English Muffin w/ Cashew Cheese and Tomato

When I was growing up, on some very fortunate weekend mornings, my Dad would make these heavenly simple little breakfast melts - just english muffins with cheese melted on top in the toaster oven. I remember it being done to perfection, with the edges of the muffin getting a bit burnt and crispy and the cheese bubblingly hot and delicious.

Since then and to this day, I regularly crave english muffins in the morning. My refined quest for health has led to an upgrade (perhaps a downgrade, to some) from the delightful, yet low fiber, high-fructose corn syrup laden standard Thomas brand to Ezekial sprouted grain English muffins, which are high in fiber and very low in carbs. I usually have them with peanut butter or a little Earth Balance, but this morning I had a fresh batch of cashew cheese and a very ripe tomato on hand and begging to be used, so I decided to get fancy...

As I've said before, I'm a sucker for anything resembling cheese. This was only my second attempt at making cashew cheese, and I gotta say, it came out amazingly good. I rocked it in the blender until it was very light and creamy - bringing to mind the super-light whipped cream cheese you get at a proper New York bagel shop. As decadent as it is, I'm sure this stuff isn't the greatest for you if you're counting calories, but it certainly has less fat and zero cholesterol in comparison with regular cream cheese - and it definitely satisfies the craving.

English Muffin w/ Cashew Cheese and Tomatoes

1 Ezekial Sprouted Grain English Muffin, cut in half
1/3 of a tomato, sliced thinly
2 tbsp Cashew Cheese (recipe below)

Cashew Cheese:
1 cup raw, organic cashews
Water
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
2 cloves garlic, crushed and minced
1 tsp ground black pepper

Start by soaking the cashews in enough water to cover them by about an inch. The soaking time in recipes varies from 2 hours to overnight - I soaked mine overnight, and they were nice and soft. Drain and rinse the cashews and put them in the blender with a 1/2 cup or so of filtered water. Add the lemon juice and garlic and blend until creamy, adding more water a little at a time until you get the perfect consistency. Add the pepper at the end and pulse until it is mixed through. Put the "cheese" in a jar or tupperware and let sit covered at room temperature for 12-24 hours. You'll be really tempted to sample it at this point, which is fine, but if you refrigerate it for a couple of hours it's much better chilled.

The english muffin, tomato part is pretty self-explanatory! The cashew cheese is also really, really good on whole grain crackers...