New Love {Soaked Cashews}: A Dairy Alternative

 

 

Soaked Cashews?  How could that ever be a good idea you ask?  Well, let me tell you the vegans were thinking when they came up with this one.  Genius.

 

I have been mostly dairy-free for about 9 month now.  I sneak it in on occasion but it still seems to cause issues with little man's digestive system & ezcema.  It gets hard to come up with new ideas for dinner & on occasion I really crave some of my old, cheesy dishes.

 

I was doing some reading on one of my favorite vegan blogs, The Post-Punk Kitchen.  I really like her recipes because she steers clear of artificial & highly processed stuff like tofu bacon & toffutti cream cheese which just cannot be good for you & comes up with vegan recipes using whole foods.

 

I have gotten some great dairy-free ideas from her & most of my favorites have included soaked cashews.  What a little known treasure! Soaked cashews, when pureed, can be substituted for cheese and give dishes that nutty, buttery flavor that can be so lacking when you choose to cut cheeses & milk out of your diet.

 

For Valentine's Day I made a Shrimp Pasta with Herbed Cream Sauce that I adapted from this recipe, using cashew cream instead of the whipping cream & it was delicious!  I didn't even miss the real deal.

 

I've also played around with my own versions of "Mac N' Shews" & Strawberry Cashew (No)Cheesecake which were both delicious and fun to experiment with!

 

Move over avocados, I think I may have a new food love.