So I posted this little status update on Beyond Meds Facebook page on Tuesday:
I just created a vegan, grain free “pasta alfredo” made with spaghetti squash and homemade cashew cream…and sauteed garlic…OMG yum
Several people were interested in the recipe so I am doing that for this #foodie friday. The thing is the best I can do is describe what I did as I did not measure anything and created it on the fly. I pretty much always cook this way and I think it’s a great thing to be able to do, so please experiment with me!
I tossed a fairly small spaghetti squash into the oven at 400 degrees for 40 minutes. I put it in whole, but one MUST remember to stab them all over with a fork or it will EXPLODE otherwise! yes. I turned it around half way through to help the cooking be more even. Also DO NOT OVERCOOK or it will be mushy and lose it’s spaghetti like nature. It’s good to have it a bit undone since after baking it it will be tossed in a sautee for a few minutes too.
Once the squash is cooked I cut it in half and cleared out the seeds. The meat should pop out quite easily from the shell, but sometimes you have to work a bit harder than others. The photograph here is what it looks like. Truly like spaghetti!
For the cream sauce I made a cashew cream. I do have a bit of a recipe for that:
Soak 2 cups raw cashews in water for 4 to 8 hours. Drain the cashews and rinse under cold water. Blend the cashews in a blender with fresh water. Cover the cashews with up to an inch of extra water. Blend on high until very smooth. This will likely make much more than you need. You can freeze the remainder or use it in some other way.
I then sauteed a very generous amount of garlic in MCT oil. MCT oil has all the benefits of coconut oil but doesn’t have the flavor of coconut. I like coconut oil, but not all the time…Sometimes you do not want coconut flavor in your food. MCT oil and coconut oil both have very high smoke points so they’re good for sauteing for that reason. So as far as the garlic goes, use as much as you like. I’m a big garlic fan and it’s hard for me to have too much garlic and in my opinion for this dish, the more the better. (oh, if you’re not vegan, you can use butter or ghee, or really the cooking oil/fat of your choice)
So after the garlic was sauteed I tossed in the squash and broke it up so it was very spaghetti like, mixing it with the garlic and oil. Be sure not to cook it too much again here or it will lose it’s spaghetti like texture.
I then put a teaspoon full of nigella sativa seeds and a teaspoon full of whole black pepper in my electric spice grinder (same machine used for coffee grinding if you do that in your home). I tossed that on top and mixed it all up, adding salt to taste as well. Lastly I slowly poured in the cashew cream until I had enough to make it yummy and creamy and alfredo like. Use as much or as little as you like!
An alternative to the nigella sativa seeds which would be really good is to use nutmeg. Go easy on the nutmeg. It’s easy to use too much. Add a little bit at a time and see how it goes. It’s really good in combination with fresh black pepper and is how I used to make this sort of dish. I’m allergic to nutmeg so can’t use it anymore.
Nigella sativa seeds are actually quite lovely and delicious and a natural anti-histamine food too. Since discovering I have a severe histamine intolerance I’ve been learning a new way of eating. I am not a dedicated vegan for example…it’s just that for now it’s helping me keep my histamine levels down to eat very little animal products.
Eating wholesome whole real food is important for body/mind/spirit health and well-being. I’ve written a lot about my adventure with diet and healing here: Nutrition and gut health, Mental health and diet
And you can find more Foodie Friday posts and recipes here.
Everything Matters 
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