Creamy Cashew Cheese Dip

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Cashew Cream Cheese BagelI purchased a Vitamix blender with some Amazon points and a gift certificate that I received from work, and have now tried several plant-based cheese recipes. So far, this one is my favorite.

It starts with 2 cups of raw cashews, soaked overnight in water.

After draining, the cashews go into the blender for about 45 seconds with these ingredients.

  • 1/2 C Cold Filtered Water
  • 1 Clove Garlic, Diced
  • 2 T Fresh Squeezed Lemon Juice
  • 2 T Nutritional Yeast
  • 1 t Apple Cider Vinegar
  • 1 1/2 t Thyme
  • 1/2 t Salt
  • 1/4 t Ground Black Pepper

This is another recipe from Deli Devi. I’ve also tried their Vegan Mozzarella and their Veggie Nacho Sauce. All great recipes, and this is not a paid endorsement. 🙂

This Cashew recipe is good as a dip for crackers or chips, and also serves as a decent substitute for cream cheese on a toasted bagel.

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Vegan Mac ‘n’ Cheese

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Bowl of Vegan Mac 'n' CheeseI’ve been experimenting with nutritional yeast lately, and found this recipe from Deli Devi.

Cook 12 ounces of macaroni.

Steam:
2 C chopped carrots
1 C cauliflower florets
1 C potato cubes

Add to a blender with:
3 C of plant based milk (I used oat)
1 T olive oil
1 T maple syrup
1 T balsamic vinegar
1/2 C of nutritional yeast
1 t onion powder
1 t garlic powder
1 t smoked paprika
1/2 t ground turmeric
Salt and pepper to taste

Maybe add a little bit of the pasta water to the blender if you’d like.

Once the mixture is blended smooth, heat it in a sauce pan on medium for five minutes or so until it thickens, and then combine well with the cooked, drained pasta.

I added a little hot sauce and soy sauce for flavor and umami.

This turned out super tasty, ooey gooey, and is a lot healthier and more nutritious than a Kraft box.

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Plant-Based Albondigas Sandwiches

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Beyond Beef Albondigas SandwichesI love to cook outdoors. Before I quit eating meat, I was obsessed with learning to prepare new recipes on the Weber Kettle and Genesis grills.

I still get emails from Weber, and my first reaction when I received the one with this recipe for Grilled Albondigas with Charred Salsa was “this looks really interesting, too bad it has meat.” I sometimes still forget that there are decent plant-based ground beef alternatives available nowadays.

Meier’s happened to have Beyond Beef on sale for a little over $5 a pound, so we picked up two pounds and adapted the recipe. The meatballs turned out really well. I used a little olive oil in place of the egg. I did use sour cream for the crema, since we haven’t left off dairy yet, but I imagine that you could easily substitute a little nut or oat milk for that.

For the salsa, I used two cans of fire roasted diced tomatoes and seven or eight slices of pickled Jalapeños along with the onion and garlic in the recipe. It turned out great as well.

I’ll have to work on the queso. I followed the recipe pretty much as is, and it came out thick and globby. I really would like to find decent alternatives to dairy cheese, but haven’t experimented enough with the products available to find things that we like yet.

The family, including the carnivores, seemed to like this recipe a lot. Along with a nice green salad, it fed four of us for Sunday Dinner, and there were leftovers enough for one evening meal for Kid this week, and snacks as well.

If I make this again, I’ll probably try it with Impossible Burger, as I like the texture of that product a bit better. Otherwise, the recipe is “a keeper” and something that the entire family can enjoy together, regardless of whether they are meat-eaters or not.

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Quick Weeknight Curried Chickpeas

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Chickpea CurryClaudia makes an incredibly delicious curried chickpea dish with spinach and all sort of other goodies, so I was a little hesitant to even try this simple recipe, but it seemed like an easy weeknight meal, so I finally decided to give it a go.

I took a few liberties, but kept it simple.

I sautéed a chopped onion, some diced fresh ginger and a few minced cloves of garlic in some olive oil.

Then I squeezed in some tubed tomato paste, and added my standard curry spices, stirring everything together until it all was toasted and fragrant.

  • 2 t Garam Masala
  • 2 t Curry Powder
  • 1 t Mustard Seed
  • 1 t Coriander
  • 1/2 t Chili Powder
  • 1/2 t Paprika
  • 1/2 t Turmeric
  • Some Red Pepper Flakes

Finally, in went two cans of diced tomatoes, two cans of chickpeas (drained), and a can of coconut milk. Then it was just a matter of letting it combine and heat up well while making the rice to go under it.

From start to finish, this took a little more than half an hour to prepare. It fed three of us, and there was plenty left over.

It certainly didn’t measure up to Claudia’s recipe, but it wasn’t half bad.

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French Press Cold Brew

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French Press and Coffee BeansWhen I first heard mention of cold brewed coffee, I was disdainful. It just sounded like another insipid trend to me at the time.

Then one day were at a Stan’s on a warm Chicago afternoon, and there was nothing on the drink menu that appealed to me, so I tried an iced black cold brew. The first sip knocked my taste buds on their butts. It was sweet, and refreshing and had a depth of flavor for which I was completely unprepared.

I remember saying “wow” or something equally banal, gushing about it being “really delicious” and insisting that Mrs. Noe try a sip. She was not particularly inclined to do so, but humored me, and was also taken aback.

After some research online, and consulting Annie, our coffee expert cousin, we decided to brew some at home. After a couple of delicious (but time consuming) attempts that required straining, I turned to my trusty French Press, and that’s the way we’ve brewed it ever since.

The tricks to a successful batch of cold brew are grind, proportion, water quality and timing. We use a Hario hand crank grinder set for a course grind. The proportions are 1/4 cup of beans to one cup of cold filtered water, which sits in the press overnight on our kitchen counter. It needs to go at least twelve hours, but not more than sixteen. I usually stir it a time or two along the way, but not immediately prior to pressing and decanting.

That’s pretty much it. The hardest part other than the hand grinding is waiting for the first batch to finish. After that, we try to keep a couple of three cup batches in glass jars in the fridge, and get another batch started when one is close to empty.

To serve, we like it over cracked ice, diluted a bit with water or milk (my favorite is oat milk). You could certainly add flavorings or sweetness of some sort, but it’s really so surprisingly sweet on it’s own that we don’t find that necessary.

So, I’ve learned my lesson about judging a book too hastily by it’s trendy Bougie cover.

Cheers!

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