Tag: nutritional yeast

Creamy Cauliflower Sweetcorn Baby Blend (& Some Info On Nutritional Yeast)

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Cauliflower Corn Nutritional Yeast

(Sorry for the bad picture on this one – busy mama alert!)

Just because Braxton is dairy-free, doesn’t mean he misses out. The combination of cauliflower and sweetcorn is great, it goes really creamy. Add to that some nutritional yeast and it literally could not get any creamier if you were to add butter!

The term ‘nutritional yeast’ isn’t particularly appealing, but it is not the same as brewers yeast. It is deactivated so doesn’t froth or grow. It’s essentially a single-cell organism which is grown on molasses then harvested, washed then dried, and this deactivates it. It is very high in Vitamin B12 which is essential in our diets and is used by vegans as a cheese substitute. I know it sounds weird but give it a go!

This doesn’t even need any herbs as the cauliflower and corn are both so flavoursome.

Ingredients

1 cauliflower
1 small tin organic sweetcorn
2 tbsp nutritional yeast

Method

Break the cauliflower into florets then steam.

After about 7  minutes add the corn to the steamer and keep steaming for a further 5 minutes.

Add to the blender with the nutritional yeast and blend.

Spoon into smaller containers or food cube trays if you are batch cooking (this makes quite a large batch).

Love & health,
Lauren & Braxton

Cauliflower Pizza Base

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Cauliflower Pizza 1

We already have a couple of pizza base recipes on the blog, but I came up with a new one recently and it’s definitely my favourite. I use a combination of cauliflower and zucchini with psyllium husks so it is gluten- and grain-free. The mixture comes out a very vivid lime green, which is fun for kids – you can tell them it’s a Shrek pizza 🙂

Ingredients

For the tomato sauce:
1 onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic
1 tin organic tomatoes
3 – 4 dates, pips removed
1/2 tsp dried origanum
1/2 tsp Oryx Desert Salt

For the base:
330g cauliflower
330g zucchini (you could just use 660g cauliflower if you prefer)
1 tsp Oryx Desert Salt
30ml nutritional yeast
2 eggs
125ml psyllium husks

Method

To make the sauce, sauté the onion in some olive oil until it starts to caramelise. Add the garlic and fry for a few more minutes. Add the tinned tomato, dates, and origanum. Simmer over a low heat for 30 – 40 minutes. Add the salt and blend until smooth. The key to a good tomato sauce is balancing the acidity of the tomato with sweetness. So if it doesn’t taste quite right, try adding another date.

For the base, steam the cauliflower and zucchini until tender. Blend with the eggs, salt and nutritional yeast until completely smooth. Then add the psyllium husks and blend to combine. The mixture will be quite thick and gloopy.

Cauliflower Pizza 2

Line a large baking tray (about 30cm x 40cm) with baking paper and then spread the mixture out onto the paper, as thinly and evenly as you can. The easiest is to use the back of a metal spoon, as this sticks to the mixture, helping you to pull and stretch it into a thin base (plastic doesn’t work as well.)

Cauliflower Pizza 3

Spread the tomato sauce over the base and then add your toppings. Here I’ve used a combination of organic cheddar and pecorino, but you could use nut cheese if you wanted to make it dairy-free. I topped it with olives, sun-dried tomatoes and chilli, and added fresh basil after it came out the oven.

Bake at 200 C for 30 – 40 minutes. The base will puff up while baking, but will shrink down again once removed from the oven.

Health & happiness!

Love,
Raine

Spicy Kale Chips

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Spicey Kale Chips 2

This is a variation of my regular Raw Kale Chips. By adding dried onion and tamari you get more of an umami flavour and the cumin seeds give them a middle eastern twist. Healthy snacking!

Ingredients

150 – 200g kale leaves, weighed once you have removed the tough centre stem
70g raw cashews
45ml fresh lemon juice
60ml water
1 tbsp nutritional yeast
1/2 tsp cayenne
1 tbsp dried onion
10ml organic tamari
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1/2 tsp Oryx Desert salt

Method

Tear the kale leaves into pieces about 5cm square, making sure that there are no tough stems remaining.

Place the remaining ingredients except for the cumin seeds into a blender, and blend until smooth. You may need to add a little extra water to get a dressing-like consistency which can be poured over the kale. Add the cumin seeds and blend just for a couple of seconds, so that you don’t grind them completely but still have bits of seeds.

Pour over the kale leaves and use your hands to “massage” the dressing into the leaves, making sure that it gets into all the frilly bits of the leaves.

Spread the leaves out on dehydrator trays and dehydrate at 46 C overnight. If you don’t have a dehydrator you can dry them in your oven on its lowest temperature.

Store in an airtight container.

Health & happiness!

Love,
Raine

Basil Pesto

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This is my dairy-free version of pesto (traditionally you would add parmesan,) and using a combination of cashews and sunflower seeds makes it more economical.  If you have pine nuts, feel free to use them! If you have a nut allergy you could replace the nuts with more seeds.
This will keep in a jar in the fridge for about a week, or you could make a big batch when you have lots of basil and freeze it in smaller portions. I often freeze sauces in an ice tray, and then put the cubes into a freezer bag. That way you can just defrost a few cubes at a time, instead of the whole lot.

I’ve given alternatives in case you feel like a change, or if you don’t have the correct ingredients on hand.

Ingredients

80g fresh basil leaves (or replace 40g with fresh spinach)
1/2 cup raw cashews (or macadamias)
2 tbsp raw sunflower seeds (or pumpkin seeds)
2 cloves garlic
1/2 tsp Himalayan salt
1 tbsp nutritional yeast
juice of 1 lemon, or to taste
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

Method

I like my pesto chunky so I make it in a food processor, but you could do it in a blender if you prefer it smoother. Simply throw in all the ingredients and pulse until you have the desired consistency. As with all our dips & sauces, taste for seasoning and adjust if necessary to the way you like it!
I find that this makes the perfect consistency for using as a dip or spread, but if you want to use it as a sauce for gnocchi for example, add a few drops of water just to loosen it up a bit.

Health and happiness!

Love,
Raine