lunch last week it melted PERFECTLY! It also melted wonderfully on the stuffed tomatoes from dinner last night! I’ll have to try melting the Cheddar a few more ways to see how it does. “oh darn”… more cheesy cooking!!
I have only tried the shreds so far, but they have a whole line of vegan, rice and soy cheese as well as cream cheese alternatives, Parmesan crumbles, and “cheese” slices. You can see the line up of their products here: Galaxy Foods.