Egg White Bites (Plus)

I’ve been altering my intake of food for the past 18 months in an effort to be on a more healthy path. So far, I’ve lost the 15 or so pandemic pounds plus a few more that fluctuate a bit. (This is really a recipe post, but I wanted to talk a little about this food journey too.)

First, I swapped foods I was eating for similar ones that had less fat, or less carbs, or less sugars, or a combination thereof. Did this until I was happy with the end result, which meant giving away some food that was a taste bridge too far.

Second, I added regular exercise. Semi-regular, regular exercise. My body was not always cooperative. Figured out a few things, like the pain in my knees was controllable by standing on foot wakers to make my foot muscles unclench. Amazing how connected everything is.

Third, even though I was losing weight, despite the plateaus that lasted 2 months or so, my bloodwork had one concerning value. I did a little research and have adopted slow eating. This basically means fully eating what’s in my mouth before getting more food on my fork or spoon. Remains to be seen if this helps with that one value. It definitely helped me get past the latest plateau.

And now for the recipe - egg whites are not a normal part of my diet, but I’ve had to make some different choices for the next 4-6 months.

Egg White Bites (short version)

Preheat oven at 350 F

1 32 oz carton of egg whites, 7-8 cloves of garlic, spinach, optional Beyond Beef, salt and pepper to taste

Put it all in a blender and rev that up to half speed. Let it blend while you prep the muffin tins.

Line a muffin tin (or two) with paper baking cups. Pour the blender mix into the paper baking cups. Fill about 2/3rds, maybe a little more. This should make 24 large bites. Bake for 40 minutes. The egg whites will sink and the spinach will rise, so these will be white on the bottom half and green on top. Let cool, stick them in the fridge to get them cold, then try to peel off the paper cup. It’ll peel easier when cold, but it still might be a bear.

Cashew Cream Sauce - Salad Dressing Base

I wanted both cashew cream sauce and salad dressing last night, so I made a base that could go either way. Starting with this cashew cream sauce recipe, I put it all together except for the nutritional yeast. Also didn’t add any water but you may need to depending on how well everything is blending together.

For the dressing, I separated 1/2 cup of the base and added 1/2 cup vinegar. With that much vinegar on top of the lemon juice, it packs a punch. I like it that way. You may need to adjust accordingly. Perhaps a 1/3 vinegar to 2/3 base combination.

I finished off the cream sauce with water and nutritional yeast and poured that into a container. After I rinsed out the blender, I poured in the dressing mixture and blended in 1/2 banana.

And that’s it. Pasta sauce and salad dressing done at the same time. This dressing - without any avocado - lasts 3-4 weeks.

Cashew Cream Sauce - Updated

This recipe is best if you have a mega-blender or a food processor. It can probably be done in a regular blender though you may get a more chunky sauce.

I’ve made several versions and posted some here. Today’s is my favorite, by far. Ingredient list first and then I’ll walk through the order that may be easiest.

Ingredients:

Juice of 1 Lemon

1 Zucchini - peeled and chopped

1-2 Carrots - peeled and chopped - yellow preferred but not required

1/3 medium yellow Onion

3-4 cloves Garlic

3 oz raw, unsalted Cashews

3/4 cup Nutritional Yeast

Salt & Black Pepper to taste (1/4 tsp @ as a suggestion)

Water as needed

If you’re using a regular blender, soak the cashews in water overnight so they soften for easier blending. Drain before adding them to the recipe. If your carrots are on the small side, then use two. Yellow carrots are preferred simply due to the effect on the final color of the sauce.

Put the lemon juice in first, then add the zucchini. If you notice lemon seeds have jumped into your blender, try to fish them out before adding the zucchini. Blend on low so the zucchini won’t hop away from the blades. It doesn’t have to be blended completely yet. Add a little water to help - probably less than 1/8 cup. 

Add the carrots, blend a little more, but this time work up to high briefly. Add the onion and garlic, salt and pepper. Blend all of this on high until it’s smooth. It should be fairly thin.

Add the cashews and the nutritional yeast. Work up to high slowly when blending so the yeast gets pulled into the mixture instead of decorating the inside of the lid. Blend on high until smooth.

At any point that it seems this will not blend nicely, try a tamper or add a little water.

If it’s too thin at the end, add more cashews and/or nutritional yeast. If it’s too thick, add more water or lemon juice.

Green Cashew Cream Sauce

We’re out of zucchini and I wanted a pasta sauce, plus I needed breakfast smoothies for this week. 

First I made an unsweetened cashew oat milk.

1 cup raw, unsalted Cashews

1 cup gluten-free Rolled Oats

6 cups water

Blend this on high in a Vita-Mix liquid container for 3 minutes to cook the oats. This can be done on the stovetop. Check the links here for vegan milk to find the stovetop directions link. That might mean making the oat milk first and then adding the cashews in the next step below.

I poured the milk into another container and then started on the cashew cream sauce in the Vita-Mix.

2 cups unsweetened Cashew/Oat Milk (see above)

1/2 pkg frozen Spinach (~8 oz)

3 peeled Carrots

Blend this on high until smooth. Add in -

1/2 medium Yellow Onion

4 cloves Garlic

2 tbl Apple Cider Vinegar

1/2 tsp Salt

1/2 tsp Pepper

Blend this on high until smooth. Add in -

1 cup Nutritional Yeast

Blend on medium or whatever it takes to get the mixture spinning. If you want a creamier texture, add more cashews.

The rest of the milk became smoothies by adding the other 1/2 pkg of spinach and a bunch of different fruits.

Cashew Cream Sauce

Update (6/18) I add 2 carrots to this recipe these days. Makes for a richer flavor profile.

Basic recipe:

1 Zucchini - peeled and chopped

1/4 cup chopped Onion

1 tbl chopped Garlic

1/8 cup Apple Cider Vinegar

3 oz raw, unsalted Cashews

1/2 cup Nutritional Yeast

1/4 tsp Salt

1/4 tsp Black Pepper

Put everything in the blender/food processor and blend until smooth.

This misses being strictly vegan because of the nutritional yeast. It’s probably easiest to make in a Vita-mix. The onion and garlic measurements are approximations, and there’s no need to chop them into small pieces as the blender/food processor can do that for you. If you’re comfortable with putting in a couple of garlic cloves and two or three slices of onion, that should be fine.

If you don’t care about color, you can leave the skin on the zucchini. Turns it a bit green. Without the peel, it winds up yellow - closer to the color of the nutritional yeast.

No-Egg Salad

This recipe idea originated here: Isa Chandra's Tofu Frittata

Replacing the tamari/soy sauce was easy enough. How to replace the tofu took more thought. Technically this recipe is not Vegan because of the yeast. It depends on your personal viewpoint on yeast. Also Dijon mustard might be problematic for some people. I suggest using another mustard that works for you if need be, or leave it out completely.

Equipment needed: Blender or Vita-Mix with the Dry Container or Food Processor, Spatula, 1 cup Measuring Cup, ¼ cup Measuring Cup, ¼ tsp Measuring Spoon, 1 tbl Measuring Spoon, Small Bowl with Lid, Larger Bowl with Lid, Knife, Cutting Board, Tamper (optional), Peeler (optional)

¼ cup Walnuts or raw Sunflower Seeds
~¼ cup Apple Cider Vinegar (ACV)

Soak the nuts/seeds in the ACV overnight in the fridge. The ACV should cover the nuts/seeds. Use the small bowl with lid or a coffee cup with some sort of cover.

1 Zucchini
1 cup cooked Brown Rice

Drain the nuts and put them in the blender/food processor with the rice and the zucchini (chopped to make it easier to blend). This may require tamping. This can be anywhere from a coarse blend (more textures) to a smoother mixture (possible sandwich spread) depending on your preference. If using sunflower seeds, they can be added later for more texture or put in the blender. For a smoother texture, add avocado to the blender. The following ingredients might need bumped up if adding avocado.

Empty blender into the larger bowl.

3 tbl Nutritional Yeast
½ tsp Dijon Mustard (or just do a small squirt)
¼ tsp Turmeric
Diced Onion
Diced Garlic
Salt and Pepper to taste

Stir all ingredients together. Let sit in the fridge for an hour to allow the flavors to meld.