Cashew Cream

I remember going through the cafeteria line in elementary school and receiving a pile of overcooked broccoli with a dollop of fake-orange cheese sauce. As repulsive as the thought of it is to me today, 8-year-old Mary Ross was in heaven.

In an ideal world, everyone would enjoy the taste of unadulterated vegetables, but the reality of it is that many people find them bland and unpalatable. Parents desperately try to get their kids to eat them by using cheese, ranch dressing, or bribery. Others resort to hiding vegetables in foods they know their kids will eat, which may get them to eat extra nutrients, but does nothing to foster an appreciation for vegetables.

One solution is to add a nutritious sauce that kids (or picky husbands) will love so much that they’ll eat anything if this sauce is on it.

You may have seen many cashew “cheese” recipes online, but none of the ones I’ve tried were quite what I wanted. I worked on this recipe and tweaked it until I ended up with two versions — one for kids and one for more sophisticated palates — that I simply could not stop eating.

This cashew cream sauce is amazing on broccoli and Brussels sprouts, but would also be great on a baked potato, veggie nachos, bean chili, as a veggie dip, you name it! I barely finished this photo shoot because I kept “sampling” the finished product!

And now for the recipes, starting with the more kid-friendly version:

Enjoy!