Vegan Grilled Cheese Sandwiches

From: veganyumminess.com  Author: Lindsay Rey

In my quest to make a grilled cheese sandwich to go with my tomato soup, I thought I'd give this recipe a try.  The cheese was very good! It's the consistency of Velveta cheese...just much healthier and tastes better! :) I put it in the refrigerator for an hour to thicken up.  I will say, it is very messy.  I didn't mind.  I dipped it in the tomato soup recipe on my blog and it was fabulous!!  I have a lot of the cheese mixture left over.  I will make macaroni and cheese out of it tomorrow night!

Ingredients:
1 2/3 cups peeled and finely diced potatoes (i used Russets, but yellow work as well)
1/4 cup peeled and diced fresh carrot
1/3 cup peeled and diced onion
2/3 cup water (preferably from pot of cooked veggies above)
1/2 cup raw cashews (pre soaked for a few hours if not using a high speed blender)
1/4 cup coconut milk (lite or full fat)
2 tbsp nutritional yeast flakes
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp salt (or to taste)
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1 loaf vegan french bread, or vegan bread of your choice
Vegan butter (I used Earth balance) or coconut oil for grilling sandwiches.

Instructions:

1. In a medium saucepan, bring several cups of water to boil.
2. Place prepared potato, carrot, and onion into the boiling water, and cook until potatoes are fork tender, or about 10 minutes.
3. While your potatoes, carrot, and onion are cooking, place ⅔ cup water (preferably water from your pot of cooking/cooked vegetables), cashews, coconut milk, yeast flakes, lemon juice, salt, and garlic powder into your blender. Blend on high until everything is creamy smooth.
4. When potatoes are fork-tender, place potatoes, carrot, and onion into your blender--using a slotted spoon to avoid adding excess water to your cheese.
5. Blend everything on high until smooth.
6. You can use this cheese as is (pretty warm) to make your grilled cheese sandwiches, or you can place it in the fridge for a few hours or days to cool and thicken up slightly--which makes a less messy grilled cheese sandwich. If you're like me, you don't mind ooey gooey all-over-the-place cheese, and the hot stuff works just fine.
7. Slather your cheese sauce on 2 thick slices of bread, slap 'em together, and brush the outsides of your sandwich with either coconut oil (or other heat-safe oil of your choice) or vegan butter. (I use Earth Balance, generally.)
8. Place your sandwich in a preheated pan or griddle on medium heat. Usually, my sandwiches only need about 30 seconds to 1 minute on each side to be nice and crispy. Check your first sandwiches frequently, as they can burn quickly without warning.