Cheesy Hemp Cauliflower Rice with Roasted Beet Pasta (dairy and grain free)

I’m trying to fulfill my goal of making three new veggie recipes this week, and even though they’re only required to be new to me (not made up), I did make up a new one today. I think I can technically count this as two recipes (maybe even three), but I’ll only do that if I have to in order to meet my goal.

I’ll get to it in a second.

Today has been fabulously low key. I spent an extended amount of time drinking coffee and chatting with Joe this morning, and then I did work, did yoga, and went in the sauna. Next, I did laundry, cleaned, and made an enormous mess in the kitchen. Then I cleaned it up. Joe and I just finished the last few minutes of the movie we started last night—Hood to Coast. It’s a documentary about the relay race that goes from Mt. Hood to the coast, and even though I’m not a runner, I do love a good documentary (as long as there are enough stories involved)—and this was an interesting one for sure.

This is what caused the huge mess in the kitchen:

I’ve been craving comfort food, and Joe made mac and cheese last night that smelled really awesome. Therefore, I needed to come up with something satisfying that I could eat on my elimination diet.

First, I roasted beets while I was doing other things and then let them cool a little bit. Next, I made cauli rice, and then set it aside (steam the cauli, then turn it into rice-sized pieces in the food processor).

After that, I made the cheese sauce. In the past, I have always used cashews for this. But obviously, lately, I’ve been subbing in hemp seeds for everything nutty and seedy… This is what I came up with:

Blend or Process till smooth:

1.5 c hemp seeds
1 c water
1 tsp minced dried rosemary (or 2 tsp fresh)
juice from 1 lemon
1 tsp sea salt (you may add more to taste at the end if you think it needs it)
2 Tbsp oil (I used coconut oil, no need to melt…but I would have used olive oil if I had any)
2 tsp Bragg’s liquid aminos (I’m not a big fan of this product, but I use it in small amounts…usually in place of soy sauce)
3-4 Tbsp nutritional yeast
1/2 tsp black pepper

I added 3 scoops of the cheesy sauce to half of the cauli rice (I had riced a whole head of cauliflower, including about half the stalks), and stirred it in. This was a cross between cheesy rice and mac and cheese! I put this in the dehydrator so it would stay warm while I prepped the beet pasta.

I used the spiralizer to make the beet pasta. First, I unwrapped the roasted beets (individual beets wrapped in tin foil, roasted at 350 for 1 hour and cooled for 30 min). Then I rubbed the skin off, and spiralized two beets into “pasta.”

In a bowl, I tossed the beet pasta with 3 scoops of the cheesy hemp sauce, until it was well-coated.

The beets were still pretty hot when I made the pasta, otherwise I would have probably warmed them up too. I put a scoop of the rice on a plate, and topped it with a scoop of pasta. Voila! Cheesy comfort food! I should have garnished it for the picture’s sake, but I didn’t have anything pretty and green to put on top that made sense. You get the idea anyway 🙂

I have almost half of the cheesy sauce leftover, so I’m going to use it tomorrow with different veggies. I think the cheesy sauce is a great thing to have on hand–it helps make a veggie dish more substantial (and helps to stave off comfort food cravings). Plus, making it with hemp seeds makes it a super protein source! That being said, I think making it with cashews is a great idea too–and it is probably a little more rich or creamy.

Note: The cheesy sauce by itself will taste pretty strong—this is a good thing, once you put it with a bunch of veggies, it will be perfect!

I’m off to find a treat to eat (probably avocado pudding) and have a glass of wine. We’re watching Water for Elephants tonight. I read the book a long time ago, so I resisted watching the movie…but I’ve heard enough good things to give it a shot (the book was awesome). This is the first weekend I’ve had without a lot of things scheduled, and I’m enjoying it!

Did you make any veggies more exciting this weekend?

Have you seen any good documentaries lately? My faves are the nutrition ones, but I like to branch out once in a while.