The Creamiest, "Cheesiest" Vegan Alfredo Sauce I've Ever Eaten

Autumn is my absolute favorite time of year, from the crisp air feel, to the changing leaves, though above anything I just can't get enough of the flavors of Autumn; the apples, the spices, but most of all I absolutely love the vegetables. As the air begins to chill I've been starting to crave a little more hearty of meals, and I've definitely been craving the complexity of flavors from a cooked meal which I haven't yet been able to achieve with entirely raw foods. So with that I decided to prepare one of my all time favorite vegetables, spaghetti squash. There are a million and one ways you can prepare this delectable vegetable, but the easiest, yet still my favorite, is to use this as a pasta replacement. You can top your spaghetti squash with any sauce of your choosing and it's bound to be absolutely scrumptious.

I've made a number of different vegan alfredo sauces over the past year or so, both raw and cooked, and while they were all good, none of them quite "hit the spot" the way you expect an alfredo sauce to do. So the last couple of times that I've made it I tried using past recipes as a baseline, and then tweaked them until I finally came to the recipe I have now. It's rich, oh so creamy, and full of complex, robust flavors. It is a cooked recipe, but I'm definitely going to be toying around with it to try and achieve a similar flavor in a raw sauce. 

To get a nice "cheesy" flavor I like to use nutritional yeast. Nutritional yeast comes in both powdered or flake form, it's extremely versatile, and can be added to many different snacks and meals to add an extra punch of flavor and nutrition. Nutritional yeast is a complete protein, meaning it contains all 9 essential amino acids which our bodies are unable to produce on their own. It also contains the entire array of B vitamins, aside from naturally occurring B12. Though nutritional yeast can be a great source of B12 because it most often is fortified. Vitamin B12 is only naturally produced by bacteria, which means that wild grown yeast can contain this vital nutrient, though commercially produced yeast can not. Nutritional yeast also contains iron, potassium, and selenium, which really makes this a wonderfully healthful food to add in your arsenal.

Spaghetti Squash & Creamy Alfredo Sauce

Serves 2-3

Ingredients:

- 2 medium/large Spaghetti Squash

- 3/4 cup Cashews (soaked for 4-5 hours)

- 1 medium sweet onion

- 6 cloves Garlic

- 2 cups Vegetable Stock (not broth)

- 1/3 cup Nutritional Yeast

- 1 small Lemon

- 1/2 teaspoon Garlic Powder

- 1/2 teaspoon Onion Powder

- 3/4 teaspoon Sea Salt

- 1/4 teaspoon Black Pepper

- Coconut Oil

- Dried Parsley (optional)

Method:

- Preheat oven to 400 degrees, place rack in the center of your oven.

- Slice spaghetti squash lengthwise and scoop out the inner seeds. Place cut side up in a pan, brush with coconut oil, and sprinkle with dried parsley.

- Bake for about 1 hour, or until the squash is fork tender, and ready to separate.

- Roughly slice or chop your garlic, it doesn't need to be particularly small.

- Place your garlic in a pan with about a tablespoon of coconut oil, and allow to brown just slightly, cooking for only a minute or two on low/medium heat.

- Slice your onion, and add them to your pan, allowing to cook for another few minutes, just until they start to become translucent.

- Add 1 cup of vegetable stock to your pan and allow to simmer down until there's no more liquid, and your onions appear almost creamy.

- Place your soaked cashews, onions and garlic, nutritional yeast, garlic and onion powder, salt, pepper, lemon juice, and 3/4 to 1 cup of stock (depending on how thick you want your sauce) into a blender.

- Start on a low speed, and increase up to high for one minute.

- Once cooked, take your spaghetti squash out of the oven and allow to cool just enough to be able to handle.

- Use a fork to scrape the spaghetti strands from the sides of the squash, and scoop it into bowls.

- Pour sauce over spaghetti, and enjoy!