Herbed Raw Vegan Cashew Cheese

Herbed Raw Vegan Cashew Cheese

In my effort to find fun snacks for special occasions, I've grown quite fond of this raw vegan cashew cheese.  I confess, it has some salt in it, so it's not truly 'nutritarian', but so far I've cut the salt content in half.  If I can get it down to 1/8 of a teaspoon, I'll be happy.  After all, it's not intended for regular consumption considering it mostly consists of nuts!

My favourite thing to spread this on is cauliflower "crackers", which are simply slices of raw cauliflower.

I found this recipe at Healthy Blender Recipes, and did a half-batch (more affordable and helps with moderation!).  You can find the recipe with variations here: Raw Vegan Cashew Cheese.

Herbed Raw Vegan Cashew Cheese [Adapted]

1 cup soaked cashews* (2-4 hours)
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1/4 cup nutritional yeast flakes
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1/16 tsp onion powder
1/16 tsp ground thyme
1/8 tsp ground rosemary
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp dried parsley
2-4 Tbsp water

*Almonds work too, I usually use half and half (1/2 slivered almonds, 1/2 raw cashews).

Place everything but the water into a food processor.  Start with 1 Tbsp of water and process.  You'll have to scrape down the sides multiple times throughout the process.  Keep adding water, teaspoonfuls or less at a time, until desired consistency.  You want it to work like a spread.

Refrigerate for a few hours to let the flavours meld, or dig in right away if you just can't wait!

It's very nice spread onto slices of veggies, like zucchini or cucumber.

Three-Bean Lentil Soup for the Slow Cooker

Three-Bean Lentil Soup

There's not much of this soup left in our fridge, so I figured I'd better snap a picture of it before it's long gone.  Not that I won't be making it again soon. It was delicious! And easy!

Canadian Living Magazine's recipes have consistently been winners in my kitchen, and this soup is no different.  The original link to the recipe can be found here: Three-Bean Lentil Soup. I'm posting the slow cooker version here for your enjoyment. My version includes celery and baby carrots, and substitutes curry powder for curry paste. You can have fun adding your own favourite veggies.  Next time I'll be adding a generous amount of brown mushrooms.

Three-Bean Lentil Soup [Adapted]

Ingredients

2 onions, chopped
3 stalks celery, chopped
1 1/2 cups baby carrots
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 Tbsp minced gingerroot
4 tsp curry paste (I used 2 tsp curry powder, next time 3 tsp!)
1 28oz. can diced tomatoes, undrained
6 cups vegetable stock
2 cups water
1 cup red lentils
1 tsp ground coriander (next time double!)
1/4 tsp pepper
1 19oz. can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1 19oz. can red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
1 19oz. can black beans, drained and rinsed

Place everything BUT the chickpeas and beans into the crock pot and cook on low for 7-8 hours. Add chickpeas, kidney beans and black beans and cook for 30 minutes until heated through.  Enjoy!

I have a SAD cold!

Keep Calm-O-Matic

I've been cold and flu free for almost 2 years, that is until I started cheating (myself) and eating junk food, vegan and non.  Last week a nasty head cold visited our house and instead of bypassing me, it took hold.  It serves as a wake up call.  I've reactivated my membership at Dr. Fuhrman's website.  Being a part of an online nutritarian community is worth the small monthly cost.

I'm on day 2 of eating an unrefined whole foods plant-based diet, and will get back to having a super strong immune system!

Avocado Strawberry Toast

I joined Pinterest lately, probably one of the last to do so, and saw photos of mashed avocado on toast.  What a novel idea!  Today I decided to try mashed avocado spread over a lovely piece of toasted Ezekiel bread, topped with 3 mashed strawberries.  I sprinkled a little pink Himalayan salt over the avocado to bring out its flavour.  It was pretty darn good!!

Freezer "Brownies". Yum!

Hi all! Had a lovely holiday and am trying to get back into a regular routine. Hubby was off for awhile and I always go into vacation-mode when he's around. It feels good to be getting back into being productive.

Over the holidays I made some fudgie freezer brownies that were DELICIOUS! The recipe is Chef AJ's, so it stands to reason that they'd be ultra yummy.


I only make half a batch, which is half the cost, and half the temptation. It still makes a generous amount and lasted us quite a few days. Today I'll be making more (at my daughter's request) and thought I'd share it here (see the video below). I used a mix of pecans, brazil nuts, and sunflower seeds. I finally snagged some raw cacao in a sort-of-nearby natural food store and am thrilled to such a superfood in my arsenal. For the half-sphere shapes I used our scoop from our espresso machine and it worked beautifully. Eat them right from the freezer because they'll be the perfect consistency when cold. They're too soft at room temp. Enjoy!

My Beloved Hummus Recipe

My mom introduced me to hummus years ago and I've been making her recipe ever since. We love it! I've only just discovered that most hummus recipes call for oil, but this one does not. Mine also has fresh parsley pureed into it. Want the recipe?

Hummus

1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
3 Tbsp tahini paste
2 Tbsp lemon juice
3-4 cloves garlic, crushed
4-5 oz. water
fresh parsley

Place chickpeas, tahini paste, lemon juice and garlic in a food processor and puree for a few seconds. Add about 4oz. of water and continue to puree until smooth. Add more water if necessary to get a nice consistency (not too thick, not too liquidy). Finally, add some fresh parsley, maybe about 3 sprigs worth. Pulse just until the parsley is chopped small and blended in.

Store in a glass jar (healthier and stays fresh!).

Quick Banana Blueberry Breakfast

Purchase this lovely print from Erica Lea at Etsy.com
Being a participant of Dr. Fuhrman's Six-Week Holiday Challenge, I get e-mails with recipes to help me along. I made this breakfast a few days ago and was really wow'ed by it! It warms the tummy, is very filling and tastes delicious. I treated Jon to a serving this past weekend and he was so impressed that he wanted it the next morning too!

Quick Banana Blueberry Breakfast

[Adapted version of Dr. Fuhrman's "Quick Banana Berry Breakfast To Go"]

Serves 1

1 banana, sliced
2/3 to 1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries
1/3 cup (a scant 1/3 c.) old-fashioned rolled oats
1/3 cup water
1 Tbsp ground flaxseed
1/2 oz. chopped pecans or walnuts

Combine the first 4 ingredients in a microwave-proof bowl. Microwave for 3 minutes. Stir in flaxseed. Sprinkle nuts on top. Let stand 5-10 minutes as it's quite hot!