Butternut Squash and Black Bean Tostadas with Avocado "Cream" Sauce

One of my favorite things about the dairy-free experiment is that I finally get to try some interesting recipes/techniques I never bothered with before. Case in point - cashew sour cream. Why would I bother making my own nut-based sour cream when I could just pick up a container of Daisy? I'd had my eye on the recipe for a while, so I decided to look for a dish that called for sour cream so I'd have a chance. 

The sour cream is DELICIOUS (Luke and I were instantly hooked) though we agreed it wasn't super like sour cream. It has the lactic sour tang, but the texture isn't there. It almost reminded me more of hummus in texture. Either way, it's delicious, and I recommend you try it! 

Butternut Squash and Black Bean Tostadas with Avocado "Cream" Sauce 
Adapted from Two Peas and Their Pod's recipe

1 cup raw cashews
2 teaspoons cider vinegar
2 teaspoons lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 medium butternut squash (you'll want 4 cups cubed squash)
2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
1 teaspoon cumin
Salt and pepper to taste 
1/2 red onion, sliced 
1/3 cup pepitas (pumpkin seeds)
1 avocado
1 garlic clove, chopped
1/2 jalapeno (or whole if you like things hot!)
1/2 cup cilantro, plus more for garnish
 Juice of 1 lime
2 15-oz cans black beans
4 ounces mixed greens
8 tostada shells

Start by making the cashew sour cream. Place cashews in a bowl and cover with an inch of boiling water. Let stand 30 minutes. Drain cashews, reserving water, and place in a blender. Add in 1/4 cup water along with vinegar, lemon and salt and pulse until smooth. Add additional water as needed. Set aside.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Toss butternut squash with olive oil, cumin and salt and pepper. Roast 30 minutes, adding red onion half way through and tossing to combine.

Meanwhile, in a small-medium sauce pan, toast pepitas. Set aside. In the same pan, add black beans and warm up.

To make Avocado "Cream" sauce, add 1/2 cup cashew sour cream to a food processor with avocado, garlic, jalapeno, cilantro, lime and remaining tablespoon olive oil. Pulse until smooth.

To assemble, spread a thin layer of avocado cream sauce on a tostada shell. Top with greens and then squash and black beans. Finally, top with pepitas and cilantro and additional salt and pepper as needed. Enjoy!

Apologies for the worst photo ever. Trust me, doesn't do it justice! Courtesy of my iPhone at my desk at work...

Colorful Breakfast Hash with Sriracha

How are your New Year resolutions going? Being dairy free has been surprisingly easy for Luke and I, especially since I've allowed myself to cheat a few times here and there (a latte with milk when no other option was available, tasting a bite or 4 of wedding cake samples with a friend, yogurt in a mango lassi - all things in moderation, right?!) I'm looking forward to reintroducing it into my diet next month, with moderation, and am glad that this experiment is teaching me that I don't need dairy - cheese especially! - to be happy.

In other news, I still have a few miscellaneous boxes of items that never got unpacked from the move (9 months ago!), but I dug out this chalk board and took time to write out this week's menu on it. I typically just cut out the tiny corner of my shopping list where I write the week's menu and stick it on the fridge, so this is a big step up. Never mind my childish handwriting :)

So, onto a tasty breakfast! I know I've already posted a breakfast hash, but this one was just so colorful and fun, I had to share another. We loved not only the color, but the heat a little sriracha contributed. 

Colorful Breakfast Hash with Sriracha

1 pound fingerling potatoes - different colors if you can get them
2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
Salt and pepper to taste
1/2 cup red onion, chopped
1 bell pepper, chopped (or 1/2 red bell and 1/2 yellow like I already had on hand, for more color)
1 teaspoon cumin
1/2 cup rinsed black beans
2-4 eggs
Sriracha

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cut potatoes into bite-sized pieces and spread out on a baking sheet. Drizzle with 1 tablespoon olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Roast for 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, warm up a skillet on medium heat. Add remaining 1 tablespoon oil. Add onion and bell pepper to skillet and saute 5-6 minutes. Season with cumin and cook another minute. Add black beans and cook until warmed through. Add cooked potatoes and stir to combine, then season to taste.

While veggies are cooking, bring a medium sauce pan half-way full of water to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. Add 1-2 eggs and let poach 3-4 minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon and place over hash. Drizzle with Sriracha and enjoy!

Divine

Yolk attack!!

Pear, Pomegranate and Pistachio Salad with Quinoa

I swear all the "P" alliteration wasn't intentional, but the awesome flavor was! I feel like I've been seeing pomegranate recipes everywhere, and I really started craving them. This salad was made in a flash since I already had some prepared quinoa on hand. Give it a try!

Pear, Pomegranate and Pistachio Salad with Quinoa

1/2 cup dry quinoa
2 ounces kale
1 small garlic clove, minced
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
2 teaspoons white wine vinegar
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon walnut or olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
4 ounces spinach
1/3 cup pomegranate arils
1 ripe pear, cut into 1-inch pieces
1/3 cup pistachios

Prepare quinoa according to package instructions. Meanwhile, rinse kale and tear into bite-sized pieces. Whisk together garlic, mustard, vinegar, lemon, oil and salt and pepper. Add to kale and toss to combine, let sit 10  minutes.

In a large bowl, add spinach, pomegranate, pear and pistachios. Add cooled quinoa, then kale once 10 minutes is up. Toss to distribute the dressing, and enjoy!

Note, this would be equally lovely with a balsamic or any other vinaigrette, if you already have one on hand.

Spinach Noodle Salad with Peanut Dressing

If you're like me, New Years means new beginnings for your fridge and pantry. I was cleaning out my pantry when I found half a bag of thin egg noodles and remembered how much I like making Asian-inspired noodle salads. With my new pledge to ditch the meat and dairy (except eggs!), I thought this would be a great way to ease into things.

Spinach Noodle Salad with Peanut Dressing

1/2 cup cilantro, divided
1/4 cup natural creamy peanut butter
2 tablespoons low sodium soy sauce
1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
1 tablespoon honey
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1 tablespoon water
2 cloves garlic
Salt and pepper to taste
4 ounces thin egg noodles
1 cucumber, chopped
1-2 carrots, grated
2 green onions, chopped (light and dark green parts only)
1/4 cup peanuts
4 ounces spinach

For the dressing, combine 1/4 cup cilantro with peanut butter, soy sauce, vinegar, honey, sesame oil water, garlic and salt and pepper in a food processor and pulse until smooth. Pour in a large bowl and set aside.

Set a pot of water to boil, then cook egg noodles, just 3-4 minutes. Drain and add to the dressing. Toss in cucumber, carrot, green onion, peanuts and remaining cilantro and toss thoroughly. Add spinach and toss, then serve.

Happy New Year!

Somewhat Shocking 2013 Resolutions

Instead of my annual new ingredients to try (though trust me, there are plenty of those!), I'm making a much larger effort this year at a New Year's resolution. My hope is that this drastic move will not only shed some pounds, but also challenge me to become a better cook and experiment with new flavors, ingredients and techniques. Though there will be less mac and cheese and more greens and grains, I hope you'll stick with me!


1. Ditch the dairy: that's right, this is a pretty bold move for me. Luke and I are giving it a month to see how sustainable it is for us. I've decided that this large step should help kick start greater consciousness every time I sit down to eat, not just the 75% of the time I'm usually careful countered by 25% splurges. Remember my Vegan Week? Will be channeling those efforts, but I know I've learned a lot since then too!
2. Goodbye to meat: Well, mostly. I'm not saying farewell, just bye for now. And expect seafood to keep popping up, along with my beloved eggs.

3. Eat more lentils. Tasty ideas from FitSugar along with my ever-trusty employer, Whole Foods Market should help me on this.
4. Eat even more leafy greens: Our garden has helped exponentially increase our leafy green consumption. Having fresh chard, spinach and kale at our disposal, along with those tasty beet greens before they got harvested, really helped in 2012. I let my daily green smoothie habit die when we moved to our new house, so my goal is to drink green at least 2 days a week again.
5. Make friends with tofu: I've managed to avoid it thus far, but with cutting down my meat intake, it's time to get creative and make friends with this vegetarian stand-by. Any tips are welcome :)

Here are some recipes I'm planning on trying or adapting in the coming weeks.

• "Creamy" Sundried Tomato Soup from Love and Lemons
• Tofu Scramble from Bon Appetit
•  Miso-Maple Sweet Potato Tacos from Love and Lemons (ok, I've already made these twice, but I love them!)
• Roasted Root Vegetables with Walnut Pesto from Cooking Light
• Pappardelle with Roasted Winter Squash, Arugula and Pine Nuts from Cooking Light
• Spicy Moroccan Chickpeas from Cooking Light
• Spiced Lentils with Mushrooms and Greens from Food & Wine
• Roasted Garlic, Sun-Dried Tomato and White Bean Dip from Cooking Light (brought this to a family Christmas celebration, great snack!)
• Beet Wellingtons from Cooking Light, for when I'm feeling fancy :)

What's inspiring you for the New Year? Any resolutions you care to share? Have any resources for me?

Kale Salad with Dates and Parmigiano Reggiano

Remember that kale salad recipe I promised? It's here! So simple, so tasty, even my brother-in-law loved it. Best of all, I had all the ingredients on-hand, including the kale straight from my garden!

Kale Salad with Dates, Pepitas and Parmigiano Reggiano

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon honey
1 tablespoon olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
4 ounces kale
8 large, pitted Medjool dates
1/4 cup pepitas (pumpkin seeds), lightly toasted
1/4 cup freshly grated Parmigiano Reggiano

Whisk mustard, honey, olive oil and salt and pepper in a large bowl, then add kale. Toss to combine and let sit 10-15 minutes. This softens the kale making it less tough and more tasty!


Meanwhile, chop the dates into bite-sized pieces. Add dates, pepitas and Parmigiano Reggiano to kale and toss to combine. Serve and enjoy!

Butternut Squash Mac and Cheese

Hope your holidays are wonderful! We enjoyed several days in San Antonio with Luke's family and are excited to head out to Houston tomorrow to spend some time with mine. Twice the Christmas = twice the fun! In the between time, Luke's brother Travis came to spend a few days with us (he hadn't seen our house yet!). Since we'd be driving back on Christmas day after having been out of town, I wanted to be able to make a tasty meal that wouldn't require a trip to the store. This mac and cheese was born, and it was SO good. 

Paired it with a simple salad starring kale from our garden for a fresh side. Recipe to come :)

Butternut Squash Mac and Cheese

3 cups peeled butternut squash, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
1 tablespoon olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
12 ounces whole wheat elbow macaroni
2 ounces pancetta, diced (optional)
3 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons flour
4 cups milk (I used 1%) at room temperature
4-5 cups sharp white cheddar cheese, freshly grated
3 ounces cream cheese (optional - I was cleaning out my cheese drawer!)
1/2 cup Parmigiano Reggiano, freshly grated
1/2 cup panko 

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spread butternut squash on a baking sheet and toss with olive oil, salt and pepper. Roast 30 minutes, stirring once or twice, until cooked through. Set aside. Lower oven temperature to 350 degrees. Grease a 9 x 13 pan and set aside.

Meanwhile, Place a large pot of water to boil and cook pasta to al dente. Drain and set aside.

Next, if including pancetta, crisp it up in a skillet, then remove with a slotted spoon to a paper towel-lined plate.

In a large sauce pan, melt butter on medium heat. Whisk in flour and let cook about a minute, stirring constantly. Whisk in milk and let cook until thickened, stirring often, about 10-12 minutes. Season with salt and pepper and stir in cheddar and cream cheese, if using.

In a large bowl, combine butternut squash, pasta, pancetta and milk/cheese mixture. Stir well. Pour into 9 x 13 pan. In a small bowl combine panko and Parmigiano Reggiano. Sprinkle evenly over mac and cheese, then bake, uncovered, for 20 minutes. Let it rest 5-10 minutes before digging in (if you can!).