HookedOnPlants

When getting hooked is a good thing

Sauces/Dressings

Whole Roasted Cauliflower with Curry Tahini Sauce | Vegan Main

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Whole Roasted Cauliflower is the easiest and one of the most delicious ways to enjoy your cauli!

This flavourful bomb of a recipe can take place of that main roast on the table.

Get those steak knives out, it’s time to carve up the cauli! Said no one, ever… until NOW.

But, you won’t need that steak knife, because this juicy cauliflower cooked to perfection, allows any dull knife to easily make it’s way to the bottom of the dish.

Let’s talk about this sauce. First, it’s massaged into the cauliflower, then it turns into a beautiful and delicious golden crust. Then, the other half of the golden goodness is drizzled liberally over the finished product.

Warning: this sauce may be your new addiction.

I brought this one to a potluck, and it was dubbed the vegan turkey. If you’re bringing it to a dinner, place it in a roasting dish, surround it in kale leaves, and put it in a 300°F oven for 10 minutes when you get there (the kale will turn into kale chips, and your roast will be extra golden).

In just a few steps you’ll have yourself a killer main.

Sauce the cauli.

Bake the cauli.

Slice and drizzle.

 

Whole Roasted Cauliflower with Curry Tahini Sauce
 
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One of the easiest ways to prepare cauliflower. It's perfect for an impressive looking main dish!
Author:
Recipe type: dinner, main,
Cuisine: vegan, plant-based, vegan main
Serves: 4
Ingredients
  • 1 head cauliflower, wash it and take off the greenery, but leave the stalk on (you may have to trim it for the cauliflower to site flat)

  • Curry Tahini Sauce:
  • ½ cup tahini
  • 3 tbsp maple syrup
  • 1½ tbsp curry powder
  • ¼ tsp sea salt
  • 3 tbsp apple cider vinegar
  • 1 tbsp dijon mustard
  • ½ cup water
  • ½ cup plain, unsweetened almond milk (or any other plain, unsweetened plant-milk)
Instructions
  1. Pre-Heat oven to 400°F
  2. Meanwhile, make the sauce: blend all sauce ingredients together EXCEPT for the almond milk.
  3. Place cauliflower head, stem-side down, in an oven safe baking dish.
  4. Pour half of the sauce over the cauliflower and spread evenly with your hands over the whole head of cauliflower (except for the bottom).
  5. Place cauliflower back in the dish, and fill the dish with ½ inch of water.
  6. Bake for 50 minutes, or until a knife easily pokes through the centre.
  7. When you take the cauliflower out, heat up the rest of the sauce in a small pot with the ½ cup of almond milk.
  8. Serve the cauliflower with a good drizzle of the the warm sauce!

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Mind-Blowing Multi-Purpose Vegan Cheese Sauce (Nut-Free)

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This nut-free vegan cheese sauce may be the answer to all of your cheezy needs.

If nutty vegan cheese is too heavy for you to digest but you still want to curb that cheezy craving 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 all over your broccoli…

There’s not a thing in this world that I wouldn’t put this stuff on…well ok, maybe that’s a bit extreme.

While I may not douse my oatmeal or chocolate cake in this goodness…this stuff is still magic.

While surfin’ the waves of the inter web, 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 a ton of it with zero guilt. It’s packed with nutrients + fibre, yet low in calories and fat. Sometimes the sauces made from nuts (as delicious as they are), can be a little heavy, ya know?

Vegan Cheese Sauce

To create a simple + yum pasta, just cook up your fave noodles, pan sear, then chop up some vegan sausages (the Gusta or Field Roast brands are yum), steam some broccoli florets, then mix everything together with this 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.

Mind Blowing Vegan Cheese Sauce (without nuts)

Mind-Blowing Vegan Cheese Sauce (No Nuts)
 
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This nut-free, vegan sauce is a light option for that cheezy comfort food feel. It's perfect for pasta or a dip with veggies and chips!
Author:
Recipe type: Comfort Food, dinner, lunch, appetizer
Serves: 5 cups
Ingredients
  • 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)
Instructions
  1. Steam the cauliflower and carrots until soft (about 10 minutes)
  2. 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
  3. Add the onion, steamed cauliflower, and carrots to the blender with the the rest of the ingredients
  4. Blend until smooth!
  5. If using as a dip, put in and oven safe dish and broil on high for 3 minutes.
  6. Or, mix in with pasta, pour over roasted veggies, or just eat it by the spoonful 😉

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Creamy Lemony Nooch Dressing | Oil-Free & 4 Ingredients

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You’d have a tough time trying to find a day to look in my fridge without seeing a jar of this Lemony Nooch dressing.

I’m telling you now… triple or quadruple this recipe so you can have this amazingness available in your fridge for up to 10 days, and finally get excited to make friends with salad er’yday.

This dressing works with any kind of salad. Greens, beans, grains, legumes, you name it, just add it, and it’s all better.

The best way to use this is to mash your torn up kale leaves in the dressing, and let it sit for 10 minutes in your salad bowl (this softens the kale), then add the rest of your salad ingredients and toss it all up! I try to get a salad in my system on the daily, and this dressing makes it easier than ever!

The nooch, paired with the dijon creates a cheeziness and creaminess without the need for any oil!

If you’re looking for more oil-free salad dressings, here’s a few to play around with.

Feel free to use apple cider vinegar to instead of lemon, and add a bit more maple syrup if you like it sweeter!

Benefits:

  • Nooch (Nutritional yeast) is packed with vitamin B12 (which everyone needs to make sure they get in their diet either by supplementing or eating B12 fortified foods like nooch’ or fortified plant-based milks), and has a cheesy flavour! It’s so delicious to sprinkle on anything, and add to any sauce to get that creamy, cheesy taste.
  • Lemon is detoxifying, great for your skin, high in Vitamin C and helps indigestion.
  • Oil-free dressing means you’re salad will be mega healthy! Oil is a refined fat, without fibre and with minimal nutrients. So if you’re trying to keep your salads low in empty calories, yet nutrient-dense and delicious, try ditching the oil and using these ingredients to create the creamy dressing you’re after!

 

5.0 from 2 reviews
Creamy Lemony Nooch' Dressing | Oil-free & The Best
 
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An oil-free, yet creamy dressing that will make any salad a winner. This is my go-to! Triple the recipe so you have it on hand for easy salad making anytime.
Author:
Recipe type: dressing, sauce
Serves: 2
Ingredients
  • 3 tbsp lemon juice (or apple cider vinegar)
  • ⅓ cup nutritional yeast
  • 1 tbsp dijon mustard
  • 1 tbsp maple syrup
  • 1-2 tbsp water, optional (depends on how thick or thin you like it!
  • * I recommend tripling this recipe and keeping a jar of dressing in the fridge ready to go*
Instructions
  1. Pour all ingredients (except for the optional water) in a mason jar and shake! Or, pour all ingredients into the bottom of your salad bowl, and whisk!
  2. Add a bit of that water if you want a thinner dressing.
  3. *I recommend adding some kale to the dressing in your bowl, and mashing it in the dressing with your salad tongs, then letting that sit a few minutes before adding the rest of your ingredients. This provides a delicious massaged kale base for the rest of your salad. My usual salad for 2 consists of 4 leaves of the massaged kale, tomato, ½ avocado, 1 pear, 2 green onions, 1 head romaine, 1-2 tbsp raisins and sunflower seeds.

Roasted Garlic Oil-Free Hummus

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Roasted garlic hummus is a staple that should be waiting for you in your fridge at all times.

Spread it, dip it, smother it all over everything.

Even add a tablespoon to some water, and voila: salad dressing!

The flavour and texture of this hummus is on point, and will bring any bland sandwiches, wraps, macro bowls, or veggies to life.

What I love about this hummus, is the oil-free action. Unless you’re suffering from heart disease, you’re fine to have some oil here and there. But when it comes down to it, oil is refined fat with the fibre and water content stripped from what ever  whole food ingredient it’s made of. I always say to eat the whole food instead of the refined version (olives, instead of olive oil, sesame seeds instead of sesame seed oil, flax seeds instead of flax oil, avocados instead of avocado oil… you get my drift).

Adding oil to dressings and sauces is a good way to gain some weight if you need to, but limiting it by making versions of your favourite condiments without oil is a great way to shed some pounds, if that’s what you’re going for.

I personally can’t stop dipping my veggies if there’s hummus kicking around. So, the less refined fat calories there are in the stuff, the better (keep on dippin’ baby!)

The roasted garlic gives this hummus a creamy feel and deep flavour.

Other magical ingredients to add to your hummus for flavour, minus the oil, are:

  • miso paste
  • tamari
  • nutritional yeast
  • coconut aminos
  • pickle juice
  • Worcestershire sauce
  • fresh herbs and spices (dill, paprika, cumin, curry, chipotle, parsley, chives…)
  • Sriracha

 

Roasted Garlic Oil-Free Hummus
 
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A hummus with exceptional flavour, but no refined oils, so you can snack on for days.
Author:
Recipe type: snack, appetizer
Serves: 1 cup
Ingredients
  • 1 can chickpeas, drained (keep aquafaba/chickpea liquid in your fridge for other recipes)
  • 1 head of garlic
  • 2 tbsp tahini
  • 1 tbsp miso paste
  • Juice of 1 lemon juice (about ¼ cup of juice)
  • Optional: Nutritional yeast to taste (for a cheezier flavour)
Instructions
  1. Heat the oven to 375°F
  2. First, cut off the top of the head of garlic (so you can see the tops of each individual clove).
  3. Peel off the loose outer layers of garlic paper and wrap it up tight in aluminum foil
  4. Place it in the middle rack and roast for approximately forty-five minutes or until you can easily pierce the garlic with a sharp knife. The cloves should look caramelized and brown.
  5. Squeeze the roasted garlic cloves out and add them to a food processor with all the other ingredients.
  6. Blend until smooth!

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Garlicky Dill Pickle Kale Chips

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An abundance of kale + pickle cravings = Dill Pickle Kale Chips!

 

It was like a light flicked on when this combo popped into my head.

Dill pickle anything? Amazing.

But, on Dill Pickle Kale Chips? YES.

There’s an on-going mission to find a crunchy, salty, crispy snack that’s actually good for the bod’.

That hand-to-mouth satisfaction is what all humans crave from time to time… or all the time.

With all of this kale bursting out of my garden, I think I’ve found it.

Here’s a great way to get all of that satisfaction with out the ‘potato chip guilt’.

Not to mention the dill flavour is off the hoooook!

Get your hands in there and let me know how you like it.

Kale Chip Tips:

  1. Make sure the kale is dry to begin with
  2. Single layer it
  3. Tear the kale into large chunks (not too small because they shrink)
  4. Load up on the dressing
  5. If using an oven – us parchment paper for crispness
  6. Don’t over bake them in the oven. They can go from perfect to burnt in a matter of a couple minutes
  7. Store in a tupperware with dry rice to keep your chips crispy! (more on this below)

Garlickly Dill Pickle Kale Chips

Serves: 4-6 snackers

Prep Time: 2 hours soaking time, 10 minutes hands-on

Cook Time: Oven ~ 20 minutes OR Dehydrator ~ 6 hours

Ingredients:

  • 2-3 large heads of kale, de-stemmed, torn, rinsed and spin-dried

Sauce ingredients (use on it’s own for dressing, or sauce to add tang to any savoury dish!)

  • 1 cup cashews, soaked 2 hours then strained
  • 3/4 cup dill pickle brine
  • 2 dill pickles
  • 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
  • 2 cloves garlic
  • 2 tbsp dill spice OR 5 sprigs fresh dill

Directions:

  1. If using oven, pre-heat to 300 °F
  2. Add all sauce ingredients into blender or food processor. Blend until smooth.
  3. With your hands, massage the sauce into the torn kale
  4. If using the:
    • dehydrator: Spread dressed kale out on dehydrator sheets in a single layer. Dehydrate for 5-6 hours at 115°F
    • oven: spread dressed kale out on parchment covered pan in a single layer. Bake for 9-12 minutes, flip kale, then bake for another 10. Your oven may be slightly different, so be sure to check the kale chips near the end so they don’t burn!
  5. Munch away!
  6. Storage: Sprinkle some dry rice at the bottom of the tupperware, and store kale chips in that tupperware in the fridge for the week. The rice will absorb the moisture and keep your kale chips crispy!

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