Does anyone have (or know of) a good cheezy pesto/garlic spread recipe?

[chilove]

I have Alissa's book but lent it to a friend (under penalty of death to get it back! :-) ) I'm trying to replicate this cheese spread that my girlfriend loves that has neufchatel cheese, garlic, basil, italian seasonings, black pepper and salt listed on the ingredients. I'm try to convince her to go vegan.

Thanks!!!

[chilove]

bumping this up. anybody? :-)

[Rawkinlocs]

I couldn't find anything in my books...but couldn't you just improvise what you know of the dish and make it a raw version? Do you need like a basic pesto recipe and then you could add other ingredients to it? I know that pine nuts and nutritional yeast (if you're into using that) lend a "cheesy" flavor to recipes. I really don't know much about pesto myself, but I have like a basil pesto recipe in one of my books and I think some other kind of pesto in another book. I have Alissa's book too...is there anything in there you recall seeing that you might be able to use and adapt the recipe?

[Olive]

Try making a cashew cheese with rejuvelac. I bought my rejuvelac at Whole Foods because I didn't feel like making it, but it's not hard. If you don't know how, do a Google search for it, and you'll come up with instructions. Basically, you put 2 c. of soaked cashews in the blender for every 1 c. of rejuvelac. Blend until creamy and add extra rejuvelac if you need, but only enough to keep it blending, otherwise it gets too watery. Once smooth, put it in a mesh nutmilk bag or several layers of cheescloth and let it drain for an hour or so. I hang mine from the bag string over the sink. Then stick it in a colander over a bowl in a warm place (I put it inside my oven), with something heavy on top of the cheese. Ferment it for about 7 hours and store in the fridge. Then you can add whatever you like to it, like pesto! Super tasty!

[chilove]

thanks so much guys! i was thinking of trying cashews or macadamia nuts as a base and adding the pesto ingredients. i'll let you all know how it turns out.