Cauliflower cashew cream alfredo sauce that looks and tastes just like alfredo, except it doesn’t have any butter, heavy cream or cheese in it! You would never know that it’s loaded with cauliflower and buttery cashews! Vegan, gluten-free & dairy-free.
When we came home from the 4th of July party we went to last weekend, Travis and I watched a documentary on Netflix called, “Vegucated.” It follows three New Yorkers on their journey of transitioning to a fully vegan lifestyle. It was very eye-opening and some parts were pretty hard to watch, like the tour through an old slaughter house.
There are different types of vegetarians, none eat meat, but some eat animal products and some don’t. Vegans don’t consume any meat or any animal products like eggs or dairy, and they don’t use any products that came from animals.
What’s The Big Deal About Eating Meat?
Something I learned that surprised me is that factory farming of animals causes something like 3x more emissions into the atmosphere than a car does! So, not only is eating red meat bad for your health, it’s also bad for the environment.
Because the world population is growing so quickly, the demand for meat is getting higher every day. That’s where the use of antibiotics and hormones come into play. The industry wants to grow the biggest animals the quickest way possible and they don’t care about what happens to the animal in the process. They definitely don’t care about the people who consume the animals who consumed the hormones and antibiotics.
I used to think that if we ate meat, buying only organic and free range meat made it okay– but it’s not. Just because it’s labeled organic doesn’t mean that the animals are treated humanely. I don’t want to have any part in torturing animals just so we can eat them when we can get our protein from many other sources.
So after we watched all this, I asked Travis how he felt about going vegetarian. Travis is a big meat eater, but over the last few years, I’ve been working more and more vegetarian meals into our menu. He especially loves my roasted sweet potato enchiladas, lentil stuffed red cabbage rolls, lentil quinoa meatballs, and sweet potato burgers. He said he would try his best and that’s all I can ask for. I cook all of the food at home, so unless he eats outside of the house than I pretty much know what he’s eating.
Eventually, I would like for both of us to be vegan but we’re taking baby steps for now. How do you feel about this?
Okay, enough of that. Let’s get to the food!
Cauliflower is Magical!
Yes, cauliflower is one of those magical vegetables that you can turn into just about anything! Cauliflower “chicken” tacos, spicy thai cauliflower soup, cauliflower rice, couscous with spinach cauliflower sauce, cauliflower crust pizza, the list goes on and on!
It’s so versatile and easy to make. Even just tossing it in buffalo sauce and baking it at 400 degrees for 20 minutes is so good!
Since I’ve experimented with cauliflower sauce before, I already knew it was delicious but I thought that adding the cashews would give it that buttery taste that makes alfredo sauce so darn addicting. It worked! The cauliflower cashew cream alfredo sauce came out so creamy and thick, just like a butter and cream loaded sauce would.
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- Sauce -
- 4 cups cauliflower florets 1 large head
- 1 small sweet onion
- 2 Tbsp + 1 Tbsp coconut oil
- 1/2 cup raw cashews
- 1 14 oz can unsweetened coconut milk Milk only, discard the water
- 1 cup veggie stock or water
- 1 Tbsp nutritional yeast
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp Italian seasonings
- 5-6 basil leaves for garnish, thinly sliced
- Sea salt & pepper
- Pasta -
- 2 medium zucchini
- 2 medium sweet potatoes
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Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
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Quarter the onion and cut all the cauliflower florets off the stem. Arrange on a parchment lined tray and drizzle 2 Tbsp olive oil over the top. Sprinkle sea salt and pepper. Toss and use your hands to rub the oil in until evenly coated. Bake for 20 minutes.
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Remove from the oven, let cool for 10 minutes.
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Add cooked cauliflower, onion, cashews, coconut milk, nutritional yeast, and veggie stock into the blender. Blend until completely smooth.
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In a large saute pan, cook the spiralized veggies until they've softened slightly. About 5-6 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Remove the noodles from the pan, set aside.
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Pour sauce into the pan over medium-low heat. Add garlic and Italian seasonings. Season with salt and pepper.
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Add noodles back in and serve immediately. Top with fresh basil.
I sauteed the sweet potato and zucchini noodles for about 5 minutes to get them a little softer and more noodle-like. I mixed in the cauliflower cashew cream alfredo sauce and topped it with fresh basil. Even Travis loved it, he said it tasted better than his favorite full-fat alfredo sauce.
Which Spiralizer Do I Use?
I just got my new spiralizer in the mail, so I really wanted to spiralize some veggies to make a pasta base for my delicious cauliflower cashew cream sauce! In case you’re wondering, I decided on the OXO spiralizer after lots of research and reading hundreds of reviews.
I chose the OXO spiralizer because I liked that it had one huge suction cup on the bottom of the appliance and it has a separate container to store the extra blades in when you’re not using them. I kept imagining myself trying to hold the spiralizer on the counter while it moved as I was spiralizing, and it eventually falling off, and the blades that other spiralizers store on the bottom, falling out and cutting my toes off. Yikes!
I definitely made the right choice. Once you move the lever and the suction cup grabs on, it’s not moving unless an earthquake rips the counter apart. I’m very happy with it so far and would highly recommend it to you if you’re in the market for a new spiralizer.
Leftover Veggies with Cauliflower Cashew Cream Alfredo Sauce and Spinach Over Quinoa – Don’t Throw Out Spiralizer “Waste.”
Today for lunch, I wanted to use up the rest of the cauliflower cashew cream alfredo sauce in a different way. I love taking one recipe and turning it into a completely different meal the next day.
You know how after you spiralize the veggies, you’re left with the long skinny middle pieces and tiny ends? A lot of people just throw those leftover bits away. I’m 100% against wasting food, so I either add them to my bag of veggies in the freezer for the next time I make garden veggie barley soup, or I cut them up and add them to a recipe I’m making that day.
I diced and sauteed the sweet potato and zucchini chunks until they softened slightly, added 1/2 a bag of frozen spinach and the rest of the cream sauce. I spooned it over quinoa and we had it for lunch. It was easy, tasty and a protein-packed lunch that we both enjoyed.
- 2 cups of diced veggies
- 1-2 Tbsp coconut oil
- 2 Tbsp water
- 1 cup cauliflower cashew cream sauce
- ½ bag of frozen spinach
- 1 cup quinoa
- Cook quinoa according to package instructions, set aside covered to keep warm.
- Dice the leftover spiralized veggie bits and saute in a pan over medium heat in coconut oil. Add water to help steam and soften.
- Add the frozen spinach and leftover cream sauce to the pan. Cook until everything is heated all the way through, stir every few minutes.
- Serve over warm quinoa for a quick lunch.
I still have a little bit of the cauliflower cashew cream alfredo sauce leftover, so if I think of any other recipes to use it in, I’ll update this post with a picture of the dish!
What would you use the cauliflower cashew cream alfredo sauce for? Any recipe ideas? Let me know in the comments, I’d love to hear from you!
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