Simply Delicious Butternut Squash "Cheese" Sauce (WFPB, Vegan, Nut free)

Yesterday, I found myself in a dilemma.  I had 30 minutes to get my daughter fed and out the door to her next activity.  My kitchen was overflowing with butternut squash so I had steamed them up the day before.  However, my children are not butternut squash fans.  I've tried too many recipes over the years to count.  I, however, love them which is why I keep buying them.  Anyway, in my determination to get them to eat butternut squash, I ran across a simple cheese recipe (which I have misplaced) without cashews (we love cashews but they don't like everyone in our family).  I adapted it slightly.  It was a huge hit with all of us except one.  It tastes amazing on the mung bean/edamame fettucine we eat.  Hope you enjoy it too!

Ingredients

2 cups cooked butternut squash

2 tablespoons tahini

2 tablespoons nutritional yeast

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon smoked paprika 

1/4-1/2 teaspoon salt (optional)....I thought it was great without by my kids disagreed

Directions

Put all ingredients in a high speed blender.  Purée until smooth.  Add small amounts water to help the blending process if needed (I did not do this making it a little thick).  Throw it on your cooked pasta or baked potatoes or whatever sounds good.  Enjoy!

Rating: 4 out of 5 loved it!

Healthy Amazing Vegan Cheese (WFPB, No nuts, No oil)

We love, love, love this recipe.  Kids will eat it in a grilled cheese sandwich for their school lunches or just in slices.  I'm still perfecting getting it solid.  It sounds like I need to increase my thickening time from 5 minutes on the stove to 8-10 minutes.  In the meantime, we just leave out the agar agar powder for a nacho cheese consistency to put over black bean pasta or potatoes.  It really is delicious!

Ingredients (put them in blender in order listed)
1 cup water
1 cup oats
1 cup sweet potato, steamed
1 bell pepper, chargrilled or roasted, marinated in vinegar*
1/2 cup nutritional yeast
1 tablespoon smoked paprika (or to taste)
2 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon white pepper
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon garlic powder
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 cup water

Optional: to firm the cheese
1 1/3 cup water
2 1/2 tablespoons agar agar powder

Directions
Place 12 ingredients in order into blender.  Blend until combined, approximately 1 minute.  Heat agar agar powder and water on separate pan on stove.  Bring to boil, turn down, and whisk mixture constantly until thick as molasses, 5-10 minutes. Quickly put mixture into blender and blend until combined.  Poor into molds. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

* I buy the roasted red pepper in a jar with water at my local grocery store.  Or use my affiliate link to buy online.

Spicy Chipotle Dressing (WFPB, Vegan)

This Holy Moly Spicy Chipotle Dressing recipe is amazingly wonderful from Fat Free Vegan Kitchen.  We love it over roasted potatoes!  It makes an excellent sauce for stir fries.  It is just great to have on hand in the fridge.  The warning about adding all the ingredients except the chipotle powder is wise.  We use only 1/4 of what is posted in the recipe.  We double the recipe for our family of 5. Enjoy!

Ingredients
1/2 cup plain unsweetened plant based milk (we used soy...yes, we are able to do additive free soy milk as it wasn't the soy making my son ill but the food additives like carrageenan)
4 teaspoons ground flaxseed
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
1/4 of a medjool date, pitted
1 small garlic clove
1 teaspoon white miso (or salt to taste)
2 teaspoons tomato paste
1/8-1/4 teaspoon chipotle powder (or more)
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
water as needed

Directions
Place all ingredients in blender.  Blend on high speed until smooth.  It thickens after refrigeration.  Add water to thin as needed.

Perfect Pesto (Nut-Free)

Pesto with one of our favorite crackers.

With the garden in great production of basil, I decided to try a nut-free pesto recipe.  I thought sunflower seeds would be a good substitute.  However, I could not find sunflower seeds to toast.  Out of all the products I reviewed in the stores and on the internet I found one that was not manufactured with other problematic foods.  Of course, it was out of stock.  Then I turned to my sunflower butter as it contains roasted sunflowers already blended.  It was great!  The taste is different than with pine nuts but yummy.  Plus, I was blown away by the fact every child of mine liked it on pizza with roasted peppers (dough recipe coming soon)!  That is really unusual.

Makes 12 tablespoons

Ingredients:
2 packed cups fresh basil leaves
5 sun-dried tomatoes, softened (mine came in halves so I used 10 halves)
3 cloves garlic, crushed
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons sunflower butter
1/4 cup olive oil

Directions:
Place basil, tomatoes, garlic, salt, and sunflower seeds in a food processor or blender.  Purée while adding olive oil slowly.  Blend until desired texture. Add additional basil and purée if the sunflower seed taste is too strong.  

Nutrition Information:
1 serving (1 tablespoon): 70 calories, 3g carbs, 6g fat, 1g protein, 1g fiber, 4mg iron

Rating:
5 out of 5 like this recipe

Food Allergy/Intolerance Notes:
Sunflower Butter: SunButter brand
Cracker:  Back to Nature Multigrain Flax Seeded Flatbread

Fabulous on pizza with roasted garlic
and red peppers!
(Dough recipe coming soon.)

It is delicious on pasta!