I’m officially a foodie now. I own a vitamix.
Birthday present from Kyle. He knows me so well.
So this may sound weird but I was kinda scared to use it. And for a solid week it sat untouched because I was too intimidated. I didn’t want to initiate it into my kitchen arsenal with a lame recipe or anything so-so. It had to be epic. Why? Who knows. It’s all in my head.
In the end, I chose a cheesy pumpkin sauce. Because blending nuts to creamy dreamy bliss (in seconds!!) was too fun to pass up.
So. Cool.
Pumpkin Sage Cashew Sauce [vegan, gluten free, fodmaps friendly]
Ingredients:
- 1 1/2 cups pumpkin
- 4 sage leaves
- 1/2 cup nutritional yeast
- 1 cup cashews (raw, roasted, whatever)
- 1 cup water
- 3 tbsp tamari
- 1/2 lemon, juiced (~2 tbsp)
Directions:
Pulse everything in high powered blender until smooth.
I can’t get over how fast this blended into such a silky texture. Even faster than the food processor!
I used the plunger to help things move, which was great, but I feel like some of the sauce was wasted on the stick. Is there a good way to get the food off it (not counting my tongue?). Because I’m not always going to want to do that, even though this time I definitely did.
What to do with this stuff? More like what NOT to do with it…
First I used it in a quinoa dish.
With steamed kale, it hit. the. spot. Warm and cozy.
The next day I had a salad version. Chilled with raw spinach, carrots, and quinoa.
I also ate it as a dip – it’s good on anything and everything.
I also sauced up some scrambled eggs and paired it with crackers and carrots.
Yum!
I could see this being a great sauce for steamed broccoli too. Or baked potatoes.
The options are endless!
Congrats on the Vitamix!! I’m dying to own one…what a dream!
You’re going to love it!!! I broke down and bought one 2 years ago and I use it constantly…you’re going to love making your own nut butters!!!
Awww, what a great gift! I’m so jealous! (Though I did just see that refurbished ones are down to $299….maybe Santa will bring me one :))
pumpkin sage….sounds SO good! I’ll have to try this!
Oh Happy Day!
Am jealous.
That sauce/dip deliciousness looks and sounds so good.
I bet we are in for an arsenal of dip and sauce recipes now! yay!
And your little PacMan (can I call him that?) is gonna love it, too.
” I didn’t want to initiate it into my kitchen arsenal with a lame recipe or anything so-so.” That was SO me, too. While I didn’t buy a Vitamix I got one to review one for my blog for six weeks – half-time now, boo. So no, you’re not alone on insisting the first recipe to be special. Mine was homemade coconut butter.
Anyway, congrats on joining the foodie Olymp :D. Convince me to make the purchase myself! I’d hoped to make my own nut butters aside from coconut but it doesn’t seem to work [unless adding extra oil and that’s not what I’d hoped for] so I’m as of yet undecided.
Your Pumpkin Cashew Sauce sounds great. I was super impressed by how smooth the Vitamix blended the cashews for a raw cheesecake recipe I tried. Maybe that alone is worth buying it :).
YAY VITAMIX!!!! Welcome to the club! Can’t wait to see what you do with it so I can copy. I feel like mine is such a waste on me because I just make “ice cream” with frozen fruit…
Of course you can call him that! His initials are PAC so that’s our nickname for him 🙂
Yay for the VitaMix! Don’t you love it?!? I usually use my tongue to clean the plunger, but when I am trying to control myself and/or I have guests over and they are watching me (damn them!), then I use a silicone spoonula thingy to scrape whatever it is off of the plunger and into the container/dish/etc. It works, but it is very rare…my tongue usually wins out over that 🙂 Anyway, I am excited for you to have the VitaMix and to have fun experimenting with it in the kitchen!
Courtney
You’re too funny! But I guess I can relate……have a juicer awaiting initiation. I’ve had my Vita for 13 yrs(one jar replacement over that period) & love it, love it, love it…….couldn’t do w/o it. I have a variable speed & got fed up with using the plunger a long time ago. I start it on low & gradually crank it up, stopping & starting as needed, using a spatula around the edges & pushing it down. Might sound a bit onerous but it’s really not. I don’t use it for nut butters as I think one would need to add too much oil to get it going-find the food processor a better tool. Happy Vita-mixing!
Oh congrats on the vitamix! Now I really a wish I had one so I could copy this. I have loved the recipes of yours that I have tried. Simple, healthy and full of flavor!
this sauce looks great! i’ve heard/read such good things about vitamix, but it’s so dang expensive. i’m gonna work on justifying it more before i fully commit 🙂 so keep the recipes coming so i can justify it, ha!
Me in an envy mode:) My stick blender died, my food processor+blender is on its way out (makes more and more sad noises when I use it) and I am ready for something new and shiny. Vitamix is definitely on my wish list, but then I want a stick blender and a food processor as well, preferably everything in one! Too many choices:) But congratulations, thats one good birthday present:)))
Congrats! I did a similar thing with my Vitamix when I first got it. I wanted to keep it looking pretty and new. Now I use it almost everyday. I love it! Can’t wait to try your recipes!
I’m not sure how this will work with the plunger, but with my food processor I usually will get most of my sauce/hummus/whatever out, then run it again with just the blade in there, and what ever is on the blade usually flies to the walls of the bowl where I can then scrape them out. Hope that helps!
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What model do you have?
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