I have a little confession….I’m kind of into sauces. Well, to be completely honest, I’m really into sauces. They are such a great way to add a little extra flavor to any dish. I’ve always been a condiment fan and back in the day I used to smother my eggs and pretty much anything else with ketchup. I moved away from ketchup several years ago after realizing how much sugar is in it but I still love sauces – everything from guacamole to hummus, hot sauce, salsa, pesto and more! The unfortunate part of many store bought sauces is that they often contain lots of preservatives or other unrecognizable ingredients. Fortunately it’s very easy to whip up a healthy and delicious sauce with a few ingredients and a blender or food processor. And also it’s easy to adjust most sauces to fit your specific dietary or flavor preferences. For example, I’ve found medjool dates to be the perfect substitute for sweeteners in sauces. You just need to blend the sauce a little more thoroughly.
And speaking of sauces….I have several sauce recipes I’d like to share with you.
I made this delicious Low-Fat Nut-Free Creamy Garlic Parsley Sauce to go with pasta and veggies. We loved the creamy, flavorful texture and I was surprised how much it tasted like a dairy based sauce. It would be delicious as a soup with the addition of veggies and a little broth or stock to thin it out. I will definitely be pulling this one out at Thanksgiving as it had a thick gravy like texture and would be great as a gravy or sauce for meat or roasted vegetables. I highly recommend trying this and experimenting with different kinds of potatoes. I love sweet potatoes so I’m going to try it with sweet potatoes next time. I made a few modifications to the recipe and used toasted almond coconut milk, veggie broth, a mixture of baking and red potatoes, and dried parsley instead of fresh.
I made this Yummy Sauce by Chef AJ earlier in the week. Chef AJ is a chef (surprise, surprise), author of Unprocessed, and has an amazing life story including how she has turned her life around by transitioning to a whole food, plant based diet. If you’re not familiar with Chef AJ or her story, check out Rich Roll’s podcast with her. You can also find his podcasts on the Sound Cloud app. Chef AJ is an inspiration and has so much energy you can feel it through the podcast. And onto the sauce…I love it! The flavor is unique and reminds me a bit of honey mustard with the sweetness from the dates combined with the savory mustard. I’ve used it as a dipping sauce for veggies and on romaine lettuce tacos and I imagine it’d be good with veggie burgers, crackers or pretzels if you eat that sort of thing.
I’ve made this Creamy Coconut Peanut Sauce (just the sauce part of the recipe) a few times now and really enjoy it drizzled over salad, veggies, zucchini noodles, and rice. It has nice flavor that you can spice up using a little extra hot sauce or diced jalapenos. I used about 1/4 cup coconut milk, coconut aminos in place of soy sauce, a mixture of lemon juice and rice vinegar, and homemade sriracha sauce. Mine turned out a little thick both times so I added a little water and veggie broth to thin it out.
This Buddha Bowl Sauce is great and the only change I made was to use some veggie broth in place of some of the oil. I also really like these two sauces from the “bowl” category – the sauce from this Roasted Buddha Bowl and the sauce from this Quinoa Cauliflower Bowl with Almond Sriracha Sauce (I use unsweetened hot sauce and leave out the syrup).
We enjoy eating Mexican and if you’ve never looked at the ingredients on most store bought enchilada sauces, you should. There’s a lot of junk in there! I’ve tried several enchilada sauce recipes and these are two of my latest favorites – Homemade Enchilada Sauce (I use veggie broth in place of some of the oil and leave out the brown sugar) and the sauce from this TexMex Creamy Roasted Red Pepper Pasta (I saute onions and garlic and blend it with the immersion blender. It is delicious for tacos or enchiladas).
We are Greek food fans in this house and have always loved tzatziki but now that I’m not eating any dairy I’m on the lookout for a good dairy-free alternative. I’ve pinned a few to try but haven’t gotten around to it yet.
And I’m always up for a yummy peanut/nut butter sauce. I’ve tried so many peanut sauce recipes and usually like them all so I don’t have any one specific recipe to recommend. I normally alter the recipe to take out the sugar / sweetener (and have replaced it with medjool dates several times) and often change up the nut butter I use.
That’s all on the topic of sauces. Here are a few pics and highlights of other things going on around here lately.
Scott and the kids were gone last weekend so I spent a pretty quiet weekend at home. I had an outing with friends scheduled for Saturday night but the snow hampered those plans. I spent most of the weekend doing things around the house, cooking, doing yoga and listening to podcasts. My friend recently recommended a podcast by Rich Roll. After listening to that and another one of his, I was hooked! As I mentioned above, I listen to them using the Sound Cloud app on the iPad and iPhone but you can also find them on his web site. Many of them are on the topic of plant based nutrition but there are lots of others with individuals who just have amazing stories to share and I was fascinated by every one! I was thinking earlier this morning how much technology has changed the way we communicate and podcasts are a great example. Before You Tube or podcasts someone would have to go on a speaking tour or write a book to share their story. Now it’s so easy to record and share anything. I’ve also listened to a handful from Howard Jacobson on his Wholevana Podcast and a few other random ones by Christian pastors. I’m thinking this might be a new addiction 🙂
When I took the kids up to Wooster on Friday we stopped to see our brand new beautiful niece Vienna. She’s a doll and seems to be a very good baby so far. The kids had a great time visiting with their cousins too. The pic below is of C, her cousin Mav and baby Vienna.
On the way home I stopped at Earth Fare to look around and pick up some Nori sheets. I’d been wanting to try them for making wraps and happened to find a package on clearance. I’ve tried a few random creations and have been pinning lots of interesting recipes to try! They are easy to use and definitely taste like seaweed (of course they do!) but I kind of like them. I’m pretty sure I will be the only one eating these in our house unless I make sushi rolls with lots of rice on the outside.
Scott got home late Sunday night and then we drove to Walnut Creek to visit my Grandpa and meet my mom to get the kids. I love going to visit him as he is such a neat man and the kids adore him. My grandma passed away just over a year ago so he’s on his own now. I took cabbage rolls, veggies, and rice up for him and for my brother and his family who just had Vienna. He was thrilled with that! We visited with him at his condo and then went to lunch at the Amish restaurant up the street. The second pic below is of Great Papa, the kids and their giant ice cream sundaes. They thoroughly enjoyed those. I was surprised that I wasn’t at all tempted to have any. I was much more interested in having my blended frozen banana and dates when I got home. The last pic is of C hand in hand with Great Papa. She kept going over to him to grab his hand. It was adorable to see her look up at him with her big brown eyes. It was a great visit and was so nice to see him and have the kids back.
The next day C and I went on a double date with our friends to Portia’s Cafe. It was great to go out to lunch and have some girl time. I realized that was the first time C and I have gone out to a girls lunch. It’s a vegan restaurant so we ordered the girls vegan cheese quesadillas. C was not overly pleased with her food so she chowed down on my spicy Pad Thai made with raw kelp noodles. She ate almost half of my meal and loved every bite. We got them chocolate mousse to share. It was made with avocado, cocoa, maple syrup and vanilla. At first they turned their noses up at it but then ended up devouring it. It was very rich but had great flavor and texture.
Lastly, I’m loving this song right now. I heard it on the radio and then we sang it at church last week. The lyrics and so powerful and it just seems to be speaking to me at this time in my life. You can find it on Spotify or You Tube.
Oceans (Where Feet May Fail)
by Hillsong United
You call me out upon the waters
The great unknown where feet may fail
And there I find You in the mystery
In oceans deep
My faith will stand
And I will call upon Your name
And keep my eyes above the waves
When oceans rise
My soul will rest in Your embrace
For I am Yours and You are mine
Your grace abounds in deepest waters
Your sovereign hand
Will be my guide
Where feet may fail and fear surrounds me
You’ve never failed and You won’t start now
So I will call upon Your name
And keep my eyes above the waves
When oceans rise
My soul will rest in Your embrace
For I am Yours and You are mine
Spirit lead me where my trust is without borders
Let me walk upon the waters
Wherever You would call me
Take me deeper than my feet could ever wander
And my faith will be made stronger
In the presence of my Savior
Oh, Jesus, you’re my God!
I will call upon Your name
Keep my eyes above the waves
My soul will rest in Your embrace
I am Yours and You are mine
Have a great weekend!
I prepped and mixed most of the ingredients the night before and then finished them on Saturday. While I was shaping and baking them, I listened to some of Rich Roll’s podcast #131 From Crash Victim To Elite Athlete: A NYC Firefighter’s Long Run to Wholeness with Matt Long (you can see my iPad propped up in the background of the pic). It’s an amazing story of Matt’s perseverance through tremendous adversity and coming out the other side a changed person. Through sharing his story, Matt has made a powerful impact on the lives of many others. E was out in the kitchen for some of the podcast (fortunately his missed the gruesome details of Matt’s accident and also a few sprinkles of foul language) and was full of questions about what he was hearing. The podcast ended up being a springboard for probably the deepest conversation E (7.5 years old) and I have had about living through trials, the choice we all have about what lens to look at life through (great reminder for me!), and eternity. It often amazes me how conversations like that start. I realized that most of the deeper conversations E and I have are when he is milling / pacing around the house and I am cooking. Conversations just seem to flow more naturally when we aren’t sitting face to face staring at each other. That’s not necessarily a good or bad thing…it’s just the way it is.
enspire balance 