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Archive for April, 2010

Velvety Smooth Cream Sauce

April 3rd, 2010

We are a family divided. My husband, Dan and River tend to like white sauces like cream sauce or Alfredo where Gatlin and I tend to like marinara. Ok, to be honest, I could go either way and actually like half marinara and half white sauce over my noodles. I wouldn’t want to leave anyone out!

A few months ago, I made dinner for our date night and was thrilled with the results of this dish. Kudos to Carmella at Raw Freedom Community for this one. The sauce is part of her Spinach and Cream Pasta Casserole. It is so quick and super yummy. The sauce is a great addition to your recipe box as a sauce for zucchini or carrot noodles or on top of fresh green beans, pea pods or sprout salads.

Cream Sauce

1 c. cashews and/or macadamias
1/2 to 3/4 c. water
1 clove garlic
1/4 c. lemon juice
1 tsp. salt

Put the nuts in your blender and grind them up until as fine as possible.
Add the other ingredients and blend until smooth and creamy.
Add water slowly so you end up with a desired thickness.
Pour over your noodles or dish you are serving it and that is it.

I like the creaminess of cashews and tend to use just those. Feel free to add more garlic if that’s the way you like it. It stays beautiful white in color, but you could easily adapt this sauce by adding some sun-dried tomatoes or mushrooms for a new flavor.

This one is a sure favorite. You can add some marinated mushrooms or spinach marinated in salt and olive oil for a special touch!

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cream, noodles, pasta, sauce

Pasta Marinara

April 2nd, 2010

One of our favorites was always pasta with marinara sauce. I used to love pasta night because it was quick and easy. When we started adjusting our diet years back, I switched over from wheat to rice pasta and still good ‘ole faithful marinara sauce. Well, time for more change led us to a new twist on our old fave! We still have pasta marinara but the sauce is raw and our noodles are spiralized zucchini, carrot, summer squash or other veggies we can create twisties with!

I have tried several marinara sauces but I must say my absolute favorite and the biggest crowd-pleaser is from Living On live Food which is Alissa Cohen’s fantastic raw recipe book. It is easy to make and reaches all the taste buds with a bang!

To prepare the veggies you will use a spiralizer. Get the kids in on this one! They love doing this part. Spiralizers (you can get one in the Bodega) are a fairly inexpensive kitchen gadget and can add a great deal to your ability to make raw pasta. If you do not have one yet, you can use your vegetable peeler to make wide noodles.

Marinara Sauce

2 1/2 c. tomatoes
12 sundried tomatoes, soaked
3 dates, pitted and soaked
1/4 c. olive oil
4 cloves garlic
2 TBS parsley
1 tsp sea salt
1/8 tsp cayenne

Put all ingredients in food processor and blend until smooth.
Pour sauce over you noodles and eat!

You can also marinate the zucchini after spiralizing it in lightly salted water. This will soften the noodles and release some of the water of the vegetable. It is not necessary to do this but is a nice thing to try.

I like to vary the sauce as well. Adding fresh basil or other fresh herbs I have and I do prefer to add a few more dates. Other than that I stick fairly close to Alissa’s recipe.

Remember the toppings. We are talking about pasta here so, add some nutritional yeast for your parmesan, top with minced sundried tomatoes, capers, minced yellow pepper and a spring of fresh parsley or basil. Voila!