Fettuccine Alfredo was one of my favorite foods before I went vegan, so I’m surprised it took me a year to get around to veganizing this dish. This recipe isn’t exactly like regular alfredo sauce, but it’s close enough to satisfy my cravings! I like to use cashews for cheesy Italian things (ricotta, alfredo, etc) because I think it works better, taste wise, than soymilk or tofu. So when I found a simple recipe for cashew alfredo on vegweb, it got my gears turning. I tried a few other recipes online before this one, and the cashew recipe was closer to authentic than the others. I’d imagine if you can get your hands on some mimic cream, you could probably substitute that in for the cashews & hot water.

Vegan Alfredo Sauce
makes about 1 1/2 cups of sauce- enough for two people

• 1 cup cashews (I used raw)
• 1-1 1/2 cups hot water (you can even take it straight from the pasta water)
• 1 tsp garlic powder (or 1-2 cloves of fresh)
• 1/2 tsp onion powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 2 tbsp nutritional yeast
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• juice from 1/4 a lemon (about 1 1/2 tsp)
• 2 tbsp Earth Balance margarine (optional)
• parsley flakes (optional)

I started out by placing my cashews and 1 cup of hot water in my food processor, and pulsed until it was smooth looking. In retrospect, the sauce was kind of grainy from bits of cashews (as seen below), so next time i’ll use a clean coffee grinder on the cashews first, or just a blender instead of a food processor.

once the cashew cream is smooth, add the remaining ingredients (minus the parsley), and blend. If your sauce is too thick, add more hot water. I added the earth balance straight onto the pasta to melt, but if you want to blend it up in the sauce, you can melt it or soften it first. You can also add other ingredients to change the sauce to your taste: a pinch of nutmeg, some vegan Parmesan cheese, your favorite spice!

pour the sauce over cooked pasta of your choice (fettuccine is good, but i only had spaghetti), stir, sprinkle with parsley, and serve immediately! For me, non-vegan alfredo leftovers were never really as good, so I’d imagine this variation doesn’t reheat well, either.

this is one of my favorite vegan lasagnas EVER! I combined a few recipes: the cashew ricotta is from Vegan with a Vengence, I think. and the “carrot mixture” + base lasagna recipe is from vegweb.

Ingredients:
2-3 jars of favorite spaghetti sauce
1-16 oz bag of spinach leaves
2-3 jars of tomato sauce (optional)
1/2 lb. carrots
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
2 cloves minced garlic
1/4 cup canned low-sodium veggie broth (optional)
1 lb. firm tofu
8 oz. vegan cream cheese
2 Tblspns. lemon juice
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
12 lasagna noodles, cooked
1/4 cup nutritional yeast (optional)
Vegan Cheese for grating (optional)

for the cashew ricotta:
1/2 cup cashews
1/4 cup lemon juice (i just squeeze 1/2 a lemon)
2 tbsp olive oil
2 cloves garlic
1 lb firm tofu
1 1/2 tsp dried basil
1 1/2 tsp salt

Directions: Blend up cashew ricotta ingredients in a food processor, and set aside. for Carrot Mixture: Slice carrots and steam, set aside. Add olive oil to a large skillet, place over medium-high heat until hot. Add parsley and garlic, saute for 1 minute.. Add carrots and veggie broth; simmer uncovered for 5 min. Add tofu, vegan cream cheese, and lemon juice; stir well. Cook over medium heat stirring constantly until fake cheesy stuff starts to melt.Stir in nutmeg and Nutritional Yeast. Remove from heat and set aside; keep warm.

in an 11 x 7 baking dish, layer lasagna: noodles, pasta sauce, noodles, carrot mixture, spinach, noodles, ricotta, noodles, pasta sauce, chopped cashews, teese cheese. Cover and bake 15 min. at 375 degrees. Uncover and bake an additional 20-30 min.

this recipe is from the lovely tracy of shutterbean, I modified it slightly, and veganized it and it was simply deeeeeeelicious!

• 1 large yellow onion
• 1 tablespoon of olive oil
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 1 tablespoon of dried thyme
• 2 teaspoons curry powder
• 7 large zucchini, cut into chunks
• 1 quart of vegetable stock
• 1 cup of soymilk
• 1/4 cup of melted vegan butter (i used earth balance) mixed thoroughly with 1/4 cup of flour

In a large pot, Sautee onion and garlic in olive oil until transparent. Add Thyme and zucchini. Cook Until soft. Add curry powder, soymilk & stock. Bring to a boil. Add butter & flour mixture. Reduce heat and simmer soup for 15 minutes. Puree soup in blender or use an immersion blender(ironically i didnt have either, so i used a hand mixer on high speed… didnt quite do the trick because there was still chunks of zuchinni in the soup. i found a small smoothie blender that my mom had given me right before i left houston, and that worked perfectly. i never thought i would use that thing, so thanks mom! hehe).

I added pepper and garlic salt, to taste, and it was wonderful. I also added a can of peas, but that really didnt do much, so i think i’ll forget that addition next time around. this was super easy and inexpensive, and the recipe yields enough for your whole family, with plenty of leftovers to pawn off on the neighbors (or hungry vegans at the tattoo shop) :)