Cashew Gravy Recipe for My Dad

My mom could make an amazing cashew gravy.  I think this is where her recipe started and now cashew butter is readily available at our grocer, so I'm going to give this a whirl using cashew butter instead of ground nuts.  I have a feeling she added a dash of tamari soy sauce and nutritional yeast to her version.   This compliments cauliflower very well. 

Cashew Gravy from Laurel’s Kitchen

Yield 4 servings or 2 cups

1/2 cup ground cashews
3 Tbs whole wheat flour
2 Tbs oil
1/4 onion
2 c vegetable stock or water
1/4 c chopped parsley
1 tsp salt

Saute onion until soft, stir in flour & cashew meal & cook for three minutes stirring constantly.  Add the stock & salt & stir to blend all the ingredients  Bring the mixture to a boil, then simmer until thick.  Add the parsley. 

Something to explore as the temperature outside rises & I try to cool off the kitchen.

http://ohmyveggies.com/50-vegetarian-slow-cooker-recipes/

Summer Garden Offerings

 Gardening in the Texas Panhandle is an extreme art, between crazy temperature swings, drought, and grasshoppers we were able to harvest enough handfuls to create a few summer meals this year. 

 This first one is olive oil sauteed chard and leeks, solar cooked red lentils, and 4 eggs sprinkled with Turkish vegetable spice (a chili blend with strong mint & paprika tones).   6 ingredients

 Zucchini oven fries were fun, but there's a learning curve, too thin or too hot an oven yielded a pan full of deliciousness I had to scrape off with a fork.  It's too bad I had to eat all of the ugly chips. 
3 ingredients

 Gluten & Dairy Free Pizza with squash, potato, garlic, pine nuts, and basil.  I highly recommend America's Test Kitchen gluten free bread recipes, and I love using our cast iron skillets for pizzas.  Now we need one that's 4 times this size. 

This is a fig and plum salad adapted from the latest post on  101 Cookbooks.  We did indeed have some fresh figs instead of dry, but substituted plums for pluots, basil for the herb mix, leeks instead of shallots, agave for the honey, and pine nuts instead of peanuts.   It was a lovely way to use up some less common ingredients in our Bountiful Basket this week and some of the last offerings in our garden.  The dressing might be a keeper & definitely a good one for Asian dipping sauce. 

Good Causes

 Good and Cheap: Eat Well on $4/Day

You may have seen this kick starter project traveling around Facebook recently, and yay it was funded!  While not all of these recipes are vegetarian, there are quite a few great plant based meals, awesome ideas, and I really believe that fresh food should be available to everyone. Click on the title above to download Leanne Brown's free PDF.

Salad Dressings

As a kid, my palette was very sensitive.  I hated salad dressing, and loved salad.  I still enjoy the fresh differences each morsel offers, but my taste buds have dulled.  This is a list of dressings that provide a richness to satisfy the carnivore I married, yet still let each salad ingredient shine enough for me.  All of these can be dumped in a jar and shaken or whisked in a bowl, except for My Favorite, although it might be worth a try.  I keep leftover dressing refrigerated up to a week.

My Favorite Dressing
This dressing was inspired by one I found for a pea salad by Heidi Swanson on 101 Cookbooks and takes a little more prep, but is worth it.  The original recipe, like many on the author's site, uses very high quality ingredients I just can't find at our farmer's markets or keep on hand.  I was intrigued by the creative flavors & very happy with the version I was able to achieve using what we normally have in the pantry.  In the absence of fresh green peas (which is most of the year in the Texas Panhandle) a handful of good quality frozen sweet peas thawed under cold water taste great thrown on top of a leafy green salad with this dressing.  I'd dip just about any fresh veggie or even apple slices in it.

3-4 TBS Lemon Juice (2-3 lemons juiced)
1 TBS Dry Dates (fresh or whole work & so does one fresh fig)
1 Tsp Red Chili Pepper Flakes (or one jalapeno pepper pureed)
1 TBS Dry Mint (or a few fresh leaves pureed with the pepper)

The first time I made this I didn't have any fresh ingredients except the lemon, so I soaked the dated, pepper flakes & dry mint for an hour or so while making the rest of our dinner and then milled & sieved the whole mess.  It tasted great, tangy, spicy, fresh, and yet savory without making my salad heavy with oil.  I've since used fresh ingredients and pureed it all in a blender for a thicker version.  I like both.

Ranch
1/2 Cup yogurt
1/2 Cup mayonnaise
1/2 tsp of your favorite green herb (dill or parsley work well)
1 tsp dry onion or to taste (fresh white onion, green onions, leeks, or shallots are great too)
1Tbs vinegar (cider or white)
1Tbs olive oil or milk
1/4 tsp salt & pepper to taste (less if your mayo is salty)

Tahini Goddess Style Dressing
1/2 Cup Tahini
1/4 Cup Olive Oil
1 TBS Cider Vinegar
Juice of one Lemon
1 TBS Tamari Soy Sauce (any soy sauce will do)
2 Cloves Crushed Garlic
1 Tsp dried onion (or fresh onion to taste, green are best)
Water to thin*Tahini & Lemon form a paste, so a couple tsp of water will make the dressing incorporate & pour well.

This dressing goes particularly well with any green salad, but also pairs particularly well with avocados, potatoes, cucumbers & carrots.

Italian Vinegrette
1/3 Vinegar (Balsamic or Wine)
2/3 Olive Oil (sometimes I go a little light on this and add 1/2 & 1/2 with a little water)
1 tsp each: Basil, Oregano, Thyme
1/8 tsp each dill, rosemary or parsley, chili pepper, black pepper & salt

Miso Paprika Dressing
This dressing is divine over spinach, and has a bright red orange color.  I found the original recipe on a blog by, Susan Voisin with the sole intent of finding a way to use more miso in our diet & stumbled across this delicious combination.

1 TBS Miso
1 TBS Mayonnaise (or substitute olive oil)
3 TBS Lemon Juice (about 2 lemons juiced or use 1 lemon and 1 TBS of balsamic vinegar)
1 Clove Crushed Garlic
1/2 TBS Paprika (Smoked Paprika or Hungarian)
















 

Brownies Made with Black Beans

A few years ago, when bacon started showing up in desserts, I got a little jealous of those who could attempt these amazing savory and sweet culinary feats.  My retaliation?  A really lumpy pan of cocoa, oats, and black beans that resembled a flat lava cake. I gave up on this combination for couple years and rumors about really good black bean brownies began to surface.  Ones that could fool the most savvy of bake sale shoppers!  This coincided with my daughter's refusal to eat beans of any kind.  My vegetarian daughter was refusing to eat beans.  I said I would never lie to my children, but then Santa Claus happened, and so sneaking some beans into dessert didn't seem like such a horrid offense.  I did some searching and was led to Chocolate Covered Katie.  The recipe below is a combination of her recipe and everything I didn't do the first time I tried to make black bean brownies.  Score!  This recipe results in a cake textured brownie and best of all, my daughter eats them. 

Favorite Black Bean Brownies

1/2 Cup Quick or Rolled Oats
2 Cups Black Beans (Canned or Cooked, Drained)
2-3 TBS Cocoa Powder (3 if you prefer dark chocolate to milk chocolate)
1/4 tsp Sea Salt
1/3 Cup Agave Nectar (I have substituted dry sweeteners in a pinch, just reduced it to taste)
1/4 Cup Oil (I like olive oil, but coconut works well, and so does just plain vegetable oil)
1 TBS Vanilla Extract
1/2 tsp baking powder
 1 Egg (you can use a flax egg or increase your baking powder to 1 tsp and add an additional TBS oil)

Optional: a handful of your favorite chocolate bar/chips, coconut, walnuts, or dried cranberries.

*A Flax Egg substitute is 3 TBS of water and 1 TBS of flax meal whisked well (or shaken in a jar) cooled in freezer (if you rush like me) for a couple minutes. 

*This recipe is wheat free & can be gluten free with the appropriate choice in oats.  For a grain free option, almond flour works, but baking powder & vanilla extract often contain grain additives as well.  When possible I do use full vanilla beans instead of extract. 

Pre-Heat Oven to 350 F & grease an 8" square or round pan.  Food process your oats until they are a fine flour (a minute or so).  Add the Black Beans and continue to food process until they have a completely smooth consistency.  This should take at least 2 entire minutes.  Use your stove timer if you are impatient like me.  If you want to use a flax egg, use the processing time to make one. Add the rest of the ingredients to the food processor and pulse until completely consistent (this shouldn't take more than a few seconds).  Dump into your pan and bake for 15-20 minutes on the top rack of your oven.  A toothpick inserted in the middle should come out clean when it is finished baking. 

*I have not had good results doubling this recipe and baking in a 9x13" pan, plus I can't fit a double batch in my food processor. 

Marinara Is Not Just a Sauce, It's a Philosophy

Time: 10 min

Recipe
28 oz of tomatoes
3 cloves garlic
1 Tbs basil
1 tsp thyme
1tsp oregano
2 Tbs of Olive Oil
1 Tbs of Balsamic Vinegar or Red Wine

Saute over Medium Heat : Olive Oil, Balsamic Vinegar, and Herbs
Crush and add the Garlic.  Do not let the garlic cook to long and turn brown or your sauce will not taste good.  It's better to ditch the batch at this point and try again if your garlic overcooks.  

Once the garlic starts to smell good (it will turn off white) add the tomatoes, stir a bit to incorporate the oil and heat until it starts to bubble.  Turn down the heat and let simmer as long as you need to reach a desired consistency.  If you are using canned tomatoes, it will be ready as soon as it bubbles.
Enjoy!

Tomatoes
Ideally, fresh are the best.  There are many opinions about where and how they should be prepared.  I spent many hours helping my mother blanch, peel, and mill tomatoes for sauce the old fashioned way and I've also eaten pizza made with ketchup.  I only use fresh tomatoes if I can find ones that are ripe and organic.  Otherwise the preparation just doesn't seem worth the time because a poorly ripened tomato doesn't taste good, and since I don't live in a region known for it's tomato season I settle for canned.   Cento, Muir Glen, and Pomi brands are widely available and provide decent flavor.  However,  with a boost of ingredients one can make just about any tomato into an amazing sauce.  If you find that your canned tomatoes are to salty add a tiny extra bit of red wine or balsamic vinegar.  If they are too acidic, add a couple extra cloves of crushed garlic.  Not sweet enough, add more basil.  As far as puree vs. diced, just choose what is best for your dish.  Puree will be very thick & often salty (if you don't have a lot of time to simmer the sauce for hours this might be your best bet), just be prepared to add a little water if it's took thick to stir.  On the other end of the spectrum is diced which is good for a Pomodoro sauce, but include seeds and possibly skin.  I like to use 1/2 crushed and 1/2 pureed tomatoes.   

Olive Oil & Balsamic Vinegar
I buy this in bulk compromising between flavor, origin, and price.

Garlic
I use a garlic press to press fresh cloves of garlic.  I choose heads of garlic carefully looking for dents, discoloration, etc, and never keep it longer than a week or two.  Old garlic tastes strong, and not in a good way.  Many people are adept at chopping and crushing garlic with a knife.  I can't ever seem to achieve the wonderful oily version of crushed garlic with a knife alone, and my children don't like to be surprised with spicy bits.  I'm sure the minced garlic in a jar works, just try to crush it up a lot.  
 
Herbs
Fresh is awesome.  Use at least 3-4x as much as dry.  I use dry for 9-10 months out of the year.


Yield
One batch will cover one pound of pasta, two average size pizzas, or one 9x13" lasagne.   I like to make at least 2 batches at a time and freeze half.  Tomato sauce will stain most plastic containers.   I grew up freezing this in glass jars, just leave a little room at the top for expansion or there will be broken glass all over the freezer.   This method requires that you plan ahead for thawing.