Yet another mind-gooifying day at work, I hardly had time to catch my breath. It was one of the few days that I used the free weight on my desk to bang out some stress exercises while stuck on the phone – a very helpful stress reliever, much better than banging my head into the desk I’m sure. I’ve been trying to relax and come down from such a chaotic day, but knowing tomorrow will be just as bad, probably worse, makes that a little hard. I had planned to go for a run tonight, but that didn’t happen for many reasons. I did a lot of running at work today and my legs felt it when I got home, they were tired and achy. But I still needed to blow off some steam and settled for 45 minutes on an elliptical with a good play list followed by a glass of wine.
After a chilled, breakfast smoothie, monster lunch salad and a couple of small apples for snack today, I was ready for something hearty for dinner with spicy kick. So I thew together one of my favorite raw sauces, Kristen’s Cheezy Hemp Nacho Sauce from her Raw Vegan Hemp Recipes book.
I typically add 1 large or 2 small chopped carrots to the recipe to make it thicker, more orange and to pack in more veggies. It doesn’t seem to alter the flavor.
I wasn’t craving an entirely raw meal though and had a head of cauliflower to use up. But I can only take raw cauliflower in small amounts and sometimes even that’s rough on my tummy. So I chopped up the cauliflower with zucchini and sauteed lightly in coconut oil to minimally cook and soften.
Once softened, I reduced the heat to a low simmer and poured in the nacho sauce and thoroughly mixed.
Before serving, I mixed in fresh chopped cilantro for a nacho veggie feast.
As with everything I use her sauce in, this was wonderful and almost like eating a spicy, rich, creamy, splurging nacho casserole. But really a veggie packed pile of healthful goodness and a great vegan main dish or side dish.
“But I can only take raw cauliflower in small amounts and sometimes even that’s rough on my tummy.”–
Me too. Cauli is actually worse for me than brock which most ppl say is the other way around but i do have to be careful with the cruciferous veggies even tho i love them so.
your sauce over the cauli and this “this was wonderful and almost like eating a spicy, rich, creamy, splurging nacho casserole. “–makes me want to make it all..NOW!
Your comment to me btw, about being good at graphic design stuff..i dont know/get entirely what your day job is re computers and stuff, but honestly, if that ever dries up, you could take your knowledge of blogging, comptuers, web design..and create a business. And unlike others who try to do this and have no clue or dont respond to emails for weeks or whatever :)…you would totally be very successful$$ helping people with this! Just my .02 :)
I actually find cabbage to be the worst of the cruciferous veggies on my belly. I ate a cabbage salad last night (I steamed the cabbage briefly so it wasn’t raw) and my stomach is still growling today.
…and I have cabbage for lunch today too!
That’s the thing about cabbage…you buy one head and end up eating it every day for a week.
Cabbage can be tough on me too, it doesn’t bother me when I put it in smoothies or eat it in sauerkraut form which can be awesome mixed in a salad with avocado dressing or a hemp seed curry sauce.
I usually have the same lunch as dinner too because it’s too easy to make a big salad at once for a couple of meals especially during a crazy week like this.
Aw, thanks! :-) I got 2-year in graphic design years ago out of high school when I was still deciding what I wanted to do when I grow up and going to community college. But it was tough to make a living with it in Florida at the time and I continued into other IT areas. You could totally rock personal home training and I bet there are plenty of people in SoCal who would pay lots!
Oooh, this looks so good! I’m glad you cooked up a nice comforting meal for yourself after such a stressful day at work :-(
Just found your site and am excited to look through your recipes. I’m currently on an all raw detox until February and need inspiration! I plan on stay pretty high raw even after February too but don’t have a whole lot of experience with meal prep. I usually roast, steam or stir fry my veggies!
Hi and welcome! That’s great about the raw detox, I gained so much energy when I went 100% for awhile and am currently about 50-70% raw for the winter. Please let me know if you’re looking for recipe books or have any questions.
This looks fab! I keep seeing things like this, and haven’t made it yet…I like the idea of heating it up rather than eating the dish completely raw!
I’ve been known to cook or heat up raw recipes when I’m craving something hot and am now discovering creating more cooked vegan sauces with hemp seeds. This recipe came together quick, in about 20 minutes, so it worked out well for a week night.
So, like yesterday, this recipe is amazing- I’m a sucker for anything creamy and HEALTHY (<—this is key) This looks Soooooooooooooooooo good.
Thanks! :-) Me too, I love coming up with healthier, veggie-loaded versions of indulgent recipes.
YUM! We need to try Kristen’s Hemp Nacho sauce always looks so good!
Oh I missed so much!! I love the layout of your blog it looks so fresh!!
That sauce looks so delicious, I really need to get my hands on Kristen’s books.