Raw Fresno Review - raw dairy free ranch dressing, cheesecake, and more!

I was very excited when my CSA added some premade gluten free and dairy free items. I quickly jumped and looked at the selection. There before my eyes was ranch dressing. We were extreme ranch dressing consumers before going Paleo. Since we have been eating our lettuce dry - which is why lettuce was not the first thing
eaten out of our box, and I admit has gone bad one too many times.

Not only was their ranch dressing, there was also cheesecake. While I was very excited about the cheesecake I was also a bit unsure about spending $8 on something I could potentially eat in one sitting. Then there was the Queso - could it possibly be a substitute for cheese? I do kind of miss cheese, but the last time I ate some my sinus blocked up and I ended up with strep throat.

The items are from the company Raw Fresno. While their website leaves a little to be desired (I mean I would like to know what other goodies they make so I could petition my CSA to start carrying the ones I am most interested in) the food is amazing.

I suppose the major focus of the company is eating raw vegan free food. I really could care less about any of that. I believe there is a good reason to cook food, and I am not vegan. However, premade gluten free, casein free, organic food I could really get behind. Most of their food use cashews as the base. The rest is real whole foods.

The two major pros are:

1) I do not have to find the time to make it!
2) I do not have to purchase all the different ingredients - it is cheaper to just buy it premade

Now those only work if it is from a company that you trust. Luckily I have my amazing CSA that does a review of everyone that they work with. If they stop meeting the cut, then they stop being included in the CSA. I really love my CSA!

The big question is - how does it taste?

The first item that we ordered was the ranch dressing. I was very very sick of dry lettuce. The first time I tried the dressing I was very unsure. The texture is not as thin as the ranch you get in the store, the taste is more cashew based. It took me two or three times using it before I began to really appreciate it. Now I cannot wait until it is time to go back to the store so I can pick up some more franks hot sauce. I used to love me some chicken salad with ranch and buffalo sauce on it. Now I cannot wait to recreate it. This container of ranch will probably last us for a bit. J has never really liked dressing, L does not eat anything, and S still has not completely adjusted to the new dressing.

Next we got the cheesecake. OMG - HEVEN! I am keeping this sucker at my work away from the kids. It will easily last me a week. While it is not big, it is so sweet that one or two bites satisfies any sweet tooth. Thankfully it is not major amounts of sugar making it sweet, I think it is more the way it reacts with the lemon juice in it. There are even some ground nuts on the bottom which makes you feel like you are eating cheesecake with crust. I will be getting this again also.

Next week we are getting the queso - I suppose I should not be posting the review before I get it - but I was so excited about the cheesecake that I had to share. If it even remotely resembles cheese I will be one very happy person!

So, RawFresno is based out of central California. If you are in the south you can get it from the Abundant Harvest CSA. If you live no where near California - well you are bit out of luck since they do not deliver. But I have found some recipes that will help. That is if you have the time to actually put them together.

Vegan Ranch Dressing
Raw Vegan Lemon Cheesecake
Cashew Quest