I made this recipe last week on a brisk fall day. I was craving something spicy and paired it with a fruitier red wine.  I took this recipe from the Oh She Glows cookbook, I have tried about 5 of her recipes now and I love how easy and delicious they are. I cannot believe that I have never made cashew cream before! The dish didn’t have dairy in it yet it was so creamy and rich. This will be a go to meal in our household from now on.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup raw cashews, soaked
• 1 tablespoon coconut oil
• 1 small onion, diced
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 1/2 teaspoons grated peeled fresh ginger
• 1 green chile or jalapeño, seeded, if desired, and diced (optional) #I used less than 1/2 tsp. of my chile because it was so hot
• 1 medium sweet potato, peeled and diced (about 2 cups)
• 2 medium carrots, diced (about 1 1/2 cups)
• 1 red bell pepper, chopped
• 1 large tomato, seeded ad chopped
• 2 tablespoons mild yellow curry powder, or to taste
• 1/2 to 3/4 teaspoon fine-grain sea salt, plus more as needed
• 1 cup frozen corn
• Basmati rice, for serving *I used organic frozen brown rice from Trader Joe’s instead
• Fresh cilantro leaves, for serving
• Toasted cashews, for serving

Steps:

1. In a blender, combine the cashews with 3/4 cup water and blend until smooth and creamy. Set aside.
2. In a large skillet, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the onion, garlic, and ginger and sauté for about 5 minutes, until the onion is translucent. Stir int he green chile (if using), potatoes, carrots, bell pepper, tomato, curry powder and salt. Sauté for 5 minutes more.
3. Stir in the cashew cream and corn. Reduce the heat to medium-low and cover the skillet with a lid. Simmer, covered, over medium heat for about 20 minutes, or until the potatoes are fork-tender. Stir every 5 minutes throughout the cooking process. If the mixture starts to dry out, reduce the heat and add a splash of water or oil and stir to combine.
4. Serve the curry over a bed of basmati rice and sprinkle with cilantro leaves and toasted cashews.

Fall is such a beautiful time of year in Western New York. On Monday I drove to Ellicottville and was in awe of all the beautiful foliage. I decided to make a dish that had all the colors I’ve been seeing outside. I picked lentils for brown, spaghetti squash for yellow, heirloom tomatoes for my red (and all of the colors), green mixture of kale, mustard, collard, spinach and turnips. Click here to read more about the health benefits of incorporating leafy greens into your daily diet! What I ended up with was a protein packed beautiful dinner that tasted delicious. I will be eating the leftovers again for dinner tonight, how do you think I did with matching the dish to the leaves?

Ingredients:

• 1 small spaghetti squash
• Avocado oil or oil of your choice (lightly spread on squash)
• 1 medium sized red onion -diced
• 3 cups of organic vegetable broth
• 2 tsp. minced garlic
• 1 16 oz bag of green mixture (mine had collard, spinach, mustard, kale and turnips)
• Packet of 1lb mini heirloom tomatoes -halved
• Parmesan cheese to sprinkle
• Red chili flakes to taste
• 1lb of cooked lentils
• Everyday seasoning spice to taste
• Salt and pepper to taste

Steps:

1. Start by preheating oven to 350 degrees, cut the spaghetti squash lengthwise, scoop out the seeds and lightly coat in olive oil, place in oven for 35 minutes or until fork tender.
2. In a medium sized skillet add the vegetable broth, greens and everyday spice, cook over medium to low heat for roughly 10 minutes or until greens have wilted a bit. Stir occasionally and cover. *Side note- I always like to make sure my greens STAY green and it’s important to watch out for overcooking them because you will lose some of the nutrients.
3. In another skillet add 1 tsp of avocado oil (or your favorite oil) and add the onion over medium to high heat, stir frequently for about 5 minutes, lower heat and add garlic for 1-2 minutes and add the tomatoes.
4. Let the onion, garlic, tomato mixture cook 5 minutes over medium heat, stirring occasionally and add them to the green mixture, stir together saute over low heat.
5. Take the squash out of the oven and fork the squash to get the spaghetti like consistency, add the squash to the green mixture. Add salt, pepper, chili flakes and cheese and serve immediately!