Cashew Ricotta & Spinach Stuffed Manicotti-what… you thought we didn’t eat cheesy pasta anymore? : Food Fight Friday
Hola!
It’s been raining the past few days, here, in Los Angeles, so upon opening my eyes this morning my mood was melancholy. I quickly had a thought… “…but get your a** in gear because it’s @foodfightfriday”. I rose out of bed, heated some water for my tea and saw the sun shining through my blinds as if to say “good morning Pura-days, it’s food slinging time”.
This is my husbands favorite Friday of the week, and is such a pleasure for me to repeatedly subject all of y’all to my food throwing arm :) So what do you say… bring on the contenders.
As some of you know my husband and I eat plant based, which means we have NO dairy in our diets.
That doesn’t stop me from making all of the foods we ate before though. What chu know about Italian night at the Days house? (Duh, it’s our last name… @dandays, get it 🤦🏼♀️)
Cashew Ricotta & Spinach Stuffed Manicotti
This recipe took awhile to make because I also made the tomato sauce from scratch. The process usually takes all day but is so worth it when it comes to serving time.
Ingredients
2 Cups cashews (soaked in water)
2 lemons (juiced)
1 Tsp sea salt
16 ounces frozen spinach (defrosted)
3 garlic cloves (minced)
1 Tbsp basil
1 Tbsp oregano
21 Manicotti shells (gluten free)
Sauce (or 1 jar sauce of your choice)
Dairy free Parmesan shreds
Sea salt & pepper to taste!
sidenote: this recipe is dairy free, gluten free, full of flavor, and packs a punch that’ll fill you up until tomorrow.
Let’s start with the cashew ricotta. I did a quick soak on my cashews, which is to say I boiled them for 25 minutes instead of soaking them overnight. This got them nice and soft for me so they are easier to blend.
Cut your lemons and get ready to juice them. I don’t have a handy lemon juicer so have to do this part by hand. 🤷🏼♀️
On the side begin defrosting and rinsing your spinach.
In your blender toss in a quarter of your soaked cashews, lemon juice, sea salt and a pinch of pepper. Blend until smooth and continue to add more cashews as the mixture blends.
Blend smoother than that.…
There you go! That looks much better. Set your ricotta aside and start squeezing the excess water out of your defrosted spinach. I used a paper towel.
In a large bowl combine the spinach, pepper, garlic, spices, Parmesan shreds and ricotta then mix until it looks like this…
Around now is when my Sauce was looking just about done so I pulled that from the stove and set it aside.
Fill a pot with water and bring it to a boil, then boil your noodles for 4-5 minutes. Don’t over boil them.
Lay down a layer of sauce in your favorite baking dish…
Rinse your noodles and let’s get to stuffing :) Warm up your oven to 350 F.
Your noodles might seem hard to you but they aren’t supposed to be fully cooked until they’re baked in the oven. Capiche?
Spread the rest of your sauce on top of your noodles liberally and sprinkle with Parm shreds. Cover with foil and bake for 35 minutos (that’s Spanish for minutes).
… and viola! You’ve got magic :)
Then comes the struggle for the perfect cover shot! By this time I’m starving, the food smells great, I know it’s getting cold, and @dandays has an idea that’s surely going to take longer than I’m willing to wait. Anyone who posts on Friday knows exactly the struggle I’m talking about.
Mix up a little arugula or as @plantstoplanks like to call it, rocket, some walnuts, sliced apple and call it a side salad. You’re good to go my friend!
I think Dandays liked it 💃💃.
Happy fighting food booger’s. Thank you for hanging out with me a bit today.
Pura Vida ✌️
“Guilty.” Show of hands, how many of you have made cheese out of cashews? Anyone, anyone?
Great job, chef. So, what do you have in mind for your first one? What about the one I mentioned a couple weeks back? 😉
Haha… I’m still working on @sivehead ‘s request but I’ll get to yours, I think 🤡
Food Fight Friday
May your contender survive and not be placed in a permanent food coma.
Thanks @foodfightfriday :)
Beautiful entry and "Duh, it’s our last name… @dandays, get it 🤦🏼♀️)" got it now. Where do you come up with some of the recipes for the dishes you make, they are not your everyday PBJs. Showed my wife this one and will try to duplicate. When we do I will send you a couple of pics.
Definitely send me some pics. I get a lot of my inspiration from the crew at @lenasveganliving #fruitsandveggiesmonday and will spend some time scouring the net looking for other recipes. The thing is I always follow recipes pretty loosely and usually end up adding a ton of things or substituting to make it gluten free, dairy free, etc. I can’t wait to see her triple F debut. Thank you for the support @thebigsweed :)
Upon returning from town yesterday, as I opened the front door my olfactory receptor told me my wife was cooking. I hustled to get the camera, thinking about an entry for #fff.
When I asked Robin to take some pictures of the meal she was putting together, her exact words were, "You want to use this lunch for an entry, it is nothing special."
Well she did as I requested, cooking and taking pictures while I tended to some things outside.
Nothing special to her is not so mundane to me.
In about 45 minutes, lunch was ready, and she had created a meal and an entry for #fff, that was anything but, not special.
Robin is still a little bit hesitant to post, so today we will sit down together and create a post, as I review with her the way to navigate Steemit.
Yes!!!! I’m happy to hear you’ve finessed your way into her Steemit subconscious. My husband had to employ very similar tactics with me… now look…. I’m specificallly excited about this Friday now :)
Hi puravidaville,
Visit curiesteem.com or join the Curie Discord community to learn more.
Thanks @curie! You make my day :)
Great job with this. I am not usually a fan of fake meat/dairy etc, but this looks wonderful. I've heard of the cashew cheese before and this is the first time I've seen it. Good luck for the contest with this yummy meal and great post.
We have vegan options in SE Asia, and this would be another reason I would recommend fb groups. I don't follow that diet, but I know a lot of what is said to be vegan here is not. A lot of the people don't know or don't care enough to be strict with it. There are many people who can help you online with finding vegan food here, but I am not one of them.
And you will have to avert your eyes a lot if you are sensitive to [various animal/fish things I will not mention on your post]. My son is vegetarian from birth and can't even walk past the meat case in the states. I often think he would have a hard time here.
Thanks @fitinfun! We don’t care too much for the meat imposters like tofu or tempeh either but I was able to make this cheese from cashews and it turned out delicious. I’ve now made several cheese or filling type goodies from cashews. Who would’ve thought 🤷🏼♀️
I’m sure vegan options are going to be a bit tougher in various parts of the world so we’ll just try and do the best we can. Ideally, I’ll cook much more than the average traveler but we’ll see how it all shakes out. Haha
Thanks for stopping by today.
Everyone who I have seem try the cashew cheese loves it. It's such great nutrition too. I can't wait to see your trip reports. It's coming up soon, right?
Oh my goodness, I've been thinking about preparing basically this exact same dish this week, what a coincidence! At least now I know it'll be totally worth it and I have step-by-step instructions from one of my favorite chefs! 😉 Thanks for the "quick soak" tip, I'll definitely try it. This looks really great @puravidaville!
Awesome! You should definitely make it yourself, sooo good. Did you just call me “one of your favorite chefs”? Way to make a girl blush 🥰. Thank you for the compliments @jasmink. I’ll be looking forward to your rendition of manicotti. ;)
I'll share some photos with you later on this week! :)
You better. I’m excited for you 😋
They turned out delicious! 😋 I'll probably share some more photos tomorrow 😉
Oh girl, you are speaking my language 😋. These look so yum. You killed it! Now send some over stat :).
I love the riccota and this look so delicious. I want 😊
You can have a plate any time my friend! Thank you for always spreading your love over here :)
wow, this looks so good, fantastic dear. I love spinach and pasta anyway
Awe, thank you @proanima. I love pasta too! I wish I could make it again but it would only take a few minutes rather than a few hours. Haha… always a pleasure having you stop by :)
but I would take my three dogs 😃
Bring as many dogs as you want. We love dogs more than we love people over here :)
Yes me too LOL
Another winning combination! I actually can't think of time I have ever made manicotti, but dang now I really want to. I saw those noodles in the store today, but grabbed the farfalle instead. Next time I'm definitely grabbing those yummy little tubes to channel a little Pura Vida kitchen magic!!
Oh you should for sure. It’s so good and totally guilt free. How does one pronounce “farfalle” by the way? It never sounds right leaving my mouth. Haha. You better go and get your manicotti on girl 😋
everything in this post is great. the photos, the step by step. and of course the final result of the recipe.
I learn two thing reading you.
in my country, Venezuela , We use to call the "cashews" Merey when I search in google the translation of cashews it means "anacardos".. so now I know 3 ways to call it.
I learn how to make dishis with "merey" ... thank's for that...
in other hand, I like tha fact you say you were melancholyc, but somehow use that feeling to make a delicius dish. people say we transmit the feeling throught the food. but that dish dosen't look melancholyc... also I'm a fan of your post's
Hey, that’s freakin awesome! I can totally see how we transfer our emotions/love through our food. I usually cook or bake based off of how I’m feeling. Really cool observation @wisejg. Thank you for the lovely compliments and I hope you soon try a recipe made from cashews :)