Category Archives: Sauce

Quick Fruit Sauce

quick-fruit-sauce

This Summer I’ve been obsessed with these pancakes. Maybe it’s because I hadn’t had good gluten-free pancakes before them. Or because I’m just relishing having a stove that’s not 3 floors down(oh, the life of a student).

As much as I loved having them with a dredge of maple syrup, I figured that couldn’t be good day after day. Instead I wanted to sweeten them the natural way with some fruit. By using chia seeds to thicken the sauce, it comes together literally in minutes but has the texture of a sauce that’s been cooking for much longer.

quick-fruit-sauce-bite

Look how thick it is(that’s what she said)! It’s hearty, warm, and the perfect pancake companion. The chia seeds not only thicken but also add a healthy dose of omega-3s.

You can use almost any fruit for this—strawberries, blueberries, cherries, grapes, mango. The one exception I’ve found is that using all raspberries creates a very tart sauce. If you want to make a raspberry version, switch out half with a sweeter fruit like strawberries or add a tablespoon of sweetener.

Quick Fruit Sauce

Prep Time: 0 minutes

Cook Time: 5 minutes

Ingredients(makes 1-2 servings):

  • 3/4 cup fruit, fresh or frozen
  • 1 Tablespoon chia seeds

quick-fruit-sauce-ingredients

Method:

  1. Pour the fruit into a microwavable bowl and microwave on high for 1 minute for fresh fruit or 3 minute for frozen fruit until hot and bubbly.
  2. Mash the fruit into a puree and mix in the chia seeds.
  3. Let the sauce sit for 5 minutes to thicken. Pour hot onto pancakes, waffles, French toast, or a dessert.

quick-fruit-sauce-plate

This is so easy to make, I throw it together in between mixing and pouring the pancake batter. If it gets better than that, I don’t know how.

Black Bean Mole

Black-Bean-Mole

I spent this past weekend in Providence, one of my favorite cities around, and ran the inaugural Providence Rock N’ Roll half-marathon. The night before my friend and I went to Garden Grille Café, a vegetarian restaurant I can’t get enough of right on the edge of town. The special that night was cornmeal-crusted tempeh with a black bean mole sauce and roasted fingerling potatoes. There was nothing in that name I didn’t like so I got it and ate every last drop of sauce on that plate.

The mole was the best I ever had; it was also the first I ever had, but it was still incredibly good. Spicy, sweet, tangy—almost like a barbeque sauce but with a tantalizing bitterness. Of course I had to recreate it. Two days later I was making this in my own kitchen. I wasn’t sure if I had hit the nail on the head until I realized I was literally licking my food processor clean. At that point I figured it was pretty good.

This mole is about as untraditional as it comes. For one, you don’t cook it at all. It’s entirely made in the food processor. I also used spices instead of actual chilies because that’s what I had on hand. That makes this a super friendly recipe if it’s your first mole.

Black Bean Mole

Ingredients:

  • 1/2 cup black beans, drained and rinsed
  • 2 Tablespoons tomato paste
  • 1 1/2 Tablespoons white vinegar
  • 5 Tablespoons honey
  • 1/4 cup sugar
  • 1 Tablespoon cocoa powder
  • 1 teaspoon sea salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon chili powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
  • 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon paprika
  • 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1/8 teaspoon mustard seed
  • ~1/4 cup water

Black-Bean-Mole-Overhead

Method:

  1. Combine all of the ingredients except for the water into a food processor and blend until smooth.
  2. Slowly add the water while blending until the sauce reaches a fluid yet thick consistency.
  3. Heat up before serving. Scoop a generous amount over protein like tofu, tempeh, or chicken.

Black-Bean-Mole-Side

After dinner we went over to Wildflour and I ate one of these. It’s OK; I was carb-loading.

Strawberry Almond Salad Dressing

Strawberry-almond-salad-dressing

As much as I like salads, I’ve never really liked most salad dressings I’ve tried. They’re usually oily and watery; I want something thick and hearty. Because of that I pretty much stuck to Caesar salad dressing and buffalo wing sauce to flavor my greens growing up. What could be more appetizing than a plate of iceburg lettuce with hot sauce and butter slathered on it? I’m not sure what I was thinking back then, either.

Strawberry-almond-salad-dressing-close-up

Enter this dressing, which has completely changed how I think of salad dressings. It’s not oily or watery; in fact, there’s no oil whatsoever. It has a thick body but you won’t find any cream in the ingredients. Instead this dressing gets its body from whole strawberries and almonds. What could be more delicious? It’s sweet with a tang and slight nuttiness—much better and better for you than buffalo wing sauce.

Strawberry Almond Salad Dressing(inspired by this recipe)

Ingredients(Makes 2 cups):

  • 1 1/2 cups strawberries, stems removed
  • 2 Tablespoons almond butter
  • 1 1/2 Tablespoons white vinegar
  • 2 Tablespoons sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon mustard seed
  • 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
  • ~1/4 cup water to thin

Strawberry-almond-salad-dressing-pour

Method:

  1. Combine all of the ingredients except for the water into a food processor and blend until smooth.
  2. Slowly incorporate the water while still blending until the dressing reaches a thin consistency.
  3. Bottle and keep stored in the refrigerator for up to a week.

Strawberry-almond-salad-dressing-salad

Since it’s fresh without any preservatives, use this dressing quickly to make sure it stays fresh. Something tells me that won’t be a problem; you’ll never go back to bottled again.