Chickpeas & Spice

This cashew cheese recipe is easy to make and has so many uses! It can be a delicious spread on bagels (add some chives to make it super fancy), pour it over some pasta for an easy cream sauce, put it on pizza for a white sauce, add it to soups for some creamy goodness, or add to some mashed potatoes for that cheesy deliciousness. Since I make nut milk a couple times a week, I usually use the pulp from that milk as a base for my cashew cheese. If you don’t have nut milk pulp to use up, don’t worry, simply substitute additional cashew pieces for the pulp.

Serves: 2 cups

Time: 30min (15min active)

Ingredients

1 1/4 cups nut pulp

3/4 cups cashews

1 tbsp olive oil

1/3 cup water

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1 small clove garlic roughly chopped

juice of half a lemon (2 tbsp)

Soak the cashews in hot water for 15 minutes.

Combine all ingredients and blend until smooth, scraping down the sides of your blender or food processor as you go. Keeps for 1 week. You can freeze and use later if you don’t need the whole batch.

You can use either a food processor or a Vitamix blender for this. Using a food processor will give the cheese slightly more texture and a Vitamix will make the cheese extra silky/creamy. Both are good! I would not recommend trying to make this cheese in a blender that isn’t high powered, as the nuts can be hard on the motor and the cheese will come out with a strange texture. Note, I don’t always soak the cashews and can say from first hand it isn’t 100% necessary when using a Vitamix. It does however help take care of your equipment and can make the final product creamier, so I do recommend it, if you have the time.

A new year and a new blog! This year Camille (formerly Gluten-free Soy-free Vegan) and Anne (formerly Hungry Griffin) have teamed up to co-create a blog featuring delicious recipes. We will be cooking food, eating food, and sharing our recipes with all of you to cook and enjoy as well. This time of year can be hard for us because starting January 1st so many people start to try to “eat healthy” or diet. We aren’t interested in encouraging people to make their bodies smaller, take up less space, or try to change because someone said they “should”. What interests us is joy, pleasure, and honoring our own bodies. In celebration of joy, pleasure, and honoring our bodies we’ll start the new year and our new blog with one of our favorite foods: potatoes!

This delicious side dish is an interpretation on a recipe that was found in an issue of Gourmet magazine about ten years ago. Time has not diminished our enthusiasm for these spicy and tangy potatoes. They are a delicious treat on their own or make a nice compliment to roasted cauliflower and garlicky greens.

Serves 4 (as a side dish)

Time: 40min (10min active)

Ingredients

3 tbsp sesame oil (divided)

2 tbsp sunflower oil

1.5 lbs fingerling potatoes, halved

3 tbsp minced ginger (divided)

2 cups water

1/2 tsp chili powder

1/4 tsp turmeric

1/2 cup mint leaves, chopped

3/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp black pepper

Zest and juice of one lime

Heat 2 tbsp sesame oil and the sunflower oil in a frying pan over medium high heat. Once the oil is hot, add the potatoes and 1.5 tbsp ginger. Cook the potatoes turning regularly for ten minutes. Some of the edges should be slightly browned. Remove from the heat and slowly add the water, chili, turmeric, salt, and pepper. Return the pan to the heat and cook the potatoes uncovered until almost all the water has evaporated, stirring occasionally.

This should take about half an hour, but watch to make sure the bottom isn’t sticking and stop before then. At this point, the potatoes should be tender, if they are not, add a little more water and continue to cook until they are. If you need to add water, remember, the potatoes will not be drained, so be careful not to add too much. Once tender, add the remaining one tablespoon of sesame oil, the remaining 1.5 tbsp ginger, the lime zest, and mint. Stir until this sticks to the potatoes, about 1 minute. Stir in the lime juice and enjoy!