Vegan Green Goddess Dip and Salads

Green Goddess Dressing...Yummy, creamy, and delicious!  This dressing used to be a thing of the past for us until we discovered a no-cholesterol alternative to mayo.  I have substituted Vegenaise for mayo here and have not sacrificed flavor in the least.  Here is a trifecta of fun and flavorful options for salads with Green Goddess dressing.

Dressing Ingredients:
1 ripe avocado
2 green onions
1/4 cup fresh parsley
1/4 cup fresh cilantro
1/2 cup fresh basil
1 large clove chopped garlic
3 tbsps fresh lime juice
1 cup Vegenaise
salt/pepper to taste
1 large head purple cabbage
lettuce leaves for garnish
veggies for dipping

To use as a dip:
Cut top off cabbage head and hollow out to make a bowl. To food processor, add first 8 ingredients and puree until blended. Add salt and pepper to taste. Spoon dressing into hollowed-out cabbage.  Make a bed of lettuce leaves for cabbage head.  Serve with veggies.

As an appetizer or tomato salad:
Slice heirloom tomatoes into 1/2 inch slices.  Cover tomatoes with a dollop of Green Goddess, then micro greens.  (The tomatoes pictured here are Romas as we didn't have any heirlooms- they work just as well.)

As dressing for a green salad:
Create your favorite green salad and toss with dressing right before serving.

Southwestern Dressing with Fritos

We are big on experimenting with dressings for Thanksgiving.  Since we like things spicy, southwestern dressing was a big hit.  Hope you enjoy it as much as we do!

Ingredients:
14 oz bag of Original Fritos
1 pkg whole wheat savory stuffing
1 onion, diced
1 bunch celery, washed and sliced
3 cloves minced garlic
2 large Poblano chiles, diced (sometimes grocers incorrectly identify these as pasillas)
1 diced red bell pepper
2 diced jalapeno peppers
1/2 cup sun dried tomatoes finely chopped
1 bunch chopped parsley
1/4 cup chopped fresh oregano
8 oz can diced green chiles
10 oz frozen corn
2/3 cup healthy oil
28 oz vegetable broth
Salt to taste

Instructions:
In large skillet, saute' all veggies and herbs in 2/3 cup oil.  Add Fritos and stuffing and stir.  Add enough vegetable broth to moisten thoroughly.  Remove from stove and add to casserole dish.  As  turkey is cooking, baste with turkey drippings.  Bake for 2 hours at 325 degrees.

Sage Pesto Chicken and Potatoes

I can't wait to try this recipe with a big ole turkey breast!  Dinner last night was so yummy that I just had to share.  We were so full and I was reminded of the words my baby brother said many years ago, "Mommy, my mouth is hungry but my stomach isn't!"

Ingredients:
2 large boneless, skinless chicken breasts
Salt/Pepper
1 medium onion, coarsely chopped
12 small Yukon Gold potatoes, or medley of red, purple, yellow baby potatoes
2 tbsp canola oil
1/4 cup water
2/3 cup sage pesto (recipe follows)

Instructions:
Salt and pepper chicken breasts.  Add canola oil to large fry pan and saute' both sides of chicken breast to brown.  Remove from pan.  Chop small potatoes in half and saute' in pan with onion for about 15 minutes, turning frequently.  Add chicken breasts back into pan, add 1/4 cup water then top chicken breasts with sage pesto.  Turn to simmer, cover, and cook for about 20 minutes. 


Sage Pesto Ingredients:
1 cup fresh sage
1 cup parsley
1 cup walnuts
1/2 cup olive oil
1/2 cup sun-dried tomatoes
3 cloves garlic
Juice of one lemon
Salt/Pepper to taste


Instructions:
Wash parsley and sage, remove large stems.  Coarsely chop garlic.  Puree all ingredients in food processor for 1 minute.

Dairy-Free Pumpkin Swirl Cheese Cake

Back in our other life, (before Don's heart issues) I made pumpkin swirl cheese cake every Thanksgiving.  We all looked forward to it and it was a sad day when cream cheese became off limits!  Then I discovered that you can do amazing things with cashews!  They can substitute milk, sour cream, AND cream cheese!  I tried using other cream cheese substitutes, but like Don Adams, they missed it by that much!  I found that cashews add a degree of richness missed in some of the other cream cheese substitutes.  This recipe definitely takes more time but if you crave cheese cake and need to watch cholesterol, this is a delicious dessert for Thanksgiving!

Ingredients:
4 cups cashew-based cream cheese- recipe follows
2 cups crushed gingersnaps
1 cup pecans
2 tbsps healthy margarine (Smart Balance, Earth Balance, Benecol, etc)
15 oz. can pumpkin puree
1/2 cup non-dairy milk substitute
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 cup granulated cane sugar
1 tbsp. nutritional yeast flakes
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
1 tbsp oil

For Cashew Cream Cheese:
Soak 4 cups raw cashews for at least 6 hours.  Drain and add cashews and 1 cup of water to food processor.  Puree and add more water until mixture reaches the consistency of soft cream cheese.  Add lemon, salt to taste, and 1 tbsp oil.  

For crust:
Preheat over to 350 degrees. Place pecans, gingersnaps, and margarine in food processor and puree until the gingersnaps are crumbly.  Press crumb mixture into bottom of spring-form pan.  Bake approximately 15 minutes until crumb mixture is slightly browned.  Remove from oven and turn oven heat to 325 degrees.

For filling:
Stir together milk substitute, sugar, yeast flakes, vanilla, and salt in large mixing bowl. With electric mixer, add in cashew cream cheese and blend for 1 minute.  Separate out 1 cup cream cheese mixture.  To this add pumpkin, cinnamon, and nutmeg, and stir to mix. Spoon batter over crust, alternating with plain batter, then pumpkin batter.  Use a knife to cut through layers to create a swirl pattern.  Bake approximately 1 hour.

Options for nut allergies: 
Eliminate pecans from crust-  Increase ginger snaps to 3 cups.
Instead of cashew cream, use 3 small (8 oz) containers of Tofutti or vegan substitute for cream cheese.