If you have ever been to Oregon, you might have been to a local restaurant chain called Cafe Yumm. Most of their food is just rice bowls, but what makes this restaurant really unique is the signature sauce. I wanted to find a good recipe so that I could make the sauce at home, but most of the recipes I found online were not very close to the real thing. I have been tinkering with the recipe for about a year, and now I finally have something that is ridiculously close to the original! This sauce is awesome!
Ingredients:
1/2 cup toasted slivered almonds
3/4 cup cooked garbanzo beans (~1/2 15 oz. can)
3/4 cup cooked soybeans (not edamame beans)
1/2 cup canola or vegetable oil
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
3/4 cup nutritional yeast
1-2 garlic cloves
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 teaspoons curry powder
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon dried cilantro
1 teaspoon cumin
1/4 teaspoon lemon pepper seasoning (or add a little black pepper and lemon zest)
2 teaspoons toasted sesame seeds
Directions:
1. In a food processor, blend toasted almonds, garbanzo beans, soybeans, and oil.
2. Add remaining ingredients and blend until creamy and smooth.
This recipe was adapted from the recipe at http://www.food.com/recipe/yummy-sauce-297251. I modified this recipe heavily, as the original recipe was not very close to real Yumm sauce.
We had a ton of basil from our garden recently, and I really wanted to make pesto. Unfortunately, we didn't have any pine nuts, but we did have slivered almonds. So, I toasted the almonds up and made this. Definitely different than pesto with pine nuts, but really awesome in its own way. I would definitely make this again!
Ingredients:
1/4 cup toasted almonds
3-4 cloves garlic
1 1/2 cups fresh basil leaves
1/2 cup olive oil
1/3 cup parmesan cheese
1 pinch ground nutmeg
salt and pepper, to taste
Directions:
1. Add toasted almonds, garlic, basil, olive oil, parmesan cheese, nutmeg, salt and pepper to food processor and process until a desired consistency is achieved. You may want to scrape down the sides a few times.
This recipe was adapted from the recipe at Allrecipes (http://allrecipes.com/recipe/easy-pesto/detail.aspx).
I've tried several different recipes for homemade pizza sauce now, and none of them were truly amazing. Some were pretty awesome for how easy they were, but I wanted to find a recipe that was awesome when time was not a factor. This recipe definitely lived up to my expectations! It requires quite a lot of time to simmer, but it was definitely worth it.
Ingredients:
2 Tablespoons olive oil
2 Tablespoons butter
6-8 cloves of garlic, minced
1 Tablespoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 ½ teaspoon dried basil
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 15 oz. can. of tomato sauce
1 15 oz. can petite diced tomatoes
1 6 oz. can tomato paste
½ cup fresh parmesan cheese, grated
4 teaspoons brown sugar
1 teaspoon lemon pepper seasoning
2/3 cup warm water
salt and pepper to taste
Directions:
1. Over medium heat, add the olive oil and butter to large pot and heat until butter is fully melted.
2. Add the garlic, cook for 1 minute, constantly stirring. Add the onion powder, red pepper flakes, basil and oregano.
3. Add tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, tomato paste, parmesan cheese, brown sugar, lemon pepper seasoning, and water.
4. Stir to combine, blend with an immersion blender, and bring to a light boil.
5. Turn down to low, season to taste and simmer for 1-2 hours for best flavor.
This recipe was modified from Oh, Sweet Basil (http://www.ohsweetbasil.com/2013/04/pizza-sauce.html).
