Lemon Cashew Sauce

This recipe is a keeper! I changed the name to highlight the sauce because it is the star of the dish and would be good over any grain with any veggies. Well I would change that to most not any. I pretty much followed the recipe except I added wine, because I love cooking with wine, also served it over rice instead of pasta.

I didn't soak my cashews but if you don't have a high speed blender you definitely should and if you don't own a high speed blender you should consider getting one. They are amazing! I like using nuts as a fat replacement to animal products but I always was left with a gritty and grainy product using a regular blender. The vitamix makes a very smooth creamy sauce with nuts.

On another note Chenelle mentioned to blend the nuts first by themselves but I didn't exactly listen ha ha. Because the vitamix doesn't work the same as the blendtec and when it blends it doesn't  pull things down into the blades, probably why it comes with the tamper stick. So I tried blending with only the nuts but the blender just pushed everything to the sides and out of frustration with my unblended nuts I added the rest of the ingredients anyways. My sauce turned out super creamy and no grit so I was lucky or maybe with the vitamix you don't have to blend the nuts alone first? hmm...ill let you know in future trials.

*ignore the rotting tomatoes that made it into this picture and my shadow. I guess I was impatient and wanted to eat instead of photograph.

Ingredients:
1/4 cup cashews
3 cups of veggie broth
1 tsp dried basil
juice of two lemons, this made it very lemony(not a word) so if you aren't a fan use just one
3 tbl cornstarch or tapioca starch, I prefer tapioca starch
1 tbl olive oil
1/2 diced onion
3 cloves minced garlic
1 sliced carrot
2 tbl white wine
1/2 bunch of kale de-stemmed
salt and pepper, I added salt because I used my homemade veggie broth that has no salt

Place the cashews, veggie broth, basil, lemons cornstarch and olive oil in a blender. Blend on high for 1 minute until smooth.

*The crockpot has refried beans made from sprouted chili beans. It turned out great!
Alright back to the recipe. In a large pan sauté onion and garlic.

After a minute add the thinly sliced carrot to the pan.

Sautee a minute or two and then add the wine. Once the wine cooks away add the blended sauce.

Simmer for a couple minutes until the sauce thickens. Add the kale and cook until the kale wilts.

Serve over rice or pasta or more veggies. Enjoy!

Oat Milk

I finally decided to try making my favorite milk alternative. It turned out a little more starchy than I like and when I added it to my mashed potatoes they literally turned to paste. I think I will try using four cups of water or more next time. I will share some of the other experiments as they turn out but give it a try and modify because I think this is a great alternative to of course dairy and store bought options for milk.

Ingredients:
1 cup steel cut oats
3 cups water

Soak the oats for 12 to 24 hours in a bowl with enough water to cover by an inch.

Rinse them under water until it runs mostly clear (I think I should have rinsed mine more).

Place the oats in the blender with 3 cups of water and blend until smooth.

Run the milk through the strainer a couple times to remove and grit that the blender couldn't get. You can add sweetener, cinnamon, salt or whatever you like. Enjoy.