Thursday 27 August 2015

Carrot almond sauce for bowl food - and random moments

This carrot almond sauce started as bowl food and ended as dip.  I really love bowl food that looks gorgeous and is full of healthy food.  I used whatever I could find for this meal.  Also important is that putting together the bowl was quick and easy.  Strangely I am enjoying celery lately.  Which is probably a result of buying bunches of celery that I must eat through one way or another.  Fresh crisp celery is so refreshing. 

I made some changes to the carrot ginger almond sauce I found at Coconut and Berries.  Emma used almond nut butter.  I had no nut butter on hand so I used whole almonds which blended easily in my Froothie high powered blender.  I also found it easy to use sriracha rather than fresh ginger.  I forgot the turmeric but left it in the recipe as I will use it next time.  And I added some milk to help it blend, which still resulted in quite a thick sauce.  More dip than sauce actually.  But what's in a name.  It was light and really tasty - spicy, smoky, sweet - and lifted a bowl of grains, beans and vegies.


And I will end with a few random moments:
  • Last week I rode past a nursing home and smelt that they were making a pea soup kind of lunch.  It made me wonder about nursing homes for Sylvia's generation which had so many food allergies.  Will they remember their food allergies in old age?  Will nursing home staff spend lots of time labelling and keeping food separate?  Will there be a spate of food allergy related deaths in the eldery?
  • Last night I made sweet potato and lentil soup for tea.  I had told E that I was making it.  Yet when he arrived home late and went to heat up his tea, he still looked under the tea towel into the rising bread dough rather than going to the saucepan on the stove!  Curiosity?  Confusion?  Hope?
  • Recently there was a story in the news about the Victorian Liberal Party's missing millions of dollars.  What horrified me was the suggestion that if they had had that money in the election last year they might have had more chance in the marginal seats and of winning the election.  I know our electoral system is not ideal.  Yet I still feel despair at the suggestion that money can win elections.

I am sending this to Meat Free Mondays and Healthy Vegan Fridays.

Previously on Green Gourmet Giraffe:
One year ago: Vegan flourless almond choc chip cookies
Two year ago: Mini baked doughnuts and fun stuff
Three years ago: NCR African Curried Coconut Soup
Four years ago: Potage St Germain
Five years ago: Florentines, salads and what's in a name
Six years ago: Potato boston bun
Seven years ago: WTSIM ... Beer Bread
Eight years ago: Blues Clues Birthday Cake

Carrot Almond Sauce
Adapted from Coconut and Berries
serves 2-4

1 cup chopped carrots (about 2 medium)
1/3 cup soy milk
1 tbsp raw almonds
1 tbsp smoked almonds
1 tbsp nutritional yeast flakes
1 tbsp water
1/2 tbsp white miso
1/2 tbsp maple syrup
1/2 tbsp tamari
1 tsp sriracha
1 small clove of garlic
1/4 tsp ground turmeric

Cook carrots and blend with remaining ingredients.

Serving suggestion:
Heat some cooked black beans with tamari and old bay seasoning, add warm cooked brown rice, chopped celery, snow peas and spinach.  Top with a generous spoonful or two of sauce.  It also makes a great dip.

On the stereo:
Turn turn turn: Dan Zanes and Elizabeth Mitchell with you are my flower

16 comments:

  1. This carrot almond sauce looks amazing, I have been eating carrots by the bagful and almond butter by the jarful lately! Need to try it out. Also, I just wanted to say I've got a Froothie blender too (Optimum 9400) - they are amazing aren't they?!

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    1. Thanks Kyra - we go through heaps of carrots but I really need to make more almond butter. The froothie is great - especially when it comes to forgetting to soak nuts :-)

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  2. i'm guessing that eventually everyone will wear wristbands with their food allergies on them and the people at the hospitals and nursing homes will be required to check them at every meal...but it is stressful to think about!

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    1. Thanks Joanne - I wondered if wristbands would be common - thought I am watching a show called Humans about having synthetic humans (ie robots) doing a lot of jobs including looking after the elderly and having all their details entered into the robots - maybe technology will have developed enough by then to make it easier

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  3. I'm surprised at how small an amount of almonds is in this. I wonder if it's lower in calories as a result?

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    1. Thanks Mae - I like that it has enough nuts to be creamy but is mostly vegie - I assume it makes it lower in calories, especially as it is not as rich as some nut sauces

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  4. I love the look and sound of your dip. It looks so yummy with all the things you have prepared to go with it. You have some great flavours here xx

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    1. Thanks Charlie - the flavours are quite similar to a lot of vegan cheese sauces but this is more vegie than a lot of them which makes it a bit different

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  5. I'm glad you shared this! It looks great as a dip or a sauce and a nice way to make grains and vegetables more exciting. I think I'd use ginger and sriracha :D

    I enjoyed your musings too. If E is like Mr Bite, he would have been hoping for something other than soup even if he knew soup was it ;)

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    1. Thanks Kari - I want to get in the habit of more bowls of vegies and grains and protein with some interesting sauce. I think E partly does it because he always looked for what was about in his mum's kitchen and old habits die hard :-)

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  6. This sauce sounds good Johanna. I have to make bowl food for a group today with homemade hummus.

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    1. Thanks Cakelaw - how intriguing to be making bowl food for a group - would love to know more - sounds great with hummus

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  7. The sounds great! I may try the ginger instead of sriracha though ;p
    "It made me wonder about nursing homes for Sylvia's generation which had so many food allergies."
    I volunteer in a nursing home and it seems like all of the residents get the same food. Sadly, I'm not sure how much consideration is taken into for allergies, beliefs and preferences. I hadn't thought of the allergy aspect - it is concerning, I was worried about if I ever have to live in one and they don't make me vegan food.

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    1. Thanks Kimmy - I am sure it would be very nice with the ginger - I think I was being lazy! I did wonder if the food would just be very bland and plain to avoid upsetting any digestion systems - but even stuff like fodmaps and salicylates will be challenging. I have also wondered how they will deal with vegetarians and vegans

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    2. Oh I hadn't even thought of things like fodmaps :/ That would be a tough one. I guess I better start saving my money to get into a fancy nursing home that will make me fancy vegan food *sigh*
      Anyway - thanks so much for sharing this at HVF - I'm pinning this =)

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  8. This sounds seriously yum. I'm such a snack-y, dip kind of girl so the option of having a healthy carrot dip is great! The heat from the sriracha and the protein from the almonds sounds ideal :)

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