Roasted Red Pepper Cream Sauce. Vegan.

Roasted Red Pepper Cream Sauce. Vegan.
Roasted Red Pepper Cream Sauce. Vegan. Knead to Cook.

You don’t have to give up rich, creamy sauces when opting to eat a vegan diet.  This sauce would rival any dairy cream sauce but is a healthier, protein-packed version.  I made this sauce to top pasta but it could easily be used for a dip for veggies, crackers or chips.  My husband also used this as a spread on his sandwiches.  You an even top your salad greens with it.  The uses are endless.  You adjust the spices so it is totally customizable.  Meatless Monday just got a whole lot easier. Prep this sauce (soaking your cashews) and store in the fridge all week and use in various ways throughout the week.

Ingredients:

1 cup or so of raw cashews soaked in water overnight
3/4 cup of vegetable broth
1/2 cup of jarred roasted red peppers
2 teaspoons of nutritional yeast
2 teaspoons of smoked paprika
2 cloves of garlic
1/2 of a lemon juiced
8 fresh basil leaves
Salt and pepper

Directions:

Soak your cashews anywhere from 4 – 24 hours.  Drain and rinse under cold water.

Place all of your ingredients into your Vitamix or high powered blender.  Blend until creamy.  Taste and adjust spices to your preference.  If the sauce is too thick for your liking – add a splash more of vegetable broth to thin it and blend quickly to incorporate.  Place in an airtight container and store in the fridge until ready to use.  When topping pasta, I warm the sauce up slightly to remove the chill from the fridge.  OR while cooking pasta, take your sauce out and let it warm up to room temperature while the pasta cooks.  Once the pasta is al dente, I toss with the sauce to warm it up.

Fitness & holiday update:

Warning this is a long one…

Okay yesterday on my long run I started to think about the date and how quickly the holidays seem to be approaching.  Everyone on IG seems to be decorating for Christmas even pulling out and decorating their trees?!  Wait!?!  What?????  Okay admittedly I love Christmas but I’ve really had a big shift in my heart this year.  Church has really impacted me and the way I view life.  Gee that’s good at 42 right?!  I admit, I’ve always been overly materialistic.  I loved things!  I think I still do, techy things especially but I’ve lost interest in consuming more and more clothes and materialistic things.  I don’t know when or why the switch happened but no longer is the quest for things on my radar.  I’ve been, for the past few years, removing things from my life that don’t matter including toxic people.  Sadly, I’m still stalked by a few “special” people but I do my own thing and focus on what’s important to me and my family ignoring everything else.  Who has time for such nonsense?!

So after my long, 11.11 mile run, Bill and I sat down to discuss Christmas plans and how we’re going to attack the holidays.  We are planning something big in the next few months that we would like to financially focus our efforts on so we asked our girls for one thing that they really wanted.  One jumped up with her idea, the other is pondering her “thing”.  I think you just get to the point that buying just to buy is crazy especially when everyone has more than enough “stuff”. I asked for compression socks and new sneakers. On my husband’s list… a new pair of Mizunos.  Exciting, I realize. LOL.

I’ve also been testing out my legs/knees to do another marathon.  Caveat: I’ve had three knee surgeries.  I’ve completed one – sadly I was quite sick when I did it.  I had surgery 5 weeks prior – ran the race with lots of meds which made me even more sick, then major surgery the week I came back from the run.  I finished it.  I’m a marathoner and I realize I have nothing to prove to myself.  I then felt like I did two years ago.  I was healthy and I could do it faster.  I started to train again and on a long 15 miler I tore my medial quad.  Bam. That was it.  I was done.  Bill continued on with a friend of ours and the day of the marathon we had record hot temps in March, 85 degrees in DC, and they opted to run the half instead of the full.  It was a smart move.

So a friend asked me if I would be interested in running another marathon because she had a few bibs to share but I opted to not do that one for personal reasons but to consider another that a long time friend and her husband are doing.  I’m vacillating back and forth.  Some days I’m all over it and others I feel like my finger healing, life, blogging jobs and some hard situations that have been thrown my way, are just way too much to commit to right now.  I’m not the person who is looking to qualify for Boston yet to finish strong and healthy, unlike last time.  My goal would be very realistic.  So yesterday I ran and it felt good. I’m still working through a marathon plan and hopefully will have a decision soon.  Who knows.  Normally I’m a very decisive person, this is escaping me to be honest.

Oh I also started to shop yesterday and packed up my Christmas cards.  So there.  I feel slightly accomplished.  It’s Monday, I’m taking a rest day but scrubbing my house, doing tons of laundry and buying some birthday presents for friends/family along with a bit of Christmas shopping.  That’s it kids.  My life.  Happy Monday!

Here were a few pics from yesterday.  Bill went riding (he did 18 miles) finding me on my run and cheering me on.  We both made it home at the same time to these sweet faces.

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— Knead to Cook

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2 Comments

  1. My husband and I are kindred “everything needs more sauce” spirits, but since we also try and stay away from dairy, we’ve been in a bit of a sauce slump lately… salsa, BBQ sauce and sriracha aren’t cutting it lately. So I can’t wait to try this! Also, as I fellow marathon runner recovering from injury, I totally understand your marathon debate. My husband is running one in January and I haven’t decided if I want to go for it this time or if I should wait it out and try for one in the spring. Plus…training in the cold isn’t all that fun. 🙂 I’m looking forward to hearing what you decide to do!

    1. Anne Marie, We are kindred spirits!! I hope you love this sauce! You can also add pretty much anything to it like fresh garlic etc. Can’t wait to hear what you all think. I cannot wait to see what I decide too on the marathon. Maybe 3rd time is a charm 😉 oxo