This vegan cheese sauce minus the nuts may be the answer to all of your cheesy needs.
If nutty vegan cheese is too heavy for you to digest but you still want to curb that craving with a cheezy sauce for all the things, you’ve come to the right place.
That cheezy pasta or that cheezy dip for your chips or that cheezy sauce to smother your broccoli with…
There’s not a thing in this world that I wouldn’t put this stuff on…Ok, maybe that’s a bit extreme.
I may not douse my oatmeal or chocolate cake in cheezy goodness, but you get what I’m saying. This stuff is magic.
While surfin’ the waves of the net, you’ll come across vegan cheese sauce recipes based on cashews, sunflower seeds, or beans. This one, however, puts the veggie kingdom on the pedestal.
That’s right. Carrots and cauliflower can magically turn into cheese sauce. It’s possible, and it’s delicious.
What I love about this is sauce that you can devour even more of it. It’s packed with nutrients + fibre, yet low in calories and fat. Sometimes the sauces made from nuts are just too much, ya know?
To create the pasta I made, just cook up your fave noodles, pan sear then chop up some vegan sausages (the Gusta brand is amazing), steam some broccoli florets, then mix this all together with your sauce. Top it all off with green onion and vegan parmesano (make this easy parm recipe, or find yourself some amazing Violife cheese to grate)!
Benefits:
- Cauliflower is super nutritious, so don’t let the lack of colour fool ya’. This white magic is packed with folate, vitamin C, vitamin K, and vitamin B6. Plus, it’s a cruciferous vegetable, aka a cancer-fighting super veg with a good dose of antioxidants.
- Carrots are known for their mega-dose of beta-carotene (an antioxidant that our body converts into vitamin A). What this means for you, is healthy skin and mucus membranes, a stronger immune system, and better eye health and vision.
- Miso paste is an awesome addition, not only for the flava, but also because it’s fermented. Fermented foods do wonders for your gut aka microbiome aka microflora. This is where most of our bacteria lives! Since around 1/10 of our cells are human and 9/10 of our cells are bacteria, we’ve got to keep these bacterial cells happy by feeding them fermented foods. Eat that miso up.
- 1 head cauliflower, roughly chopped
- 6 carrots, chopped
- ¾ cup nutritional yeast
- ½ large sweet onion, diced (or 1 tbsp onion powder)
- 2 cloves garlic (or 1 tbsp garlic powder)
- 1 tbsp dijon mustard
- 1 tbsp miso paste
- ¼ tsp turmeric
- ⅛ tsp smoked paprika (optional, but gives it a nice smokey flavour)
- 1 cup plain almond milk (or any other plain plant-based milk)
- Steam the cauliflower and carrots until soft (about 10 minutes)
- Meanwhile, (unless you're using onion and garlic powder), oil-free sauté the onion and garlic for about 7 minutes. Heat the element to medium, then add the chopped onions and garlic. Let the bottom of the pan brown, then add 1-2 tbsp of water to de-glaze the pan. As the onions cook, continue adding bits of water to prevent sticking if needed
- Add the onion, steamed cauliflower, and carrots to the blender with the the rest of the ingredients
- Blend until smooth!
- If using as a dip, put in and oven safe dish and broil on high for 3 minutes.
- Or, mix in with pasta, pour over roasted veggies, or just eat it by the spoonful 😉
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