dairy free – A Dame's Life

Simple Lemon Pasta With Shrimp

April 1, 2015April 1, 2015 Ivy

Sometimes you just want a super simple dinner, no frills, nothing crazy, just some delicious eats. While I love meal planning most of the time, there is a wonderful freedom about looking in your fridge and pantry and throwing together something with what you have already. In my case it led to this really simple pasta that we loved!

We’ve previously established a shrimp passion in our house and it had been a while since I pulled these babies out of the freezer. Not only are they super delish but they are also a powerhouse of awesome stuff you need! They are super low in calories, high in protein and a great source of iron and omegas, who doesn’t want that?

I love the bite of the arugula in this dish works really well with the lemon and shrimp, its light, refreshing and filling without weighing you down.This comes together super quick so if you’re feeling extra lazy or running late, it’s the perfect dish.

Simple Lemon Pasta with Shrimp, Tomatoes and Arugula

Prep Time : 5 minutes | Cook time : 15 minutes | Serves 2

Ingredients :

4 oz whole wheat spaghetti

20 large shrimp (we like to use a lot)

2 lemons

15 grape tomatoes

1 large handful or arugula

4 tablespoons olive oil

Salt & Pepper

Lemon pepper

Instructions :

1. To assemble lemon sauce, squeeze juice of lemons into a mason jar or bowl.Zest one lemon and add with 2 tablespoons olive oil and salt and pepper to taste. Shake or stir to combine, taste and set aside.

2. Use 1 tablespoon olive oil and toss with shrimp, add salt and lemon pepper to taste. Set aside.

3. Bring water to boil on stove, salt the water, add pasta and cook to al dente.

4. While pasta is cooking, halve your tomatoes and set aside with arugula.

5. When pasta is done, drain pasta and reserve 1/4 cup pasta water and add back to pasta. Heat skillet with remaining olive oil and add shrimp to cook on medium high until pink, approximately 4-5 minutes.

6. When shrimp are done cooking, add to cooked pasta. Throw in your chopped tomatoes, a big handful of arugula and pour in your lemon olive oil sauce. Toss all ingredients to combine and enjoy! I threw some lemon zest on top to make it extra lemony and it was great.

This was so good we went back for seconds but it was even better the next day for leftovers. Eat up!

dinner, vegan

Creamy Asparagus Soup (Vegan)

March 27, 2015March 27, 2015 Ivy

My beautiful and wonderful mother came to visit us this week from the magical land of Idaho. It’s about a 9 hour drive from her door to ours so I end up chatting with her during the drive to make it go faster, mostly for me since I can’t wait to see her. While chatting this time she mentioned since this trip over will be a bit longer than normal she had cleaned out the items in her fridge before leaving, and she was bringing a bunch of asparagus.

I love asparagus, it smells like summer to me, putting it on the grill and eating it with your hands while the sunlight fades. Unfortunately on this day it was rather rainy and chilly in Seattle so I decided to go another route this time. Manfriend had also been fighting off a cold so I thought some warm comforting soup would hit the spot for everyone.

I started this soup with no real plan and it somehow came together incredibly. This is one of the easiest things I’ve done and is so healthy and fulfilling. Since the soup is creamy I decided to make some homemade croutons to contribute some crunch on top and they were the perfect addition. Give this a try the next time you want an easy weeknight meal, enjoy!

Creamy Vegan Asparagus Soup with Homemade Croutons

Prep Time : 10 minutes | Cook Time : 30 minutes | Serves : 4

Ingredients :

Soup

1 large bunch fresh asparagus

1/2 yellow onion

3 large cloves of garlic

Avocado Oil

Salt & Pepper

Thyme

3/4 cup Vegetable Stock

1/2 cup Garlic Cashew Cream Sauce (See recipe here)

Ingredients :

2 large slices of french or other bread

Avocado Oil

Salt & Pepper

Thyme

Instructions :

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Chop asparagus into medium size pieces. Chop onion into large pieces. Toss asparagus with onion and garlic (in skin) in drizzle of avocado oil and toss with salt and pepper and thyme and place in oven. Roast for 15-20 minutes until cooked.

2. Remove vegetables from oven and let sit for 5 minutes to cool. Remove garlic from skin and place with asparagus and onion in blender. Add vegetable stock and cashew cream and blend to combine all ingredients. Add salt and pepper to taste. You can add less stock if you like a creamier soup, but this works out really well.

3. When you remove vegetables from oven, turn heat down to 350 degrees. Cut bread into large cubes and toss with oil, salt, pepper and thyme. Cook in oven for 10 minutes or until lightly browned and crispy.

4. Remove soup from blender (my vitamix heats the soup if you leave it in there, otherwise, microwave if necessary to warm up) and pour into bowls to serve.

5. Add toasted croutons on top and enjoy! I added a dollop of cashew cream sauce on top and it rocked!

dinner, gluten free, weeknight

Spicy Shrimp Tacos

March 20, 2015March 20, 2015 Ivy

We love shrimp. We buy the massive packages at Costco that should probably take normal people months to go through and devour them in weeks. They are so delicious and easy to cook, they’re a great option to turn to for protein and iron. I tend to put our shrimp with polenta or pasta but last night I wanted to do something different.

Last weekend we were down in California visiting some good friends and they took us to a super delicious restaurant featuring all sorts of yummy vegan options. We ended up sharing a spicy tomato pizza with a creamy cashew sauce that was incredible. I seriously could not tell it wasn’t dairy and it just added this extra level of deliciousness to the pizza.

I’ve been wanting to try getting into non-dairy creamy sauces for a while and thought I’d give it a try with this cashew based sauce. It was intimidating at first, and admittedly you do have to do some groundwork, and incorporate time to soak the cashews for a while but with a bit of planning it comes together super easy. It’s so delicious and full of good fat, protein and magnesium- you won’t even miss the dairy.

Making your own pico de gallo is also crazy easy and only takes a few ingredients. I made my ahead of time so the flavors could marry and develop. This recipes just takes a bit of prep work, let your ingredients sit and then take a few minutes to pull it all together. Great for a weeknight dinner or even for a group of friends.

Spicy Shrimp Tacos with Pico de Gallo and Garlic Cashew Cream Sauce

Prep Time : 2 hours | Cook Time : 10 minutes | Serves 2

Ingredients :

Pico de Gallo

4 roma tomatoes

1/2 red onion

2 limes juiced

1 large clove garlic

1 tablespoon chopped cilantro

Salt

Shrimp

20 large shrimp

2 tablespoons olive oil

Salt & Pepper

1 teaspoon Paprika

1 teaspoon Garlic Powder

1 teaspoon Cayenne Powder

Other Ingredients :

Corn Tortillas

Avocado

Instructions :

1. For the pico de gallo, chop all ingredients for salsa and stir together with lime juice in a bowl. Add salt to taste. Let sit in fridge for at least half hour before serving.

2. Toss the shrimp with a olive oil and coat. Sprinkle with spices, add more or less cayenne depending on your spice preference. I let this sit in the fridge too for a few hours to let the flavors marinate but you can definitely do this right before and cook.

3. When ready to put tacos together, cook shrimp over medium high heat for about 5 minutes until opaque throughout. Assemble tacos with shrimp, pico de gallo, avocado slices and cream sauce.

Garlic Cashew Cream Sauce

Ingredients :

1 1/2 cups raw cashews

1/2 cup cold water

2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar

2 teaspoons garlic powder

1 teaspoon salt

Instructions :

1. To prep the cashews, soak them in a bowl with water covering at least an inch. You want to let them sit at least a half hour but I let mine sit for a couple hours.

2. When they are done soaking, throw them in the blender with 1/2 cup water and vinegar and let it blend. It will take a while but you want to let this go until it gets to a smooth consistency.

3. Add salt and garlic powder, I think fresh garlic would also be super great in this or roasted garlic, I just was feeling lazy. In the end you get a super creamy, rich sauce that compliments the freshness of the pico de gallo and the spiciness of the shrimp.

Try these tacos out on your next taco Tuesday for something a bit different and dairy free. Make the time to prep the stuff ahead of time and then go have yourself a nice glass of wine and enjoy some netflix, when it’s time to eat throw it all together and enjoy! Have a fantastic weekend!

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