Creamy Sweet Pea Pesto Pasta

This sauce was inspired by a Sweet Pea Pesto dish that used to be on the menu at one of my favorite Walla Walla Restaurants, the Green Spoon. It always sounded so good, but the knowledge of how all that cheese and dairy would leave my stomach feeling made me pass it up every time. I'm not sure what the original tasted like, but this plant-based alternative is pretty tasty.

1 cup cashews
2 tbsp. nutritional yeast
Juice from half a lemon
1/2 tsp. smoked salt
2 tsp. dijon mustard
1/4 tsp. paprika
4-6 cloves of garlic
Pepper to taste
2 tbsp. Earth Balance margarine
1 1/2 cups fresh peas (thawed frozen peas will work too)
Big bunch of pea sprouts (cut off the green part to use as a garnish)

Place cashews in blender or food processor and cover with water. Blend until smooth, add more water as necessary to achieve a sauce-like consistency. Add the lemon juice, salt, dijon mustard, paprika, garlic cloves, butter and pepper and blend until thoroughly combined. Add the peas and pea shoots and blend until smooth. If the sauce is too thick, add a small amount of water until desired consistency is reached.

Pour the sauce into a saucepan and cook on medium-low heat for 5-10 minutes. Stir constantly to ensure that sauce doesn't burn. Serve with your favorite pasta, garnish with pea sprouts and enjoy!

Cashew Cream

2 cups whole raw cashews
(not pieces, which are often dry), rinsed very well under cold water.

Put the cashews in a bowl and add cold water to cover them. Cover the bowl and refrigerate overnight.

Drain the cashews and rinse under cold water. Place in a blender with enough fresh cold water to cover them by 1 inch. Blend on high for several minutes until very smooth. To make a thicker cashew cream simply reduce the amount of water until the cashews are barely blended.

Yum Sauce

This sauce adapted from Cafe Yum is a great multi-tasker. Thin it out with a little lemon juice and oil and you have a salad dressing; serve it with beans, rice, lettuce, tomatoes, etc. and you have rice bowls; or use it as a dipping sauce for fries.

1/2 cup water
1/2 cup almonds
1/2 cup lemon juice
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
1 can garbanzo beans
1 block of tofu
3 garlic cloves
1/2 tsp. salt or more to taste
2 tsp. curry powder
1 tsp. turmeric
1 bunch of cilantro

Place the water and almonds in a blender and blend on high for 1 minute, add the rest of the ingredients (except cilantro) and blend until completely smooth and creamy. Add cilantro and blend 30 more seconds or until no leaves remain.