Tasty & Simple Gravy
Local Grocery Store Friendly Recipe
Here’s a cashew gravy recipe that you might want to try out.
Last week I made it for my quinoa dish for breakfast.
Here’s the simple recipe:
Blend on high until smooth:
1 c. raw cashews***
2 c. water
1 1/2 tsp. salt
2 tsp. onion powder
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
2 tbs. cornstarch
1/2 tsp. basil
The place mixture in pot along with 1 1/2 c. more water. While constantly stirring with a whisk, cook until thickened.
***Getting raw cashews is the best, but if you’re starting out in this health journey, get the roasted, salted cashews from your local grocery store, and modify the salt content in this recipe.
If you use this gravy recipe, please tell me how it turns out!
Tofu Quiche @ Church Potluck
For the past several weeks, I’ve made up my mind to be more serious in the kitchen like I was when I was briefly managing the Hartland cafeteria. This is why I made my third tofu quiche in in two weeks. I brought my dish to my church’s vegetarian potluck today.
As usual, potluck was amazing! The overwhelming majority of dishes brought each week are vegan, and the carob cakes and other desserts were a great addition to the pasta dishes, which was our theme for this week (that I didn’t follow…) 
I wish you could experience this treat every week like I do.
Volunteering At Something Better Foods
I’m thankful to be a part of a health conscious community. When I was in college, I ate and worked at a vegan cafeteria, and my school had at least 15 greenhouses. I now work at a vegan lifestyle center that has a five day live-in program focusing on a plant based diet and lifestyle changes to combat chronic diseases. When I go to church, we have a vegetarian potluck each week with an overwhelming selection of vegan options. Last month some of my friends shared with others health tips that including information on natural remedies. Also now, some of my other friends have started a vegetarian restaurant in Fayetteville, Arkansas called Something Better Foods.
I took you on the scenes of Something Better Foods when it just got started 2-3 months ago and allowed you to hear unscripted customer testimonies.
About three weeks ago, I was asked to work for a day a their restaurant, and we were busy all that Friday.
As you can see from the mostly positive reviews on Urbanspoon, the people of Fayetteville, Arkansas are thankful for Something Better Foods.
I also enjoyed going to about four of their evening meetings, and I did a recipe demo in one of them. Below is a picture of me recording a class.
Keep up the good work, Something Better Foods! If you would like to follow the progress of this new and upcoming vegetarian restaurant, join their Facebook page.
Healthy= Economical?
Can you eat healthfully and economically at the same time?
Contrary to popular opinion, the answer is a resounding YES!!!
This year, I plan to bust the myth the health food can’t be economical.
Here are some YouTube videos I’ve done that show the world that healthy eating doesn’t cost an arm and a leg (it might take a minute for the page to load):
Apple Turnovers
(Wal-mart Friendly)
This week, I made apple turnovers using a recipe and a recipe idea.
Here’s my apple turnovers crust recipe:
2 C water
2 T honey (you can use sugar in the raw turbinado sugar as a substitute)
1 1/2 tsp. salt
5 c. whole wheat flour
Combine and mix in a bowl. When I added yeast to this recipe, I made my first pizza crust for 2012, and when I was rolling it into a ball, the recipe was perfect when I used whole wheat flour. For my apple turnovers, I used white whole wheat flour from Walmart and about 1/8 of a cup of flour really didn’t stick to the ball, but that’s a very minor point. The white whole wheat flour bag actually does say that when using this flour, you’re supposed to use less of it, which is true in my experience.
Next week, I plan to use the crust to make a savory entree.
Click here to get my apple filling recipe idea. One tip: to thicken the apple filling, I would start out with 1/4 C cornstarch mixed with 1/4 C of water. If that isn’t thickened to your liking, then add more cornstarch mixed with water. (The non-GMO cornstarch is the best, which I believe you’ll have to obtain it outside of Walmart.)
The apple turnover tastes good when you bite into the crust and the apple filling. At least for the edges, you need to make extra filling so you can dip turnover in it. That way, you’ll have the best experience with your turnovers.
These two recipes yielded 9 big turnovers.
Here’s the video of me making the apple crisp:
Here’s the video of me making the apple filling:
