Asain Meatballs

1/4 cup milk * could use almond or cashew milk
1/4 c breadcrumbs - soaked in milk

some pork or turkey or beef or a combo
1 egg
1/2 c sliced water chestnuts finely chopped
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 c chopped cilantro
1 tbsp soy or tamari sauce
2 tsp sesame oil

*mix with hands and shape into balls and place on baking sheet
bake for 15 minutes at 500 degrees F

dipping sauce:
2 tbsp lime juice
4 tbsp soy/tamari
2 tsp sesame oil
2 tsp sugar

Vegan Butternut Squash Soup with Cream Coconut

It snowed today.... a lot.  And I started cooking everything in the house.  I have been making butternut squash soup since I was 19 and first tasted it.  For years I used the creams but have been spending a lot of time learning my way around Vegan cooking and decided to try this one without Dairy.  Much like having Vegan Ice Cream, once I had it, I never wanted the cream version again.  

2 butternut squash, seeds removed, cut into 1-2 inch pieces
2 carrots
1 onion
vegetable stock
cilantro (root of you can)
creamed coconut 

cut butternut squash into chunks (with skin on-removing seeds)
place the squash on a baking pan with 1/2 onion cut into pieces and 2 carrots cut into pieces
roast at 350 degrees for an hour
You can sprinkle salt and paprika and olive oil or coconut oil to taste
the recipe I loosely followed said to boil cilantro root in the stock  We did not
have the actual roots so I threw a pile of cilantro into some water, a couple of cups
of vegetable stock and the other onion and let that simmer on low while the vegetables roasted.
After the veggies roasted and cooled, I peeled the skin off and threw everything into stock
(having removed the onion and cilantro) and let everything stew together for a about 20 minutes on low.
Then added a package of creamed coconut and let that mix in for about 10 minutes.
After it cooled a bit, it went for a swim in the Vitamix.  A handheld immersion blender probably would have also done a decent job.
Et Voila-
It has a beautiful texture and could use a garnish, but surely does not need cream.

Vegan Pesto

My husband loves to make his limbo spaghetti sauce.  I call it Limbo sauce because to me Pasta Sauce either takes 20 minutes or 7 hours, nothing in between.  He adds garlic, love and a few sprigs of basil to crushed tomatoes and simmers it for a couple hours.  Its more therapy than cooking and we are always left with a bunch of basil that goes bad really quickly.  Scavenger that I am, I turn it to pesto and freeze if Im not able to eat it immediately.
Pine Nuts are like eating gold, so I have been experimenting with alternative nuts and found walnuts have a beautiful earthy taste.

Soak a cup of Walnuts for atleast 3 hours.
Place them in the cuisinart and to them add:
2 cloves of garlic
a pinch of salt (himilayan pink if you have)
1-2 cups of cleaned basil leaves
1/3 cup of nutritional yeast flakes
1 and 1/2 fingers of olive oil- pour this over the mixture until
it fills the negative space about 1-1.5 fingers high

pulse till smooth

Great to have on sliced tomatoes- with Daiya Vegan Mozzerella or fresh real mozzerella and balsamic Vinegar reduction garnish poured atop.