Vegan Nacho Cheese Sauce/Dip

Don't question this stuff...just make it. I was noodling around in the kitchen a few weekends ago and thought I'd try out this recipe just for kicks. Around lunch time I walked a bowl of it and a bag of tortilla chips into the living room where the Monster was reading. I'd only made a 1/2 batch, and that's a good thing, since we both proceeded to scarf the whole lot of it! "Guess that was our lunch." I said. ;-)
The cheese dip is pictured above served over the top of cauliflower in an effort to be a bit healthier, but really I think this will be used with nachos from here on out. So good with the chips!
My friend Debbie made the dip for her son and his friend to eat with her...they all gave it a hearty thumbs up. I've also got a Vegan Mac and Cheese recipe waiting to be tried out in the next few days. Hope it is as pleasantly surprising as this was!

I've been avoiding most dairy these dark cedar allergy ridden months, since it does my stuffiness no favors. Bonus that I'm finding such incredible dairy-free recipes to get me through to the end of February!

The quickie pilaf was thrown together with no plan to post about it, but seeing as it was so good here's the low down...
Cooked brown rice, can of black-eyed peas, lemon zest, non-marinated artichoke hearts, parsley, fresh basil, olive oil, s & p, maybe some green onions.

Nacho Cheese Dip:
(Discovered on Shmooed Food's blog)

makes about 2 cups

2 cups water
¼ cup raw cashews (Oh, I've gotta mention that although I halved the recipe when I made it, I forgot to halve the cashews! Could be why it was so good. :-) Used less the second time I made it, but still more than written here. Debbie made it as written and still liked it...so your call)
one 4 oz. jar pimentos, drained
1 cup nutritional yeast flakes
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 ½ teaspoons salt, or to taste
½ teaspoon onion powder
¼ teaspoon garlic powder
½ rounded teaspoon cumin
optional: I add a touch of cayenne pepper for a little kick

Combine all ingredients in a Vita-Mix or other blender (If using a regular blender like I do, start with less liquid when blending the cashews. Add the rest of the water once the cashews have been well blended) and blend until completely smooth. Transfer mixture to a medium saucepan and whisk constantly over medium heat until thickened, about 5 to 6 minutes.

Serve as a dip with tortilla chips and vegetables.

Variations: Add some vegetarian burger crumbles, black olives, or salsa, or my favorite...adding in some canned diced jalapenos!

Orange Hummus

Ok, so I had these red lentils sitting and staring up at me from a pull-out shelf every time I opened the pantry door...for like, a YEAR. I can't even remember what I made with them originally...obviously it couldn't have been all that memorable. So off to the computer I went to search for a recipe, when I'd had just about enough of their plaintive mews...
I found a quickie recipe for red lentil hummus that sounded great for snacking with veggies, sandwiches, etc. The recipe touted that red lentils are more easily digested than chickpeas, so last night I set about making this flexible sounding recipe. Hm...
Did I do something wrong? First off, It was the consistency of soup. And, the flavor? Not really there. This is all to say that I'm not going to bother sharing the recipe for this slop, but instead I'll post on my favorite alternative-type hummus, using my holiest of holies...the chickpea. Man, you just gotta love these little guys. I'm pretty sure I'm an addict. Used in falafel, hummus, whole in casseroles, salads, soups...they're one of my favorite things to eat.

This recipe for Orange Hummus comes from of my dog-eared copy of Mollie Katzen's (of Moosewood fame) Enchanted Broccoli Forest. No photo until I make it again, but this recipe is a winner in our house. You might want to halve the recipe if you're just making for 2, since it yields 3 cups as written.

Orange Hummus:

2- 15oz cans chick-peas, drained and rinsed

1/2 tsp each:
ground cumin
ground coriander
ground ginger
ground mustard
turmeric
mild paprika (sweet not smoked or hot)

3/4 cup fresh squeezed orange juice
1/3 cup tahini
1/2 tsp salt
3 Tbs cider vinegar
3 medium cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp. soy sauce
cayenne to taste

Combine everything in a food processor and puree until smooth. Transfer to a bowl or container with a lid, cover tightly, and chill.

Mollie Katzen's note..."Serve as a dip, surrounded by and array of raw and/or lightly steamed vegetables- or simply with crackers. This also goes beautifully in a toasted pita pocket with minced salad greens and chopped ripe tomatoes."

Vietnamese Summer Rolls and (Chickenless) Asian Salad

These are great to make when you've got an extra hand for slicin' and dicin'. The Monster was up to the task, so off we went. They take a little practice to roll, but you'll get the hang of it by about the second to last one. ;-) Good news is they'll taste really great no matter what. My first one tonight was the prettiest one of all...my rolling skills seemed to go downhill with each successive spring roll. This recipe for Vietnamese Summer Rolls comes from Jaden at Steamy Kitchen. The sauce is delicious, and it's highly tweakable. I added the juice of one lime, used agave nectar in place of the sugar, and added more garlic chili sauce for extra heat. I also found that it needed to be thinned with more water than called for. You might look for the cashew butter in the bulk section of your grocery store instead of buying a whole jar of it. If you don't feel up to making the rolls, the sauce is still a winner that would be awesome tossed simply with cooked Chinese egg noodles, quick sauteed green onions and cilantro.


I served the rolls with an Asian chicken salad we like sans chicken. :-) If you'd like to make a meal of just that, you can add the diced meat of two roasted chicken breasts, or cubed extra firm tofu. The original recipe comes from The World's Healthiest Foods recipe file.


Asian Chicken Salad:

5+ cups Chinese cabbage, sliced thin (I add more veggies since I think the recipe calls for a little too much chicken)
2 boneless chicken breasts, skin on and bone in
~ 1 cup shredded carrot
~1/4 cup minced scallion
1/2 cup sliced almonds, toasted
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
2 Tbs toasted sesame seeds or instead, I use this great stuff by Eden Organic called Seaweed Gomasio that I'm sure you could find at Whole Foods. The original recipe called for hijiki seaweed, but I found out online that it has really high amounts of inorganic arsenic in it!! It's great on stir-fries too.)

Optional (I added these because I had the ingredients from making the spring rolls and thought they'd be tasty in the salad too):
2-3 Tbs chopped fresh mint
~ 2-3 tsp. lemongrass, grated on a microplane.

Dressing:
2 TBS extra olive oil
2 TBS soy sauce (I used a little less)
1/4 cup rice vinegar
3 TBS agave nectar, or honey
pinch red pepper flakes
salt & pepper to taste (I don't add much salt, since the gomasio has sea salt in it)

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Place chicken breasts on baking sheet covered with foil. Spray or rub with canola oil, then salt and pepper generously.
3. Bake until ~35-40 min., or until a meat thermometer reads 170. When done and cool enough to touch, remove skin, and cut into bite size pieces.
4. Thinly slice head of cabbage, and shred carrot. Carrot is easily shredded in a food processor with shredding blade. Otherwise you can shred it by hand, or slice thin. Chop cilantro and scallion and add to, cabbage and carrot.
5. Whisk together olive oil, soy sauce, rice vinegar, honey, red pepper flakes, salt and pepper. Toss with cabbage mixture and chicken. Sprinkle with sesame seeds or Eden Organic seaweed gomasio which has lots of toasted sesame seeds in it. I add the almonds to each individual serving, so that if there are leftovers they don't get all soggy in the dressing.

Serves 4