Vegan Cheesy Alfredo Sauce

This recipe was inspired by the Vegan Fettuccine Alfredo recipe I found on Vegan Yumminess. I don’t know the last time I had Alfredo sauce, and now I can’t get enough of this. No really, I had to stop keeping the ingredients in my house because I started eating it for every meal and when I ran out of pasta I just started eating it with rice. Perhaps I’m just starved for things that taste cheesy. Or maybe it’s just that good…

I do know that even my non-vegan Alfredo loving girlfriend is hooked on this recipe, so I’m pretty sure you are going to love it too.

 

Ingredients:

1/2 cup raw cashews

1 head garlic

1 can coconut milk (14 oz)

1/2 cup water

2 tbsp nutritional yeast

1 tbsp lime juice (or lemon)

1 tbsp olive oil

1.5 tsp salt

1 tsp oregano

1 tbsp fresh basil

4 tbsp all purpose gf flour

 

 

Mince the cashews and garlic in a blender of food processor. Add the remaining ingredients and blend until smooth. Pour sauce into a frying pan on low heat and stir constantly while sauce thickens. Add salt and pepper to taste. When the sauce is thick and no longer tastes raw (from the flour), serve over gluten free pasta. If this sauce starts to get cold it will harden up and become like a jello texture. Don’t worry, just reheat and re-experience the cheesy goodness of vegan Alfredo sauce.

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Nut Ricotta

This nut ricotta, inspired by the Eggplant Manicotti recipe from Living Cuisine is great for enchiladas, lasagnas, or as a base on pizzas with some pizza sauce.

Ingredients:

3/4 cup unsalted macadamia nuts, preferably whole

1 cup raw unsalted cashews

1/3 cup pine nuts

Juice of 1.5 lemons

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/4 cup nutritional yeast

1 tsp salt, or to taste

1 tsp nutmeg (optional)

water, to texture

Soak the cashew and macadamia nuts for half an hour.  Put everything in the food processor and blend until smooth.  The cheese will get lighter in color as it becomes completely blended.  Add water until you reach desired texture.

Cooking this weekend with my best friend Anne from The Hungry Griffin we used the ricotta cheese to make lentil enchiladas.

Cream Cheese

Home on vacation again! I whipped up some cream cheese to eat on my Food for Life gluten free english muffins.  I used a recipe I found at Adventures of a Gluten Free Mom. I added a cup of chives from the garden for some extra flavor.

It was really tasty, however since I don’t have a vitamix I couldn’t get the right texture.  Although it worked great for what I wanted, I have to admit it didn’t taste exactly like cream cheese.  It is a wonderful creamy spread that I recommend for eating with bread/english muffins/bagels, but I wouldn’t try to make a dessert with it.  Next, I’m going to try this recipe.

Sour Cream Substitute

Ingredients:

cashew butter

water

lemon juice, preferably fresh squezzed

Combine until you get a thick sauce.  If it tastes too much like any one ingredient, add more of the other ingredients until it tastes kind of like sour cream, or just like a really tasty sauce.  Serve on everything!

Garlic Flatbread/Pizza Crust

Craving some bread I decided to use this Pizza Crust recipe to make flat bread.  This came out much better than expected, and even past the little sister test!  This pizza crust is of course excellent for pizza, and much quicker than the other one I have listed on this blog.  I can’t get over how good this crust is, not only quick and easy, but perfect taste!

If you are using this as a flat bread, place lots of minced garlic in olive oil and blend.  Instead of pizza toppings, lather pizza crust with olive oil garlic blend.  Optionally sprinkle with minced cilantro.  Cook until done, about 10min at 350 degrees F.

This also makes a great naan substitute, and I used it to eat my squash daahl.

Alison’s Gluten-Free Baking Mix

Try this baking mix from Delicious Living.

Mushroom Gravy

I love this simple gravy recipe, and it has totally addicted me to gravy (something I could easily go without with normally). I recently got permission from Colleen Patrick-Goudreau from Compassionate Cooks to publish her recipe here. This comes from her Thanksgiving for the Birds IV recipe pack.

Ingredients:

2 teaspoons olive or sesame oil
1 yellow onion, chopped
1 pound thinly sliced Cremini/brown/baby Portabella mushrooms (about 20 muhsrooms)
2 cups water or vegetable broth
3 tablespoons flour or other thickener (use all-purpose gf flour)
2-3 tablespoons celtic sea salt, or soy sauce substitute
1⁄2 teaspoon dried thyme
1⁄4 teaspoon black pepper

Heat oil in a large skillet and sauté the onion and mushrooms over high heat, stirring frequently, until
they are browned, about 5 minutes.

In the meantime, in a separate bowl, whisk the flour into the water/broth along with the tamari, black pepper, and thyme. Add to the onion mixture and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until thickened.

For smooth gravy, puree it in a blender or food processor. You may want to play a little with the flavor and add more salt or pepper to taste. Reheat the mixture if necessary on low heat in a saucepan.

Soy Sauce (kinda)

If you love soy sauce, I highly recommend Coconut Aminos. It really tastes like what I remember soy sauce tasting like. However, if you don’t have that around you can use this recipe in a pinch, just use some veggie bullion instead of beef;)

Egg Substitutes

Here are a few egg substitutes that I have collected from friends and the internet. You can also use egg replacer, however many of these are full of strange chemicals so I like to avoid them. Besides, what can be better than a little extra flax in your recipes (hooray for omega 3s!).

1 tablespoon ground flaxseeds
3 tablespoons of liquid eg. water, rice milk, soy milk etc.

Whip flaxseeds with liquid until you get an egg-like consistency. If you use warm water it will become thicker and egg-like faster. This is a great universal egg substitute.

applesauce

great substitute in muffins, some sweet breads, and some cakes.

mashed bananas

good substitute with an overwhelming banana flavor.