Farfelle (Bowtie Pasta) & Broccoli With Raw Pecan "Cheese" Sauce

Pecans are a nice ingredient for "cheese" when one doesn't have cashews or walnuts.

I love pecans. Their natural sweet nuttiness has a versatile complexity that brings incredibly crunchy excitement to enticing desserts and delivers unique flavor profile to savory dishes. One of my favorite things is instead of using flour as component to crumble, subbing nuts, especially pecans. A special seasoned topping is out of this world.
Unfortunately, I missed National Macaroni and Cheese Day, which was yesterday, but I'm still sharing this wonderful, easy peasy recipe of creating perfect pecan "cheese" sauce. If pecans are not available, any other nut/drupe would do.
Now people usually soak nuts 6-8 hours or overnight. I didn't. I was pleasantly surprised that in two hours, my pecans pureed beautifully with the other ingredients. I awed and gasped at the results, smiling a little goofier than normal whilst photographing an awesome dinner.
I have plenty leftover and have big plans for sweet potatoes, polenta, zucchini noodles, and other fine carbs needing a good drown in pecan "cheese" sauce.

Raw Pecan "Cheese" Sauce Ingredients and Preparation

2 cup farfelle, cooked
1 cup frozen broccoli, prepared
2 cups raw pecans, (soaked 2-4 hours in water)
1/2 cup canned full fat coconut milk
1/4 cup tahini
1/3 cup nutritional yeast
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 teaspoon pink salt
1 teaspoon turmeric
1/2 teaspoon black pepper

Prepare pasta and broccoli.
Drain some of the pecan water after desired soaking time.
In a blender or food processor, combine pecans, coconut milk, tahini, nutritional yeast, garlic, turmeric, and black pepper. Pulse together until smooth consistency.
Top pecan "cheese" sauce over farfelle and broccoli.

Creamy pecan "cheese" sauce came out whipped perfectly and smooth like velvet, no chunkiness. If however, desiring extra pecan bliss, roast a bunch and crush a handful over top.

Oh how it glistens, mirroring salivated, hungry tongue....

Stirred.

Add extra black pepper for prettiness and eat.

Chocolate Raspberry Sauce

A chocolaty fruit infused sauce can be stored from 7-10 days depending on which form of raspberries used.

How about making chocolate raspberry sauce, pouring thick luxury in a glass jar, and placing a bow tie around the lid? It's plausible. Chocoholic friends will swoon. Raspberry lovers will be thrilled.
Holiday desserts are the best. Creative bakers seem to be at their most artisan peak, standing over hot ovens (and freezers if raw makers), excited for homemade pies, cakes, and tarts. Sweetened chocolate meets tangy ripened raspberries in a tantalizing sauce meant to trickle over the most decadent creations.
Chocolate raspberry Sauce can be perfect hot fudge sauce substitute, a maple syrup replacement, cake icing and more. The possibilities are endless. And sweet.

Chocolate Raspberry Sauce Ingredients and Preparation

1/3 cup almond milk
1/4 cup vegan semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 tablespoon Bee Free Honee (agave nectar or maple syrup too)
1/3 cup raspberries (or raspberry jam)
3 tablespoon Trader Joe's coconut cream
1 teaspoon raspberry extract 

In a medium saucepan, combine almond milk, chocolate chips, and sweetener.
Once the chocolate is completely melted, add in raspberries (or jam), coconut cream, and raspberry extract.
Turn off heat and carefully fill a jar.
Keep refrigerated. Can be served warm or chilled.

Chocolate Raspberry Sauce is good for pancakes, oatmeal, ice cream, French toast, or a Daiya Cheezecake-- very delicious concoction by the way.

Rich, creamy cheezecake slice greeted in a chocolaty flair topped with bonus plump raspberries.

Little raspberry flickers make all things perfect.

Gift Idea: Raw Cashew Cheeze Sauce

It's that time of the year-- yummy present ideas galore!

There is truly nothing more splendid than the specialness of a homemade gift whether it be a drawing, painting, or a foodie treasure. For the first part of my new Wednesday series, I share a recipe that can be a potentially delicious holiday twist.
Raw Cashew Cheeze Sauce is one of my favorites. I wanted to make a batch for my friend. Simple to concoct. Just twenty four hours until bliss. One of the greatest benefits of such a sauce is that it can be used in pasta (mac n cheese especially!) and rice dishes, top broccoli or potatoes, cream up soups, and make for a unique grilled cheese sandwich. The savory possibilities are endless.  
Raw Cashew Cheeze Sauce lasts 7-10 days and can be refrigerated. After refrigeration, however, it does stiffen, so leave it at room temperature again if wanting to use.

Raw Cashew Cheeze Sauce Ingredients and Preparation

2 cup cashews, soaked overnight in 1 1/2 cup water
2 tablespoon olive oil
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 1/2 teaspoon Italian seasoning
1 teaspoon basil
1 teaspoon garlic powder

Drain just a tad bit of the cashew water.
Add all ingredients into blender/processor and puree together.
When sauce reaches a creamy thick consistency, it's ready!

Whipped and smooth like butter.

Handmade labels are always fun!

Falafel Style Cream

A mistaken recipe becomes another....

Yesterday's Vegan Mofo prompt was Barack and Michelle are coming over for dinner! In addition to excitement for serving President and First Lady a meal, I would be a nervous wreck. This was the one assignment I couldn't wait for! Although I am quite tardy, I'm cooking for the Obamas today-- imaginably of course!

As the Obamas wait for AfroVeganChick's menu....

The woman artist palette of today is renowned abstract expressionist painter Helen Frankenthaler. She is a brilliant, fascinating painter known for her vibrant, spacious color fields, that seem both experimental and considered. Large scale monuments of beauty on stretched canvas, primarily a lover of acrylic, she has profound poems nestled in between volumetric shape and whispers of line.

"Magic Carpet," acrylic on canvas, 96" x 98," 1964.

Doesn't "Magic Carpet" scream turmeric?! Or at least a dish with turmeric in it?
I originally planned to make falafel. A two bean falafel. I'm sure the Obamas would love falafel.
The Trader Joe's version- a very, very delicious must try- features both garbanzo and fava beans. The adventurous side of me figured that this was a great challenge. Due to nervous tithers-- actually no I had no flour-- the falafel turned into a thick, creamy consistency. Without that certain stiff firmness, the falafel couldn't be formed into perfect balls for intended frying. Instead, I turned my mistake into a rich, fragrant sauce, mirroring intentions. Yum! And the color......
I'm not going to stop experimenting with the two beans. I think a falafel is still possible.
For now, the Obamas will enjoy the falafel style cream. If they stayed for dessert- turmeric banana pudding is always good......

Falafel Style Cream Ingredients and Preparation

3 tablespoon olive oil
15 oz garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed
15 oz fava beans, drained and rinsed
2 teaspoon panko bread crumbs
1 1/2 teaspoon curry powder
1 1/2 teaspoon dried parsley
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
2 tablespoon water

pinch of cayenne pepper

Rinse garbanzo and fava beans together.

In a medium sized bowl, mix together the beans with olive oil, curry powder, dried parsley, garlic, lemon juice, turmeric, panko bread crumbs, salt, and black pepper. Pulse this mixture together in a blender or food processor with water.

Creamy, smooth whipped appeal.

Beautiful "magic carpet" color.

Plugging shamelessly, imagining the reactions of Barack and Michelle.....

Funny thing: the moment I warmed the cream up in olive oil, it started to form shapes as though it wanted to be falafel despite very creamy state of mind.

Close up texture. Atop of Basmati rice.

Avocado-Portobello Mushroom Pasta Sauce

Mushrooms meet avocado in a rich tasting sauce.

Happiest news arrived in the email box- the new studio on the 8th floor at school is ready to move into! Yippee!! I purposely picked only floors that had a number 7- my favorite. 867 is where I'll be for the next two years- no more shared group space separated by a single curtain! Whoo hoo!!! I have longed for privacy and now I'm getting it.
Alas another pasta dish, my friends. A recipe otherwise known as Cleaning Out the Fridge.
Life of the frugal simpleton summer continues forth with an easy sauce.
Combination of the chunky, meaty flare of baby bella mushrooms diced to perfection, nooch (becoming a heroic savior beyond mac n needs), and ripened just right avocado makes for a great substitute for white or "butter" sauce. Both creamy and textural, this one's a home run!
Well, in my opinion.

Avocado-Portobello Mushroom Pasta Sauce Ingredients and Preparation

2 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon garlic, minced
1 cup portobello mushrooms, chopped
3 tablespoon nutritional yeast
1/4 cup almond milk
1 teaspoon Liquid Aminos
1 teaspoon Italian seasonings (optional)
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 avocado, ripened (save other half for garnish)
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper

In a skillet, combine olive oil, garlic, and mushrooms.
After about 5 minutes add nutritional yeast, almond milk, Liquid Aminos, Italian seasonings, and black pepper.

Add scooped avocado.

And smash into creamy smithereens. Turn off heat.

Pour over any pasta choice. Mine is the rotini trifecta. Gotta love what spinach and tomato can do to durum wheat.

Sprinkle crushed red pepper.

Enjoy the yum.

Roasted Tofu With Blueberry-Fig Sauce And Butternut Squash

Heart shaped tofu "cutlets" dressed in a luxurious blueberry-fig sauce.

Happy belated Single Awareness Day! Oh and Valentine's to those whom celebrate it.
There's almost too much amazing things happening in  the world. Too much! First of all, I have been accepted into the Masters of Fine Arts Program here at Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. How can I not be over the moon about that? I have received a merit, alumnus, and portfolio awards, but need more. Now I've been researching other grant and scholarship opportunities, spoke with the Student Services advisor, and feel confident about fall 2014! I still cannot believe it! I'm going for the MFA!!!
I'm also really psyched about going to Brooklyn next week for Apothecary Theatre Company's Anti-Valentine's Day Party. The theme happens to be Edgar Allen Poe's Annabel Lee. I sort of wanted to go in hopes of seeing Tom Pelphrey, an actor from Guiding Light (I miss Guiding Light a lot- once my favorite soap opera and it hasn't held that honorable title in 7 years) who is a founding member and artistic director of ATC. Maybe it'll happen. Maybe it won't. Still, how can one pass up the opportunity to watch three different interpretations of Poe's haunting poem and possibly go to yummy Terri's after?
In the meantime, to celebrate yesterday's February 14th, Single Awareness Day, I made an unbelievably delicious dish thanks in part to a recipe (meant to prepare beloved cute ducks in *sniffles*, but tofu is the perfect replacement) sent by a classmate. Thanks Tim!
I never made a savory sauce with blueberries let alone figs, but the combination over top roasted tofu tasted like something out of a gourmet cookbook. The sweet tartness bring a compelling element that is simply too impossible to resist. From first bite to finish, this is an amazing dish for both singles and couples. Certainly don't need it to be February 14th to make it either.

Blueberry-Fig Sauce

1/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoon water
2 1/2 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1 1/2 cup vegetable broth
1/2 cup dried figs, diced finely
3/4 cup blueberries
salt and pepper

Roasted Tofu and Butternut Squash

5 slices tofu, about 1- 1/2 inch thick
2 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon garlic
2 teaspoons Italian seasonings
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon coriander
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 lb. butternut squash, diced (I used Trader Joe's)
green onion

Stir sugar and water over low heat until sugar dissolves. Increase heat; boil without stirring until mixture is deep amber- about 8 minutes. Stir in vinegar (mixture will bubble). Add broth. Simmer until reduced to 1 cup, about 20 minutes. Remove from heat. Stir in dried figs. Let stand 30 minutes.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Mix olive oil, garlic, Italian seasonings, coriander, red pepper flakes, salt and black pepper.
Evenly coat tofu slices in the marinade and lay on a greased baking sheet.
Mix butternut squash with a smidgeon of olive oil, green onions, salt, and black pepper.

Lay butternut squash cubes around the tofu. Roast for 30 minutes. Turning over halfway at the fifteen minute mark.

Reheat sauce and add blueberries. Allow to thicken. Should be about 20 minutes more. Be patient. I love the little figgy dots. Pretty. Add a minute pinch of salt and black pepper. Turn off heat.

Layer a bit of sauce onto tofu cutlets.

Dig in!!!

Vegan Jalapeno-Garlic Zucchini-Apple Cheese Sauce

Marvelous, fantastic one-of-a-kind sauce.

After three weeks of having a broken laptop and using only mobile internet, I am back. Yiippee!!! Sure, the library's computers are nice, but their browsers are a bit outdated. Writing Blogger posts in that format proved to be beyond difficult. And I consider myself to be adequate at these things. I have a large roster of recipes to put up. There may be days of utter cramming- like two recipes a day maybe. A few like today's are from my winter break in Ohio. I just need to share the joys of making all these new fantastic cuisines with all of you. Today, I'm even making almond meal polenta- beyond excitable!
As for this week, Philadelphia has been hit by snowstorms. In fact, it is snowing now. Minor, but enough to have two back to back snow days- have class twice a week on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. I almost stayed in all week with daily pumpkin spice hot chocolates and an impressive stack of library books (Phillis Wheatley and Sylvia Plath poetry plus J.K. Rowling's A Casual Vacancy). On Monday, however, prior to Jack Frost cancellations, I did have the fortunate opportunity to participate in Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service. Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts students were driven to Germantown Friends School (in an orange-yellow school bus- we were escorted with style!) to participate in a wide range of activities that benefited various non-profit organizations. I chose to record a book on CD, one of several for Philadelphia Reads, a program dedicated to promoting strong literacy to young ones.

T-shirts gifted to volunteers.

I recorded "If You Give A Mouse A Cookie" by Laura Joffe Numeroff, one of my favorite books from childhood. Now I know what Levar Burton must feel like. Reading Rainbow was one of the best shows ever. I was happy to participate because reading is one of my biggest loves. To not know how is grand robbery- a great injustice. Reading is a gift, a privilege. After what transpired, I feel obligated to volunteer more for Philadelphia Reads. The guest lecturer was right- service shouldn't be for one day.

Recently won a wonderful holiday gift pack from Bolthouse Farms which included Carrot Juice, Carrot-Orange Juice, Mocha Cappuccino, and Green Goodness. The Daily Greens beverage will be used to make the almond meal polenta instead of dairy free milk or water.

By now, everyone knows my obsession with Daiya's Jalapeno Garlic Havarti. So far, it is the only vegan cheese that I can eat straight out of the package. It is so rich and flavorful, making a plain slice of cold wheat bread divine. That mild garlic intensity, those little bits of jalapeno pieces, and creamy texture- yum! This amazing jalapeno-garlic zucchini apple cheese sauce came about as a creative vegan anniversary meal. Rich and enticing- taste and color wise. It seemed so simple. A glorious red apple combined with a zesty green zucchini and then pureed together. The melted Daiya sealed the deal.

Vegan Jalapeno-Garlic Zucchini-Apple Cheese Sauce Ingredients and Preparation

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 Gala apple, diced
1 zucchinni, diced
1/4 cup Daiya Jalapeno Garlic Havarti, diced
1/4 cup almond milk
1/3 cup nutritional yeast
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon salt (optional)
1/4 teaspoon black pepper

In a medium heated skillet, saute diced apple in olive oil for 5-7 minutes.

Add zucchini and stir for an additional 5 minutes.

Puree apple and zucchini together. Pour back into the skillet.

Add remainder of ingredients and stir on medium heat.

Doesn't take that long to melt into a wonderful sauce!

Serve droolworthy sauce atop desired pasta.

Eat.

Vegan Mofo Day 25: Portobello Mushroom Hazelnut Cream Sauce

Day 25.

I haven't done a pretty little butter cream sauce yet and figured the time arrived. Earth Balance's new Garlic and Herb Culinary Spread was on sale at Whole Foods for $3. Plus, I had an $1 off coupon. It brings me to celebrate another marking off my Bucket List.

I found the Aged Cheddar Puffs!!! Woo hoo! These were also on sale & yes, I had a coupon. An $1 off one.

Well, remember that So Delicious Coconut Milk Hazelnut Creamer from a previous Whole Foods trip? Did you really think I planned to use that for just hot chocolate and coffee (which I don't drink)? It's amazing how the kitchen smells after toasting hazelnuts. They have a rich flavor meant for versatility and the smell is paradise to the nostrils. Yes, I love chocolate hazelnut spread. Yum. Yum. Yum!
However, I had planned a creamy pasta dish from the get go.
The hazelnut creamer gets mixed up with mushrooms (aka perfect butter sauce veggie) and Earth Balance's culinary sauce- an out of this world fusion. I used 365's whole wheat pasta, added broccoli and cream sauce, and topped it all with the toasted hazelnuts.
I have one proper word that fits the description of what taste buds just devoured. Unbelievably good.
Okay. Two words.

Vegan Portobello Mushroom Hazelnut Cream Sauce Ingredients and Preparation

2 tablespoon water
1 1/2- 2 cup portobello mushroom, chopped
1/4 cup red onion
1/4 cup Earth Balance Roasted Garlic & Herb Culinary Spread
3 tablespoon So Delicious Hazelnut Coconut Milk Creamer
1 teaspoon miso paste
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon white pepper

In a medium heated skillet, marry mushrooms, onions, & water. Let cook for 5 minutes or so, letting mushrooms brown & shrink.

Two main ingredients of the sauce.

Stir in culinary spread, hazelnut creamer, miso, salt, & pepper. Allow sauce to thicken.

I mixed the sauce with whole wheat shells & broccoli & topped it with toasted hazelnuts. Incredible.

Another beautiful meal.