Delish durum

Last night I went to bed at 7:45.  Yeah.  Guess my body was trying to tell me something, huh?  I just went with it. 

IMG_5148

I had “dinner” at 5, just after posting about my cashew cheese.

For those who asked, here’s the recipe I used.  [It’s a combination of a few I’ve seen throughout the blog world and my RFD cookbook]

Vegan cashew “cheese”

IMG_5123

Ingredients:

  • 1 1/4 cup raw cashews (I soaked mine before)
  • 1 tbsp garlic powder
  • 1 tbsp onion powder
  • 1 lemon, juiced (approx. 2-3 tbsp)
  • 2 tbsp nutritional yeast
  • 1/2 large orange bell pepper (I used 4 baby bell peppers)
  • 1 carrot
  • 1 tbsp mustard
  • dash paprika
  • salt & pepper (to taste)
  • 1/4 cup non-dairy milk (I used rice milk)

Directions: 

Mix carrot, bell pepper, cashews, lemon juice and mustard in food processor. 

IMG_5128

Pulse and scrape down sides until it is adequately mixed.

IMG_5133

It will be semi-chunky.  Then add in the rest of the ingredients and pulse until smooth.

IMG_5135

Like I mentioned yesterday, the cheese can be as thin or thick as you want depending on what you use it for, so increase liquid as needed.  The above recipe is for a thick dip consistency.

IMG_5141

The first use was simply as a topping for red quinoa and steamed broccoli.

IMG_5144

It was delicious. 

Tonight, for my “d” food I used the cashew cheese again. 

IMG_5165

Any idea?

IMG_5166

100% durum wheat 🙂

When you think about it, coming up with “D” foods is harder than you may realize.  Good thing I’ve been wanting to try durum wheat for a long time, because it’s the only thing I could think of! 

Durum means “hard” in Latin, which makes sense since it is the hardest species of all wheats.  It also has a high protein and gluten content making it good for special uses (pizzas, flat breads, etc.).  Cakes?  Not so much. 

And why not make a cheesy pasta dish with the leftover cashew cheese?

IMG_5171

I cooked the entire bag of pasta (16 oz. dry organic durum wheat shells), while making the sauce.

In an effort to increase the nutritional profile and bulk up the veggie presence of the dish, I decided to add pureed butternut squash to the “cheese.”

IMG_5167IMG_5174

M freezer is packed with butternut squash thanks to the two cases I got back in November.  The crockpot definitely came in handy when I was pureeing it in mass quantities. 

IMG_5175

Once the pasta was done, I drained it and threw in frozen peas.  The peas thawed in no time, and then I poured it all in a casserole dish.

IMG_5180IMG_5179

Then I dumped in the squash and cheese mix, tossing the pasta and peas around so that they were all completely coated.

IMG_5181

After that I sprinkled nooch and panko bread crumbs on top.

IMG_5187IMG_5193

Baked it for 15 minutes at 350.

IMG_5194

Done-zo.

Nut-shell Casserole (vegan)

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup cashew cheese (see recipe above)
  • 3/4 cup pureed butternut squash
  • 1/2 cup non-dairy milk (mixed in when coating the pasta/pea combo)
  • 1 cup peas
  • 16 oz. dry pasta shells
  • 1 tbsp panko bread crumbs
  • 1 tbsp nutritional yeast

IMG_5197

Serve it up!

IMG_5196 

Kyle and I were in celebration mode (everyone say congrats to my husband for getting a dream summer internship), hence the romantic glasses klean kanteen water jug. 

IMG_5200

I went for a large and in charge first portion…and wound up having two more servings afterwards.

IMG_5201

It was soooo good that Kyle and I both had multiple plates full, which is why the casserole dish looked like this once we were done.

IMG_5202

Aren’t these big casserole pans supposed to feed a family?  Or two hungry hippies.  So yeah, it was pretty tasty.

Durum wheat gets two thumbs up.  Hearty and wholesome and freakin’ delish.

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...

Comments (30)

  1. Denice

    Wow, this looks Sooo good. I am going to have to try it. I wonder how it would do as leftovers?

  2. Emily @OneSweetVegan

    That looks wonderful! The only thing I’d be able to think of for ‘D’ is daikon. Very creative with the durum!

  3. elise

    I’ll let you know 🙂

  4. kissmybroccoli

    This looks great! What a great way to “sneak” in more veggies with the b. nut puree!

    Congratulations to the hubs!!

  5. Runeatrepeat

    That pretty much looks like a casserole dish after I’m done with it…

  6. elise

    good. not just me then 🙂

  7. movesnmunchies

    oh my gosh that actually looks like heaven in a casserole

  8. Averie (LoveVeggiesAndYoga)

    I love big casseroles like that!

    D
    Dulse flakes
    Durian fruit (ick!)
    Dortios (kidding)

    You’re right…it’s harder than one thinks to come up with D foods.

  9. Little Bookworm

    The casserole sounds amazing. Love wholemeal pasta!

  10. Pure2raw twins

    Casserole looks wonderful!

  11. Olivia

    Oohhh I just bought those bigshell noodles at Whole Foods, I’m so excited to try this recipe!!

  12. carolinebee

    that looks awesome!! If I’m hungry enough for dinner at 5, i just go with it- and fully plan on consuming a hefty-sized dessert a little later 😀

  13. Carbzilla

    That looks ridiculously good! Love the combo of peas and butternut squash! Congrats to Kyle! ( wow – that’s a lot of exclamation points)

  14. Rachel

    YUM!! durum wheat flour is what i use to make my pasta! soo tasty! although it’s been harder to find here. you should go to Surfas (in culver city) if you haven’t already. it is a restaurant supply store that has awesome ingredients that are hard to find, plus every possible thing you never knew you needed for your kitchen and cooking! just don’t blame me when you spend all of your money there haha! missyou! xoxoxoxo

  15. Emily

    That pasta looks SO good!

  16. Alex @ Healing Beauty

    Looks absolutely delicious!! I can’t wait to try nutritional yeast…I’ve been reading about it on several food blogs and am a little hesitant but in this dish it really sounds good!

  17. elise

    oh great. i have a hard enough time being cautious at whole foods…

  18. elise

    it’s great! it tastes like the fake cheese powder that i used to eat from boxed mac ‘n cheese from my youth. but it does have the appearance of fish food. ha.

  19. Katie

    Dinner at 5 and asleep by 8…welcome to my world. 😉 Good work on polishing off that dish full of pasta too…I say it’s testament to how yummy the durum must have been.

  20. janethoffmann

    looks yummy!

  21. Mandiee

    Yum! Thanks so much for the cheeze recipe! Do you know how much it makes (approx. cups)? I love that you added butternut squash and peas to the pasta. Now that’s mac and cheese done right!

    Have a lovely day!
    xox

  22. Mandiee

    Also, how long do you soak your cashews? Thanks!

  23. elise

    The recipe I gave yields almost 2 cups. I soaked the cashews overnight in the fridge…I usually aim for 8 hours when soaking (if it’s longer than a few hours I throw them in the fridge just because I don’t know what would happen without being chilled), but I’m pretty sure anything over an hour is long enough to get them soft.

  24. actorsdiet

    mmmm! let’s have a potluck – you make that okay?

  25. Pingback: Sights unseen « hungry hungry hippie

  26. Pingback: Pa-pa-pa-pizza face « hungry hungry hippie

  27. Pingback: Alphebruary Recap « hungry hungry hippie

  28. Pingback: Operation Elimination

  29. Neysha

    Dear Elise,
    I made this recipe the other day -with a red bell peeper- over warm quinoa.

    One word: EPIC !!!!!!!!!!!!

    I can’t wait to use my leftover “cheese” in pasta and a yummy sandwiches this week! My co-workers are food nuts, and I can’t wait to tell them about your website!

    Thank you so much for sharing this wonderful recipe!

  30. Elise (Post author)

    hooray!!! that makes me so happy – definitely feel free to share HHH with your foodie coworkers 🙂

Comments are closed.