Tahini Soy Dressing

This is – by far – my favorite dressing of all time.  Well…. maybe second only to ranch, but I haven’t found a good vegan ranch recipe yet, so let me rephrase to say – this is by far my favorite vegan dressing of all time.  I could just about drink this stuff.  Seriously.  Trust me when I say this isn’t just for vegans.

Tahini Dressing

Anyway, I first tasted this dressing at our local health food store, long before I was vegan.  But at $4 for 8 ounces, I was bound and determined to figure out how to make it myself, and make it I did… after oh, 10 failed experiments or so.  I made this the same day my favorite vegan blog, Epicurean Vegan, posted their Tahini Dressing, so I can’t help but be amused.  Unfortunately, since making it I’ve had oh, exactly 6 sleepless nights since then. Our poor foster son has been unable to sleep due to his cough (and his doctor says it’s just cause his teeth are coming in – right cause he had this cough for the OTHER 8 TEETH??? I don’t think so – but I digress).

Anyway, so I’m finally getting around to this – late – but not for lack of enthusiasm.  If you like soy, I STRONGLY suggest you trying this dressing.  And don’t leave out the ginger, I’m not a fan but it’s important to the overall flavor – trust me, I tried multiple times without it.

Did I mention this is my favorite dressing?  I actually make salad just to eat this dressing, not the other way around. 🙂

Tahini Dressing

For two servings (to try it, after that you’ll probably want to quadruple it):

In your favorite dressing bottle mix together
2 Tbsp Soy Sauce
2 Tbsp Tahini
2 Tbsp Lemon
1 tsp ginger paste (or grated
fresh – I have not tested this with powdered)
1-3 cloves of minced garlic, depending on how much you like garlic
pinch of brown sugar or tiny squirt of of agave or honey
pinch dry mustard (to emulsify)

Shake it all up and chill for a few hours at least.  It will thicken and the flavors will meld.  It should be nice and thick and creamy.   It will separate in the fridge so shake it up each time you go to use it.

Rotini and Cashew Cream Sauce

While I’m hesitant to call this macaroni and cheese, that’s essentially what it is – but in the vegan world.

I’ve been vegan for 4 months now, and two other times I tried mac n cheeze.  The first time contained mustard, which was so unappealing that even my dogs wouldn’t touch it.  The second time was a boxed version, and I couldn’t get past the grittiness of the flour which was what made it thicken.

So this, this was my third attempt.   I found this particular version thanks to Angela at VegAngela.com who found the original recipe at Epicurean Vegan.

So before I continue, rest assured that this past the Omnivore husband test, but it was easier to accept as a cashew CREAM sauce rather than a “Macaroni and Cheese.”

Since I’m not quite sure how she feels about other people publishing her recipes, I’ll ask you to visit her site for THE RECIPE.  When I have adjusted the recipe to our tastes (we used Almond milk and the combination between the light miso, cashews and almond milk made it rather sweet).

But, for some information on it, it features – raw cashews, miso, lemon, a handful of other ingredients and of course lots and lots of noosh.  This recipe would also be fantastic over vegetables.  Clearly, you can use whatever pasta you enjoy, my husband noted that with more garlic it would have been similar to alfredo.

Also…  I have just purchased Quinoa for the first time.  I’ve never tasted it, cooked it, and barely ever seen it…  soo…

[UPDATE:  While the re-heated version of this wasn’t as PRETTY, we decided it tasted better reheated.  We also decided that it turned out pretty sweet, so next time we’re going to try to make this into more of an alfredo with more garlic, etc.  Also, this shits addicting!!]

Does anyone have a favorite quinoa recipe that they would like to share for me to review?