Destiny’s Child on FULL blast!

Watch ALL the new Once Upon A Time episodes Netflix just released! Marathon it! (ALSO NEW THE WALKING DEAD!!!)

Practice the Single Ladies dance routine along side Beyonce on YouTube….pretend that I AM Beyonce.

Eat as MANY olives as I can!

Mark does not like olives which is a real problem for me because I LOVE olives. I am a huge fan of the briny, leathery fruits. Sometimes when Mark is working late I will prepare a little plate of olives, sauteed mushrooms, roasted red peppers, capers, balsamic vinegar, fresh cherry tomatoes and mustard to serve on crusty bread slices for dinner with a glass a red wine and feeling oh-so French! Unfortunately for me, cooking with olives is a no-go since I dread the idea of someone picking out an ingredient out of a dish. Maybe I am just too un-picky? I knew I needed to make a dish with some of my favourite ingredients that Mark is not a fan of while he is off being a rockstar. 

These potato rounds are banging good! Salty salsa, spiced potatoes and cool cashew tzatziki sauce come together to create this recipe. It is a bit fussy since you have to make a salsa, a sauce and the potatoes but if you follow my game plan, it will seem effortless. First, preheat the oven, salt the cucumbers, make the sauce and refrigerate. Secondly, chop and toss the potatoes in the spice oil and roast. While the potatoes are roasting make the salsa and prep the parsley garnish. When you break it down, it doesn’t seem so daunting.

Since olives are the star of this dish I encourage you to buy the best olives you can afford: from an olive bar, cheese shop or high-end grocery store. Jarred olives are far too salty and lack the richness and depth of a good quality olive. I tried this recipe with nicoise olives but this olive is more expensive than the recipe recommended Katamala and impossible to find pitted (believe me when I say they are a b*tch to pit these tiny French olives).

The best part of being in a relationship is that you like when your person is there and when they are not there. A little time alone is needed sometimes: just me, some olives and my cat Barb. And Beyonce on full blast.

What dish do you make when your partner is away? Anything you love and they hate?

The post Roasted Greek Potato Rounds with Olive-Tomato Salsa and Cashew Tzatziki Sauce appeared first on Sprouts & Chocolate.

Mark and I have not ordered takeout or eaten at a restaurant since VeganMoFo started. You are probably thinking two weeks isn’t exactly a long time but both he and I work in a restaurant and go to school full time. It is all too easy to grab a coffee here, a sad sandwich there and call it a meal. We use to do this almost every day. Crazy right? So thank you VeganMoFo for challenging me to make me realize preparing meals for myself and Mark everyday isn’t as hard as I previously thought. It helps to have a day (or evening) to prepare or plan for your week’s meals and I would definitely include this recipe in your next prep day. Sundays are dedicated to staples I make on a weekly basis and this one is my absolute most favourites: cashew cream.

Cashews are like vegan magic! A soak overnight (or during you work day) and the normally crunchy nut (it is actually a seed!) transforms into silky smooth creamy heaven when blended. Truth is, I never really like cashews before becoming a vegan. They usually only had their place in my diet when they were coated in oil and salt in a blue mixed-nuts canister. That’s the thing when people go vegan, it almost forces someone to try new things. I never had a soaked nut before and now I love them.

Why soaking? Soaking nuts “activates” the nut and makes their minerals and proteins easier to absorb in your body. You have probably read that soaking the nuts “sprouts” them and it does but you won’t see any green sprouts popping out of your cashews. I like to eat soaked almonds too, they go from crunchy to “soft crunchy” (you know what I mean) and have a pleasant almost sweet taste to them. Learn more about soaking your nuts and grains here.

But aren’t cashew high in fat? Yes all nuts are high in fat. Cashews actually have a lower fat content than most other nuts, 82% of a cashew’s fat is unsaturated fatty acids, which contains a high percentage of monounsaturated fats. It it is all about what you are getting from those calories. Along with heart-healthy monounsaturated fat you are getting minerals like copper, phosphorus, manganese, magnesium and zinc.

Try not to stress about the calories but ask yourself what am I getting from these calories that will benefit my body? I use to be a huge calorie counter, measuring out everything I ate, even weighing a one-ounce portion of cheese on my little kitchen scale only to binge eat later than night. When I switched my thinking and my diet, it did not have to be as difficult as I made it out to be. Sure I indulge in chocolate and desserts but it is not everyday anymore and I don’t feel ashamed of my body when I eat these things. I feel that is progress and I am happier for it.

What can you use this cashew cream for? Almost everything! I like it made sweet or savory:

 As a soup topper:

Sweet Pea Soup with Minty Cashew Cream

Creamy Roasted Red Pepper Soup with Lemon Cashew Cream

 To make cheesy goodness (this is a carnivore fav!):

Ultimate Vegan Nacho Cheese

Ultimate Vegan Cheesy Kale Chips 

As a lightly sweetened or savoury breakfast sauce:

Peaches & Cream Pancakes {Gluten Free + Oil Free} with Amaretto Cream (swoon!)

Portobello Florentine with Lemony-Hollandaise Sauce

 As a base sauce:

Cherry Tomato, Arugula and Herb Pissaladière with Roasted Garlic Cream Sauce

 As a substitute for your favourite creamy salad dressing (I LOVE creamy dressing!):

Vegan Purple Kale Caesar Salad 

Buffalo Chickpea Salad with Garlicky Ranch Dressing 

French Inspired Creamy Lentil Potato Salad

Whatever you like really! Play around with this recipe, modifying the add-ins to suit your dish. I used lime-juice, cilantro and jalapeno to make a green sauce for tacos and it was sooo good. Way better than the old sour cream blob I use to use.

Pinched for time? Forgot to soak your nuts overnight? The quick soak method is easy but it won’t be considered a “raw” recipe and doesn’t have the same sprouting goodness. In a small pot with a tight fitting lid, add enough water to cover the cashews. Bring the water to a boil, add the cashews, cover with the lid and take the pot off the heat. Let the cashews soak in the hot water for 1 hour. Drain and use in the recipe.

The cashew cream will thicken in the refrigerator so just add some water and stir until your desired consistency. It will keep refrigerated in an airtight container for about 4 days.

Happy VeganMoFo! Also Hello Early Fall!! I got the boots and scarves out of the closet. Sighh…I am in such denial.

 9 recipes down, 11 more to go….

The post Sunday Staple: Basic Cashew Cream {10 Ways} appeared first on Sprouts & Chocolate.

Five new posts a week? While working full time? And in school? Have I gone mad? Not yet but it is safe to say after this month I just might but before the crazies set in, I am really pumped about the challenge! If this is your first time to my site, welcome! I’m glad VeganMoFo has brought you here and I can’t wait to see everyone else’s sites and contributions to this month-long experience.

 So now for the first recipe and it is a good one….

I am excited that is one is my first because it is a household favourite and a carnivore pleaser: the crisp corn meal dusted crust, the rich garlicky cream sauce and topped with cherry tomatoes, arugula and fresh herbs, what is not to love about it? The fact that the dough is made in the food processor and doesn’t take all day to rise is just an added bonus. You do however need a thermometer to take the temperature of the water: too hot will kill the yeast, too cold the yeast won’t activate. Yeast is a finicky thing, like the Goldilocks of ingredients it needs to be just right.

 There are a few steps to this recipe to make the dough and the sauce but here is an action plan I have formulated over the many times I have made this dish:

Step 1: Put a small pot (with a tight fitting lid) of water on to boil

Step 2: Make the dough and cover with lightly oiled plastic wrap

Step 3: When the water is boiling, add the cashews, take off the heat and cover with the lid. This is the quick soak method to make the cashews soft and blendable.

Step 4: Pan roast the garlic and prep the thyme

Step 5: Set oven rack on lowest slot and preheat oven

Step 6: Prep the dough for the pan and let it rest

Step 7: Make the sauce while the dough is resting

Step 8: Bake the dough and chop the basil and tomatoes

Step 9: Take dough out of the oven and top

Step 10: Cut into eight pieces and serve!

When you break down a recipe into a game plan, it makes it a lot less daunting and I like lists, it is satisfying to check off each step as you go. I did my recipe/instructions layout a little differently (photos in the steps) and listed off ingredients based on their step, so be sure to read it all through to ensure you aren’t missed anything.

I personally like this dish topped with my chosen ingredients but you can top it with anything you like: caramelized onions, capers, olives, spinach etc. but don’t skip the cream sauce. It is so delicious and easy to make. Mark and I scrapped every last bit of this sauce from the bowl of the processor with the crusts of the dough. Change the toppings all you like but keep the sauce!

 I hope this recipe shows you how easy dough can be made at home with a little patience and planning. Happy VeganMoFo!

Action Plan

Step 1: Boil water (enough to cover the cashews) in a small pot with a tight fitting lid

Step 2: Make the dough, adapted from America’s Test Kitchen: Cook’s Illustrated Pissaladière 

 Dough Ingredients:

• 1 cup whole wheat bread flour
• 1 cup white bread flour
• 1 teaspoon instant or rapid rise yeast
• ¾ teaspoon fine grain sea salt
• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil + more to oil the bowl and fingers
• 1 cup of water, warmed to 110 degrees Fahrenheit
•  2 tablespoons corn meal (for step 6, set aside until this step)

Pulse the dry ingredients 5 times in the bowl of the food processor fitted with the S-blade. With the food processor running, slowly add the oil, then the water; process until a ball forms, about 20 seconds.

Take the dough out to a lightly floured counter and smooth into a ball. Lightly oil a large bowl and place the dough into the bowl.

Cover the bowl tightly with lightly oiled plastic wrap and let rise at room temperature for 1 hour (it will double size).

Clean out the bowl of the food processor since you will be using it for the sauce.

 Step 3: Quick soak the cashews

• 1 cup raw cashews

 Add cashews to the boiling water, take off heat, cover with a tight fitting lid and set aside for at least 1 hour while the dough rises.

 Step 4: Pan roasted the garlic and prep the thyme

•  2 large garlic cloves
• 1 teaspoon finely chopped fresh thyme

Peel the cloves leaving on a single layer of the papery skin. Heat a small skillet over medium heat and add the whole cloves onto the dry pan. Flip when the garlic paper has become brown and spotty. Remove garlic from the pan when the garlic skin is brown on both sides and the clove feels soft. When cool enough to handle peel the skin off the garlic and chop.

While the garlic is cooling prep the thyme and chop finely.

Step 5: Set an oven rack to the lowest slot setting and preheat the oven to 500 degrees.

My oven takes a little time to get to the high of a temperature and you want it to be HOT in there so your dough crisps up on the bottom.

Step 6: Prep the dough for the pan and let it rest

Transfer the now expanded dough from the oiled bowl to a lightly floured counter top. With floured hands, form the dough into a large ball. Cover with lightly oiled plastic wrap and let rest for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, take out a large heavy-duty broiler pan and cut a slice of parchment paper large enough to slightly hang over the pan. Sprinkle the sheet with the cornmeal.

After the dough has rest, oil your fingers and palms. Hold the dough up and gently stretch it out to but making sure the dough doesn’t tear (if it does, just pinch it back together once it is on the pan). Transfer stretched dough to the cornmeal-dusted pan and knead the dough all around the pan so it is uniform thickness. I always think about my cat when she wants to find a comfy spot, just kneading and dimpling the dough with your fingertips and palms. Once the dough is roughly the same thickness all around, poke the dough all around with a fork so it doesn’t puff up. Let the dough rest for 5 minutes in the pan.

 Step 7: Make the sauce while the dough is resting

 Roasted Garlic Cream Sauce

•  1 cup raw cashews, quick soaked (check!)
• 2 large garlic cloves, pan roasted and chopped (check!)
• ½ teaspoon finely chopped fresh thyme (check!)
• 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
• ½ teaspoon fine grain sea salt
• ¼ cup water

Drain the cashews and add all ingredients to the now-clean bowl of the food processor. Blend for 5 minutes, scraping down the mix as needed. A high-powered blender could also get this job done but the sauce is really thick and very difficult to remove for the blender. The food processor takes a little bit longer but it is worth the wait to make sure you get all the sauce out.

 Step 8: Bake the dough and chop the basil and tomatoes

• pint of cherry tomatoes
• 1 cup lightly packed basil

 In the now very hot oven, place pan on the bottom rack and bake for 13-15 minutes. While the dough is baking, chop the basil and tomatoes.

 Step 9: Take the dough out of the oven and top

Transfer the flatbread to a cutting board and remove parchment. This is the fun part: putting on your toppings.

Step 10: Cut into eight pieces and serve!

I cut the flatbread across and then down the middle. Time to eat! Everyone’s favourite step. 

The post Cherry Tomato, Arugula and Herb Pissaladière with Roasted Garlic Cream Sauce appeared first on Sprouts & Chocolate.