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!