Last night I went to bed at 7:45. Yeah. Guess my body was trying to tell me something, huh? I just went with it.
I had “dinner” at 5, just after posting about my cashew cheese.
For those who asked, here’s the recipe I used. [It’s a combination of a few I’ve seen throughout the blog world and my RFD cookbook]
Vegan cashew “cheese”
Ingredients:
- 1 1/4 cup raw cashews (I soaked mine before)
- 1 tbsp garlic powder
- 1 tbsp onion powder
- 1 lemon, juiced (approx. 2-3 tbsp)
- 2 tbsp nutritional yeast
- 1/2 large orange bell pepper (I used 4 baby bell peppers)
- 1 carrot
- 1 tbsp mustard
- dash paprika
- salt & pepper (to taste)
- 1/4 cup non-dairy milk (I used rice milk)
Directions:
Mix carrot, bell pepper, cashews, lemon juice and mustard in food processor.
Pulse and scrape down sides until it is adequately mixed.
It will be semi-chunky. Then add in the rest of the ingredients and pulse until smooth.
Like I mentioned yesterday, the cheese can be as thin or thick as you want depending on what you use it for, so increase liquid as needed. The above recipe is for a thick dip consistency.
The first use was simply as a topping for red quinoa and steamed broccoli.
It was delicious.
Tonight, for my “d” food I used the cashew cheese again.
Any idea?
100% durum wheat 🙂
When you think about it, coming up with “D” foods is harder than you may realize. Good thing I’ve been wanting to try durum wheat for a long time, because it’s the only thing I could think of!
Durum means “hard” in Latin, which makes sense since it is the hardest species of all wheats. It also has a high protein and gluten content making it good for special uses (pizzas, flat breads, etc.). Cakes? Not so much.
And why not make a cheesy pasta dish with the leftover cashew cheese?
I cooked the entire bag of pasta (16 oz. dry organic durum wheat shells), while making the sauce.
In an effort to increase the nutritional profile and bulk up the veggie presence of the dish, I decided to add pureed butternut squash to the “cheese.”
M freezer is packed with butternut squash thanks to the two cases I got back in November. The crockpot definitely came in handy when I was pureeing it in mass quantities.
Once the pasta was done, I drained it and threw in frozen peas. The peas thawed in no time, and then I poured it all in a casserole dish.
Then I dumped in the squash and cheese mix, tossing the pasta and peas around so that they were all completely coated.
After that I sprinkled nooch and panko bread crumbs on top.
Baked it for 15 minutes at 350.
Done-zo.
Nut-shell Casserole (vegan)
Ingredients:
- 1 cup cashew cheese (see recipe above)
- 3/4 cup pureed butternut squash
- 1/2 cup non-dairy milk (mixed in when coating the pasta/pea combo)
- 1 cup peas
- 16 oz. dry pasta shells
- 1 tbsp panko bread crumbs
- 1 tbsp nutritional yeast
Serve it up!
Kyle and I were in celebration mode (everyone say congrats to my husband for getting a dream summer internship), hence the romantic glasses klean kanteen water jug.
I went for a large and in charge first portion…and wound up having two more servings afterwards.
It was soooo good that Kyle and I both had multiple plates full, which is why the casserole dish looked like this once we were done.
Aren’t these big casserole pans supposed to feed a family? Or two hungry hippies. So yeah, it was pretty tasty.
Durum wheat gets two thumbs up. Hearty and wholesome and freakin’ delish.
Wow, this looks Sooo good. I am going to have to try it. I wonder how it would do as leftovers?
That looks wonderful! The only thing I’d be able to think of for ‘D’ is daikon. Very creative with the durum!
I’ll let you know 🙂
This looks great! What a great way to “sneak” in more veggies with the b. nut puree!
Congratulations to the hubs!!
That pretty much looks like a casserole dish after I’m done with it…
good. not just me then 🙂
oh my gosh that actually looks like heaven in a casserole
I love big casseroles like that!
D
Dulse flakes
Durian fruit (ick!)
Dortios (kidding)
You’re right…it’s harder than one thinks to come up with D foods.
The casserole sounds amazing. Love wholemeal pasta!
Casserole looks wonderful!
Oohhh I just bought those bigshell noodles at Whole Foods, I’m so excited to try this recipe!!
that looks awesome!! If I’m hungry enough for dinner at 5, i just go with it- and fully plan on consuming a hefty-sized dessert a little later 😀
That looks ridiculously good! Love the combo of peas and butternut squash! Congrats to Kyle! ( wow – that’s a lot of exclamation points)
YUM!! durum wheat flour is what i use to make my pasta! soo tasty! although it’s been harder to find here. you should go to Surfas (in culver city) if you haven’t already. it is a restaurant supply store that has awesome ingredients that are hard to find, plus every possible thing you never knew you needed for your kitchen and cooking! just don’t blame me when you spend all of your money there haha! missyou! xoxoxoxo
That pasta looks SO good!
Looks absolutely delicious!! I can’t wait to try nutritional yeast…I’ve been reading about it on several food blogs and am a little hesitant but in this dish it really sounds good!
oh great. i have a hard enough time being cautious at whole foods…
it’s great! it tastes like the fake cheese powder that i used to eat from boxed mac ‘n cheese from my youth. but it does have the appearance of fish food. ha.
Dinner at 5 and asleep by 8…welcome to my world. 😉 Good work on polishing off that dish full of pasta too…I say it’s testament to how yummy the durum must have been.
looks yummy!
Yum! Thanks so much for the cheeze recipe! Do you know how much it makes (approx. cups)? I love that you added butternut squash and peas to the pasta. Now that’s mac and cheese done right!
Have a lovely day!
xox
Also, how long do you soak your cashews? Thanks!
The recipe I gave yields almost 2 cups. I soaked the cashews overnight in the fridge…I usually aim for 8 hours when soaking (if it’s longer than a few hours I throw them in the fridge just because I don’t know what would happen without being chilled), but I’m pretty sure anything over an hour is long enough to get them soft.
mmmm! let’s have a potluck – you make that okay?
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Dear Elise,
I made this recipe the other day -with a red bell peeper- over warm quinoa.
One word: EPIC !!!!!!!!!!!!
I can’t wait to use my leftover “cheese” in pasta and a yummy sandwiches this week! My co-workers are food nuts, and I can’t wait to tell them about your website!
Thank you so much for sharing this wonderful recipe!
hooray!!! that makes me so happy – definitely feel free to share HHH with your foodie coworkers 🙂