The BEST salad dressing EVER!!!

I found this recipe in Kimberly Snyder's recipe book = The Beauty Detox Foods
It is amazing. I was a little scared to try it but when I had all the ingredients at hand I thought it must be a sign. AND it is a beautiful colour!

 2/3 cup water
1 very small clove garlic
2 tbsp. fresh lemon juice
1/2 tsp sea salt
1 tsp tamari
1 tsp maple syrup
3/4 cup chopped raw beets
1/3 cup almond butter

Place all the ingredients, except almond butter, in a blender and blend until smooth. Add the almond butter and blend again until thoroughly combined.

Zoodles!!

I can't believe I ate the bowl! So good!!

Sauce:
1 cup cashews (soaked for at least 2 hours)
1 tbsp. onion, chopped
2 tsps. ginger, chopped
1 clove garlic, chopped
1 tbsp. fresh lemon juice
1/4 tsp cayenne
1/2 - 1 tsp sea salt
1/2 cup filtered water
Blend until smooth

Noodles:
3 zucchini spiralized or julienned into noodles
1 large carrot julienned
1 serving rice noodles

Cook noodles. When they are just about done, add the carrots. Cook for 1 minute then add the zucchini and cook 1 minute more.
Drain. Return the zoodles to the sauce pan and add the sauce (I used about 1/4) Heat through, do not boil. Add freshly grated pepper and top with more roasted cashews.

DID you know that 2 handfuls of raw cashews is the therapeutic equivalent of a prescription dose of Prozac???

Creamy Vegetable Curry

I made this great dish for my Mom last night. We both loved it and ate too much. It is from The Oh She Glows cookbook.

1/2 cup raw cashews, soaked for 4 hours or over night
1 tbsp. coconut oil
1 small onion diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 1/2 tsp grated peeled fresh ginger
2 medium yellow potatoes, peeled and diced (about 2 cups)
2 medium carrots, diced (about 1.5 cups)
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1 large tomato, seeded and chopped
2 tbsp. mild yellow curry powder
1 tsp sea salt
1 cup frozen or fresh peas
Basmati rice, for serving
Fresh cilantro leaves, for serving
Toasted cashews, for serving

In a blender, combine the cashews with 3/4 cup filtered water and blend until smooth and creamy. Set aside.
In a large skillet, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the onion, garlic, and ginger and sauté for 5 minutes, until the onion is translucent. Stir in the potatoes, carrots, pepper, tomato, curry powder, and salt. Sauté for 5 more minutes.
Stir in cashew cream and peas. Reduce the heat to medium-low and cover with a lid. Simmer, covered over medium heat for about 20 minutes, or until the potatoes are fork-tender. Stir every 5 minutes throughout the cooking process. If the mixture starts to dry out, reduce the heat and add a splash of water or oil and stir to combine.
Serve the curry over a bed of basmati rice, if desired, and sprinkle with cilantro leaves and toasted cashews.

Ooey Goey Yum Pizza

I found this recipe on a site called "it doesn't taste like chicken" This pizza is incredibly good. Next time I need to wait for it to cool a bit so I don't burn my mouth again.

Recipe:

1/2 of a Medium Onion

2 Cloves of Garlic

2 Cups of Mushrooms mixed or all one kind

1 Tablespoons of Olive Oil

1/2 teaspoon Salt

Several Grinds of Pepper

1/2 teaspoon Dried or Fresh Thyme, and more for garnish

1 Tablespoon Vegan Butter (or more Olive Oil)

1 Tablespoon All Purpose Flour

1 Can of Coconut Milk (Not lite!) a little over 1 1/2 Cups

1/2 of a Cube of Vegetable Bouillon, or 1 1/2 teaspoons  Vegetable Broth Powder (Not liquid broth!)

2 teaspoons Lemon Juice

A Few Grates of Lemon Zest

Pizza dough

 

Heat your oven to 425F. Chop up your onion, garlic, and mushrooms. Sauté the onion in 1 tablespoon of olive oil. When they start looking golden, add the mushrooms and garlic. Season with salt, pepper and thyme.

Sauté until everything is almost cooked, but not completely. They will finish cooking in the oven. Dump the mushrooms out into a bowl, and set aside. 

  So in the same  pan, add a 1 tablespoons of vegan butter or olive oil, and your flour. You are making a roux. Whisk it together, this will form a paste, and let that paste cook for about a minute, but do not burn!

Pour the can of coconut milk in the pan. Whisk it all up so the roux is evenly mixed in. Add the lemon juice, the vegetable bouillon. Let it thicken and cook down.

While the sauce is thickening, shape your pizza dough. Sprinkle the counter and dough with a bit of flour so that it isn’t sticky, and just stretch and pull and squish until you get a nice pizza shape. Now put on a lightly greased pan.

Your sauce should be ready now. To test, it should leave a nice thick coat on the back of the spoon. If it doesn’t seem to be getting thick, whisk in another tablespoon of flour, and cook longer, if your sauce gets too thick, whisk in a bit of water.

When your sauce tastes awesome and is the right consistency, spread your onion and mushroom mixture on the pizza. Then pour your sauce on top of all of that. Garnish with lemon zest and more thyme.

Right about now, you may feel that you have made a horrible mess and ended up with soup pizza. Don’t worry! It will be awesome when it comes out of the oven. So, put that pizza in the oven. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, until it looks golden and delicious.

The coconut sauce needs to set and thicken, so it doesn’t slide off the pizza. So let it rest for 10 minutes.

 

 

 

Spinach Wrap

OH WOW the dressing is absolutely amazing. These wraps are stuffed with veggies and very satisfying Yum Yum Yum

 

 

 

 

Ingredients

For the dressing:

• ¼ cup hoisin sauce
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 1 tablespoon sesame oil
• roasted sesame seeds (optional)

For the wraps:

• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• ½ container extra firm tofu; drained, rinsed, pressed with paper towels and sliced into 1-inch thick slices
• 2 large sized whole wheat soft tortillas
• 1 carrot, peeled and julienned
• 1 cucumber, julienned
• ½ red bell pepper, thinly sliced
• red cabbage , thinly sliced
• 3 cups fresh spinach leaves
• 2 cups alfalfa sprouts
• Sriracha sauce (optional)

Instructions

For the dressing:

1. Using a small bowl, whisk together the hoisin sauce, honey and sesame oil. Taste and adjust ingredients as needed. Sprinkle on some sesame seeds and set aside.

For the wraps:

1. Using a large pan, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the tofu slices and cook on each side until nicely browned and crispy, for about 5 minutes on each side. Remove from pan and slice into strips.
2. Working with your whole wheat tortilla on a clean, flat surface (you can also warm up your tortilla if preferred) lay in the tofu strips and all of the cut veggies, starting with the carrots, cucumbers, red bell pepper strips and red cabbage. Next, lay the spinach on top and add the alfalfa sprouts on the side. Add the dressing on top and roll the tortilla closed, starting from one end and rolling to the other end. Slice and serve with extra dressing on the side and sriracha sauce for a kick.

Carrot Fries - oh my

I served these with some veganaise mixed with a bit of lemon juice. Delish!!!!  Try to cut them the same length so they cook evenly.
Bake them as long as possible, but don't burn them.

Ingredients

• 3 Large Carrots
• 1 Tablespoon Olive Oil
• ½ teaspoon Chili Powder
• 1 teaspoon Thyme
• ½ teaspoon Salt
• Couple Grinds of Pepper

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 400F (200C).
2. Peel and chop your carrot in to fry like shapes.
3. Put the carrot fries in a big bowl and add the olive oil and your spices, and then stir or toss to coat, making sure each fry is evenly coated in the oil spice mix.
4. Dump the fries onto a baking dish and arrange them so they all fit without any of the fries overlapping. It's best if they aren't touching each other too so there is lots of air around each fry to help get them crispy.
5. Bake for 30-40 minutes, taking them out every now and then to flip. They are done when the edges are brown.

 

Tofu Dressing

I love this salad dressing. Works great as a dip with fried tofu too.

1 tbsp. peanut butter
3 tbsp. balsamic vinegar
1 tbsp. lemon juice
12oz soft tofu
3 tbsp. maple syrup
2 cloves garlic
1 tbsp. Dijon mustard
Blend well. I added some tamari and a bit of soy milk to thin it out.