Beddar Than Cheddar

Almonds, radishes, and carrots make this a good cheese competitor, believe it or not! The almonds add richness, the radishes give a bit of sharpness, and the carrots give a good color. I made this instead of the usual vegan nacho cheeze sauce, which involves a mixture of Follow Your Heart cheddar, silken tofu, and Vegennaise- which is HELLA good, but not very light and still uses processed foods.

Here is my alternative. It's not the same, but a very tasty substitute. I know this because my non-vegan cheese loving friends loved it.

I also thinned out the sauce with a little more vegetable broth, added cooked broccoli, and made a mighty tasty Broccoli Cheeze Soup. Let me know what you think!

You'll need a food processor or high powered blender for this recipe.

Ingredients:

1 C. raw almonds (blanched and peeled)
1 C. radishes (cut into chunks)
1 C. potato (peeled and cut into chunks)
1 C. carrots (cut into chunks)
1/2 to 1 C. yellow onion (cut into chunks)
1 C. broth (reserved from cooking the vegetables)
1 tsp. lemon juice
1 T. garlic powder
salt to taste
1 T. extra virgin olive oil (optional)

Spinz:

Blanch and peel the almonds and put into a food processor with salt, garlic powder, and lemon juice. Pulverize until you get a very fine meal. Boil the radishes, potato, carrots, and onion in enough water to cover until tender. Strain the vegetables, reserving 1 cup of the broth. If making soup, reserve all the broth. Add the vegetables and 1 cup broth to the nut mixture and blend until silky smooth. Stream in the olive oil if adding.

If making soup, add more broth in small amounts until you get the desired consistency. Add cooked broccoli or other veggies as desired.

Mike (the Hubby) & Butterscotch

And who should stop by today, but our good friend, Butterscotch (female beatboxer, singer, and musician from "America's Got Talent," amongst other great things). I caught her with a mouth full of nachos- LOL! If you've never seen her before, here's one of my favorite performances- check her out, she brings tears to my eyes.

Sweet Corn Chowder on a Rainy Day

It's been wet and cold outside for more than one day for a change. The constant chattering of raindrops bravely competing with the low hum of my desktop pc, along with the grayness and muted light pushing through the windows, I am lulled almost to hibernation...almost. At least there's enough spark in me to make a good hearty bowl of piping hot soup to curl up with. Is there anything more comforting? ... Well, maybe a warm blanket and a big furry dog to sleep on my feet.

Ingredients:

3 C. potato, peeled and cut into large chunks
2 C. water
2 C. plain soy milk
1 large onion. chopped
3 cloves of garlic, minced
2 T. extra virgin olive oil
1/3 C. + 2 T. nutritional yeast flakes
3-4 C. frozen corn
1 C. red pepper, chopped
salt & pepper to taste

Spinz:

Boil the potatoes in the water in a covered pot until tender. Remove the potato from the water and set aside. While potatoes are boiling, saute onions and garlic in the olive oil until golden and tender.
To the pot of potato water, add the onions, soymilk, corn, red pepper, nutritional yeast flakes, and let simmer for about 5 minutes. Add potatoes. Puree in a blender to desired consistency (I like mine chunkier). Salt and pepper to taste.