melted daiya sandwich

I have been hearing the praise of Daiya 'cheese' for some time now and have been on a search for a while now. You may think, Well it is not all that hard to find... and you'd be right. But my kind of searching is looking at my local produce shops over and over again until it magically appears... which it did just last week.

I bought the provolone and Swiss flavored slices and immediately had to make a melted 'cheese' sandwich. This sandwich was all I had hoped for. It was nutty due to arugula. It was crunchy and spicy due to pickles. And, most of all it was creamy and melty and sticky ooey gooey. It was perfect.

But was it cheese? Of course it was not. But did it taste like cheese? Again, I would have to say, of course it did not.

But it did hit all those comfort nostalgic notes you look for in a grilled cheese sandwich. I have to wonder why that is, since my mother never let us eat American Cheese, and this was a pretty close approximation to that very thing. With hipster undertones.

Grilled Daiya Sandwich
Serves One


Two slices crunchy, hearty, whole grained bread
4 -5 slices Daiya 'Cheese'
1 dill pickle, sliced
A handful arugula leaves, halved
2 teaspoons vegan butter

1. Place all ingredients except butter onto one slice of bread. Cover with the other slice. Spread one teaspoon of butter on one side of the outer bread.

2. Heat a frying pan and carefully place the sandwich onto the hot pan, butter side down. Add other teaspoon butter to top outer bread. Cover and cook on low flame for 5 minutes intervals, checking each time to see if the cheese is melting. Flip over at some point and brown the other side. When the cheese has melted to your liking remove from pan and enjoy!