Wednesday, January 13, 2016

Cashew Alfredo, Musings and Cats.

I made the best cashew Alfredo sauce last night, and of course I wrote nothing down! But I can say what made it so dang delicious. I roasted half of a large onion with the garlic and the onion just gets so sweet and rich, like when you caramelize them. It adds that extra something to the sauce. I also used to blend the cashews with water, and yesterday I blended them with almond milk and it made the sauce much creamier and rich and all those things you think of when you think of Alfredo sauce. To be honest I never cared for Alfredo sauce in my dark pregan days, I always thought it was kind of too rich and bland. I preferred a spicy red sauce. Yum, I already want more of this. And my apartment smelled AMAZING while the garlic and onion were roasting. I love those cozy rainy days when you have stuff cooking and your place smells so inviting! I may not have written everything down, but I can tell you I blended 3/4 cup of raw cashew pieces I had soaked for around four to five hours, six roasted garlic cloves and half of a large roasted onion. I added salt and pepper and nutritional yeast. I also added a little Italian seasoning. I usually add some miso and a little lemon juice but I forgot. Honestly the onion added such a richness, maybe even umami that I didn't miss the miso. Anyway, I feel that roasted onion is roasted garlic's best friend.
I have served cashew Alfredo to several non vegans and it has always gotten huge thumbs up. It has that rich fattiness that some non vegans think they will miss out on.
As I've mentioned I was on a comedy bender last week and needed all the laughs. I tried out a show that I had never heard of called About a Boy. After a quick Google search I learned that yes, this is based on the book of the same name by Nick Hornby. I loved the book, never saw the movie, and decided to give the show a chance. It is not even half as good as the book, and it definitely didn't grab me. But one thing really irritated me. The mother of the boy  is a vegan. So of course she is flighty, and super anal about their diet. Shows need to do their research because she has a list of forbidden foods, and gluten is on the list. This is mentioned several times. So, flash to another scene, and the're having a family meal of seitan ribs, which of course is also the typical jokes, and it's just pure laziness. Going for the same vegan jokes that have been floating around for forever. And they don't even fact check to see what seitan is. Obviously seitan would be on the no list for someone avoiding gluten. I have a sense of humor and can laugh at vegan jokes, but come on! I just would love to see Hollywood produce something where a vegan character eats food freely, with the only restriction being animal products. And not all vegans are super neurotic about every little thing. Le sigh. I watched two episodes and decided rereading the book made more sense.
Wish me luck today, I'm braving the rain and doing a proper grocery shop, which means spending more than five minutes in the store.
I meditated today for the first time in over a week, and as always I was reminded of how grateful I am to be back in Seattle, and I am so grateful for these dorks in my life.

6 comments:

  1. Cashew Alfredo - right up my alley! Welllll...our winter finally hit...sigh...I have some catching up to do on your blog! LOVE the cat pics!

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    1. Ugggh, I'm sorry winter finally reared it's ugly head. Every time I get too irritated over the rain here, I remember last winter and get over it real quick!

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  2. Your Alfredo sauce sounds amazing, and what an adorable kitty cuddle pile! :)

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    1. Thank you so much! I will be making this again, and I will for sure write down what I use cause it's so good! I am so grateful for my little fur family. They have really helped me through my grief.

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  3. I hate when movies and shows don't do their research for things. It isn't just vegan things, but I guess mostly "healthy" things. I think I mentioned awhile ago the show Gavin and Stacy (which is still really funny IMO) the characters drink spirulina and it is the same green as your blog. THAT IS NOT THE COLOR! I think that dark blue-green color is more disturbing than lime green, but that's just me. Oh and the show Eureka (another good show, kind-of sci-fi-y) the one character is suppose to be a muscle building-badass and she always orders a wheatgrass protein shake, and I cringe. Why?! Take the wheatgrass by itself then drink the protein shake! Ugh!

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    1. I am going to look up Gavin and Stacey, I need another funny show to watch. Spirulina is definitely not the color of this blog! The deep blue green freaked me the eff out the first time I saw it. It really changed the way my smoothie looked that day! Ha Ha.
      I think it's just laziness on the writers, or researchers or whatever. There are so many outdated jokes about vegans, and also people who eat healthy, so they sometimes just take the super easy way out. It's so frustrating!

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