Parve cheese

[Esther in Atlanta, GA]

Hello guy's .
A question came up, that I do not know an answer to, hope one of you does.
What is an equivalent to cheese that can be used in meat dishes like lasagna? If anybody knows I would appreciate the answer.

Thanks in advance
Esther

[Saralaya]

Esther in Atlanta, GA wrote:
Hello guy's .
A question came up, that I do not know an answer to, hope one of you does.
What is an equivalent to cheese that can be used in meat dishes like lasagna? If anybody knows I would appreciate the answer.

Thanks in advance
Esther

Esther, hopefully Mirj will come along and have a better answer than I do, but there are vegetarian/vegan cheeses that have NO dairy and are pareve. I don't know how well they melt though......(Tofutti and Smart Beat are ones I'm familiar with) Here is a link that will show you what they look like so you can look for them. I can find them at my health food store and even at my larger Stop&Shop.

http://www.parkeastkosher.com/kosher.cfm/Dairy-Cheese-Parve--Lactose-Free_206

I have to say that the few times I've tried these...well... they don't taste much like actual cheese! I pretty much decided to make veggie lasagnes and skip the meat altogether! Good luck!!

[Mirj]

Saralaya basically hit the nail on the head, parve cheese is not that great, and wouldn't melt up nicely in a lasagne dish. I make either all meat or all dairy lasagnes, I never mix the two. I do know of the Tofutti brand cheeses, but don't think they make a melty yellow hard cheese, just the cream cheese and sour cream versions. I use those in parve cheesecakes (and even then it's not "just right").

I do know of some parve American cheese style cheeses here in Israel, but chalk tastes better. There's also a dairy that makes some lovely parve Cheddar style, which my husband grated on top of his Bolognese sauce and he said it was good. I couldn't bring myself to do it, parve or not.

[Saralaya]

Mirj wrote:
Saralaya basically hit the nail on the head, parve cheese is not that great, and wouldn't melt up nicely in a lasagne dish. I make either all meat or all dairy lasagnes, I never mix the two. I do know of the Tofutti brand cheeses, but don't think they make a melty yellow hard cheese, just the cream cheese and sour cream versions. I use those in parve cheesecakes (and even then it's not "just right").

I do know of some parve American cheese style cheeses here in Israel, but chalk tastes better. There's also a dairy that makes some lovely parve Cheddar style, which my husband grated on top of his Bolognese sauce and he said it was good. I couldn't bring myself to do it, parve or not.

Mirj, here in the NY area I've seen some Tofutti and Smart Beat packages of what look like yellow American or white mozzarella cheese.... I tried each once..... and only once...... not worth trying in my opinion. I agree with you that chalk tastes better!

[Esther in Atlanta, GA]

Thanks guy's the all your answers are great.
I was hopping for a miracle, but it is not the most important thing ever, so no worries , however the question actually came up when I used parve cream for a side dish of "creammed" potatoes for my meat dish, one of my friends was missing cheese on top....and that is how it all started

[Saralaya]

Just as an aside.... I recently was turned onto Almond Milk..... which is pareve and can be used in place of milk or cream. Personally I like it much better than soy milk. I used Blue Diamond Original Unsweetened.

http://store.bluediamond.com/Almond-Breeze-Original--Unsweetened_p_37.html

I use it for cereal, in coffee etc.... my Diabetic Educator (Registered Dietician) recommended it.... Thankfully I can find it for about $1.99 a quart. When it's on sale for $1.79 I stock up! The aseptic containers have a good shelf life. If you would use more it also comes in refrigerated half-gallons. Sorry to go off topic.....

[Mirj]

Almond milk is delicious, but my husband is deathly allergic (or so he claims, I blogged about it here. So no almond milk in our house.

I buy a local, organic soy milk with no sugar or salt added. But I also buy the Alpro brands of rice and oatmeal milk. Rice milk is great in coffee.

[foodiefromlondon]

Just spotted this discussion.
.
Agree that pseudo hard cheese is pretty bad and better to avoid.

For kosher meat lasagne/moussaka I make a"bechamel" layering sauce from natural Soya Yoghurt (Alpro brand in UK) into which I add beaten eggs and flavourings. I adapted a regular recipe substituting the Soya product for regular yoghurt and in proportions 14oz yoghurt to 3 eggs which produces a nice set.

As a bonus this is both healthy and very low calorie!

[Esther in Atlanta, GA]

Thank you ...thank you I am going to try it, my comming son in law will hopefully love it

[foodiefromlondon]

Hi Esther
I should have said 3 egg yolks not whole eggs.
Hope your son-in-law appreciates you.
Best wishes