Alfredo, Lugnuts, Lemons and Raw - Oh my!!!

It has been a busy couple of weeks and I haven’t had much free time lately; hence the lack of posts. Tonight I was determined to share with you two fun meals we have had lately. Neither is from my inspiration book.

The first is a meal my husband created using a recipe from the “Get Sconed!” blog we read. It is called Cashew Miso Alfredo. And it sure made my taste buds happy!!!!

The Alfredo sauce was made from raw soaked cashews, garlic, olive oil, nutritional yeast, and white miso. It had a lovely seasoning of nutmeg and thyme. The center of the sauce was decorated with beautiful sautéed fresh morels that were juicy and flavorful. The sauce and morels rested on a bed of whole-wheat linguine, and Italian parsley added color to the top. Asparagus was on the side.

This is definitely a soon-to-be repeated dish, as fresh morels are seasonal - and we loved it!

For my husband’s birthday we planned a whole day of fun together. We visited the Pearson Air Museum and the Rice Museum of Rocks and Minerals (a surprisingly VERY fun place to go). The evening was topped off with a Johnny Limbo and the Lugnuts concert (which brought back memories from 20+ years ago when we used to dance the night away at their concerts) and drinks at our local Mexican restaurant. It was a great day. The Air Museum is in Vancouver and the Rice Museum is in Hillsboro. We needed a lunch stop in-between the two. Using the totally cool app “Vegan Steven,” we took a chance on a vegetarian restaurant in Beaverton called Sweet Lemon. To our surprise, they had just converted over to 100% vegan. What a delight to be able to order anything on the menu and be confident it was completely plant-based.

Our meal started with an appetizer called “Dancing Drumsticks”: meatless drumsticks seasoned with lemongrass and a spicy sauce. They were yummy and had a great presentation! For the main course, I ordered the Devine Thai Wrap: a rice wrap with brown rice, marinated soy protein, lettuce and Thai peanut sauce. It was so filling; I couldn’t eat it all. My husband ordered the Sweet Lemon Soup: a flavorful soup with tofu, soy ham, and veggies. He quickly devoured it. (Don't you just love the little umbrella on his lemonade??)

Since it was his birthday, we had to share a slice of cake – and it was RAW! The cake was chocolate/orange. It was not as smooth and sicky sweet as a cake from my prior life, but considering it was raw, whole-foods, and healthy, it was definitely a treat!!! And it was chocolate!!! What more do you need? It is a blessing to eat out at a restaurant and know that you are eating food that is fresh, organic and delicious. We can’t wait to go back and try more items from the menu.

You are probably noticing that a bite is missing from the cake! I was so excited to try a raw cake that I took a bite before I remembered to take the picture. Silly me!