parsnip and sweet potato au gratin!

So a couple weeks ago, I found a recipe online for a Gratin dish--> here. So I went to the farmer's market, and bought a whole load of parsnips, I got home all excited to make the Parsnip Gratin, looked online for the recipe, when I realized it was RUTABAGA gratin! I got all grumpy and was like "what the heck am I gonna do with all these parsnips???" The hubby told me to calm down, and I reluctantly decided to make the dish anyways.

I had lots of second thoughts as I was preparing the sauce and the parsnips, I believe I even canceled dinner once or twice. When it started baking, it started filling up the house with a rich cheesey smell... Then we ate it, it had great texture, and the cashew cream sauce was fantastic as a "gratin." We did agree that parsnips are a pretty strong flavor, and this gratin would be improved upon by adding other veggies. So I decided to improve upon the gratin last night. Here's what I did and, by the way, it came out great!

ingredients:

1 3/4 c. boiling water
1 c. raw cashews
1/2 c. tahini
2 T chickpea (light) miso
1 big parsnip
1 big sweet potato
1/2 small red onion
salt
pepper
thyme
nutmeg

-cover cashews with boiling water, let sit for 20-30 minutes.
-using immersion blender, blend cashews (with water), tahini and the miso. this should be super creamy and smooth
-prepare veggies! i used the food processor to make thin discs of the parsnip and sweet potato. i also chopped up the onion into lil pieces
-coat baking dish with oil.
-then layer your gratin. i started with one layer of parsnips, then a lil salt, pepper, thyme. then a layer of sweet potato and a lil onion, then more salt, pepper, thyme. then added about 1/3 the cashew cream sauce. then more veggies, spices, etc... until you've used up all the veggies, and topped with the last of the sauce
-cover the dish, and bake at 400 for 50 min. use a knife to check for tenderness. if the dish is almost done, top with garlic breadcrumbs and bake for 10 more min until golden.

Buffalo "Chicken" Dip

Sorry for lack of blogging lately, December always gets so nutty and busy, and truthfully, I was a lil burnt out from Vegan MOFO, but I'm feeling inspired to share my food again, so here goes...

Today we were invited to a New Year's Day party at the hubby's Dad's house. I wanted to share a snacky..

I have never actually eaten Buffalo Chicken dip, but I've seen it brought to many parties, and it sounds like the type of food I'd like, you know.. creamy, spicy, salty. So I decided to attempt to make my own vegan version. Made with processed food, for sure, so not healthy at all.... but I wasn't really going for healthy anyways.

ingredients:
Gardein Frozen Buffalo Wings
Vegenaise
Tofutti Better than Cream Cheese
Frank's Red Hot
powdered garlic
powdered onion
Chipotle Parma (vegan parmesan cheese)

-I prepared the buffalo wings, on the stove top, as suggested on the package. I ended up using about 1 and 1/2 packages of wings, as that's what I had in my freezer. Once the wings were all cooked, I added one of the sauce packets that comes with the wings to the pan, then coated the wings. I then put them in the food processor, and pulsed several times, until the "chicken" was shredded.
-I combined the shredded "chicken" with 1 tub of Tofutti, ~1/2 cup of vegenaise, a couple dashes of hot sauce, with garlic, onion and Parma sprinkled in.
-I put this in a baking dish, topped with a lil Parma, and warmed it up in the oven til hot.

So, this was amazing, maybe nothing like other versions of Buffalo Chicken dip, but yum yum yum!