Five ways to use cashew sour cream and how to make it

I have a student who wants to buy a $400 blender just so she can make cashew sour cream.  It's that life-changing to her and maybe it will be for you too!

If you haven't tried cashew sour cream yet, it's a delicious alternative to regular or even low-fat sour cream.  I think it tastes better too.

Cashew sour cream also has more fiber (regular sour cream has none) and has zero cholesterol (which regular sour cream has).

We serve cashew sour cream with our Trisha's Healthy Table meals almost weekly.  That's how much we love it.  The texture, taste and especially the appearance, makes it a favorite condiment for our members and customers.

Because we love it so much, today I share a great recipe for cashew sour cream and five ways to use it.

Cashew Sour Cream Recipe

(Thank you Angela Liddon for introducing us to this recipe and the many things we now love to cook because of you).

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups (225 g) raw cashews, soaked
• 3/4 cup water
• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions:

1. Soak cashews:

Soaking option one (if you're in a pinch): Place cashews in a microwave safe bowl with enough water to completely cover the cashews.  Microwave for two minutes.

Soaking option two: place cashews in a bowl and cover completely with water.  Let sit with a lid or plate on top for 8 hours.  You can do this overnight.

Soaking option three:  boil enough water to completely cover the cashews and pour the boiling water on-top of them. Soak for about an hour.

2.  Rinse and drain the cashews (you don't want the soaking liquid in your cashew sour cream).

3.  Place the drained cashews in a high-speed blender (you can use a regular blender but the final texture won't be as smooth.  It'll be slightly grainy but still good).

4. Add the water, lemon, vinegar, and salt to the blender with the cashews. Blend on high until really smooth. You may need to blend for about three minutes straight.  Stop half-way and scrape the sides of blender if need be.  

5.  Place in a small bowl with a lid and put in the fridge until chilled.  It'll thicken slightly as it cools.  Then use it in one of these five ways.  If you have a different idea, let us know in the comments section below how you'd use cashew sour cream.

Five Ways to Use Cashew Sour Cream

1.  On a baked potato.

Cashew sour cream is awesome on a baked potato with just chives, or with salsa and black beans or, with chili.  We serve a Loaded Baked Potato with chili, scallions and cashew sour cream as one of our rotating menu items at Trisha's Healthy Table and, it's a hit!

2.  On anything Mexican.  

Whether it's rice and beans, sweet potato enchiladas with mole sauce (another Trisha's Healthy Table meal), or lentil-walnut taco meat, cashew sour cream is awesome with most things Mexican.

3.  As a base for other dips and dressings.

Erik (my husband and Trisha's Healthy Table chef) uses cashew sour cream as a base for making his cashew Caesar dressing and raita sauce for Indian food.  Experiment and turn cashew sour cream into a healthier ranch dressing, 1000 island dressing or veggie dip.

4.  For breakfast on a toasted bagel with cucumber, red onion and tomato.

I don't why but I feel hip and trendy when I get to eat this dish for breakfast.  I think it's because in some weird way, it reminds me of people eating a salmon lox bagel.  It's really good!

5.  As a dip for fries.

Making oil-free potato fries is one of our go-to snacks and sometimes even meals during the week.  And you know what's awesome to dip fries into!? You guessed it, cashew sour cream! Sweet potato fries are great with cashew sour cream too.

If you're ever in need of cashew sour cream and aren't up for making it, Trisha's Healthy Table is happy to make it for you (if you can pick it up in Columbia, SC that is).  

Take Control Now Question

What's your favorite way to eat cashew sour cream?  Have another way we didn't list? Let me know by clicking 'comment' below.

Swann

Seven months ago, I shared the story of an amazing friend of mine, Swann Adams.  

She'd been diagnosed with type II diabetes at the age of 44.  She's the Assistant Director of the Cancer Prevention and Control Program and a Professor and respected scientist at the University of South Carolina.

Seven months ago I shared her remarkable story of reversing her type II diabetes and losing 17 pounds within 7 weeks.  

Dr. Adams did this without eating less; without counting carbs, points or calories and without exercising more.

She lost weight, improved her health and self-confidence and increased her energy by eating... plant-based.  Which was remarkable because Swann was a meat and cheese lovin' Southern woman.  

But where is she now?  It's been seven months since Swann and I first had our first nutrition training teaching her how to change her diet in a way she could enjoy for months and hopefully years at a time.  

Did Dr. Swann quit her fall off the plant-based wagon and go back to cheesy, beefy lasagna?

The answer -- absolutely not.  Dr. Swann has continued to improve her health, keep her type II diabetes at bay (it's gone!) and has now lost over 30 pounds in 7 months after 20 years of failed Weight Watchers.

Swann is truly an amazing person.  In today's Take Control Tuesday episode, I interview Swann and ask her...

• What the hardest part about changing her diet was initially, and what's the hardest part now.
• How she handles dinner as the primary cook in her family now that she eats plant-based and her family doesn't and..
• how she makes cooking plant-based quicker in the kitchen. 

Dr. Swann also discusses how my nutrition training with her was paramount to her successful health improvement.  

Which leads me to an important announcement if you're interested in learning how I can teach you everything I taught Swann and more to help you make 2017 one of your healthiest...

I've officially opened my first online course "Trisha's Mandes Plant-Based Nutrition and Cooking eCourse for Weight-Loss and Improved Health."  This way I can help anyone, just like I did Swann, no matter where in the country they are, including you. 

Registration for the comprehensive online course has been extended by one week giving you an extra 7 days to decide if you're ready to learn how to eat healthy and love it to get strong and lean with me helping you every step of the way.  Registration now ends Thursday, January 26th, 2016.

Now that registration has extended by 7 days, the early bird price has too!  Save up $300 if you sign-up by Tuesday, January 17th here.

Back to Swann....

Once you watch today's episode with my most recent interview with Dr. Swann Adams, please comment.  Swann and I both want to hear from you...

                                                             Take Control Now Question

1.  What's one thing you can start implementing into your life based on what you learned in today's interview?

Can't wait to hear from you in the comments section.  Email me anytime with any questions at trisha@trishshealthytable.com

Love and Leafy Greens,

Trish

P.S. If you think Swann's inspirational story of reversing her diabetes and losing 30 pounds in 7 months with motivate or help a friend or family member, please share today's blog.  We hope it can help others and I'm sure they'd appreciate hearing this story.  

The 3 things you must do to improve fitness

If you dream of being healthy, strong and lean, exercise is an essential ingredient to making this dream a very possible reality.  But people HATE it.  Exercise can be painful.  It's challenging and our bodies are designed to avoid pain so it makes sense we don't want to do it.  

But let me ask you this...

would you rather be in pain from exercising and making yourself healthy and trim, or would you rather be in pain from not taking care of yourself and struggling with painful joints from excess weight or side effects from countless medications or surgeries?

Either way, pain is involved.  But you get to decide if you'd rather go through pain by making yourself healthy and strong or if you'd rather endure pain from declining health (thanks Dr. Pam Popper for that excellent reminder).

If you want to improve your health and well-being with exercise, today I share with you the three things you need to work on in order for fitness to improve over time.  Without working on these three things, don't expect improved results.

Whether it's working on one of these fitness elements or all three, here's what you have to work on to improve fitness over time.

1.  Increase the intensity of your workouts.

This means how hard you're working.  For example, if your gym routine includes 3 sets of 10 bicep curls with 8 pound weights and you've been doing this same set with the same amount of weight for 3 months, it's time to increase your intensity.  To do that, make it 10 pound weights, then 12 pound weight next month.  You're now challenging your biceps as they've gotten use to and can handle 8 pound weights.  

Another example: if you've walked the same flat route for the last 2 years with your girlfriend, to increase the intensity, you'd add stairs, hills or incorporate jogging into your routine.

2.  Increase the duration of your workouts.

Duration is how long you're working out for.  If you run for 30 minutes, 5 days a week, up the duration to 35 minutes the next two weeks and to 40 minutes after that.

3.  Increase the frequency of your workouts.

In other words, how often you workout every week.  If you only go to yoga twice a week, adding one gym day or a jogging day would be increasing the frequency.

It's hard work, but you can do it and it's definitely worth it.

Take Control Now   

What fitness element do you need to work on improving most?  The intensity, duration or frequency of your workouts?  What's holding you back from doing this?

Answer by clicking 'comment' below. 

My Thanksgiving gratitude gift for my husband and the THT chef

There's many things I'm grateful for when it comes to my husband Erik, but one thing I love most about him and am so grateful for, is how utterly supportive he is of my dreams and business aspirations.  

On our first date, I told Erik I wanted to start a plant-based, meals to-go service while we made vegan manicotti and pasta from scratch together.  We were using tofu and turmeric to make the pasta as an assignment I was working (as a chef with over 15 years experience, Erik had never heard of making pasta this way -- bonus points for me!).  

And now, almost 2 years since that date (the manicotti was delicious by the way), we've made my dream meal service, Trisha's Healthy Table (THT), come true.

Erik's never doubted my abilities to succeed in work and life and better yet, helps me give my all to be the best me I can be.  And that, means the world to me.  

I'm grateful for Erik's support not just because he's a kickass chef and cooks all the THT meals, but because at my every "holy shit, what are we doing!?  Can I actually do this?" moment, he never lets me quit and never shows an ounce of doubt in my abilities to start a business that truly cares about helping people improve their health and eat healthy food that tastes damn delicious. 

From sharing his recipes with you, editing my newsletters at 1 am, quitting his restaurant job to work for us (a scary thing for him to do) and helping me launch eCourses in 2017, Erik is an integral part in helping me help you, learn how to eat better.  

A Trisha's Healthy Table member came to pick-up chili and cornbread on Monday and shared some timely insight she learned at yoga that day that inspired me to write today's post.  It went something like this...

"Not expressing the gratitude you hold inside for someone is like buying them a present, wrapping it, but never giving it to them."  

Not only were Erik and I honored to hear she was grateful for us, but it helped me write this blog. There's countless days when I think about how lucky and grateful I am to have Erik in my life, but I still hadn't written and shared those thoughts, which was something that was really important to me.  

So today I'm finally giving him one of the gratitude gifts I've kept to myself, for him and you to share.  

Today, Erik and I enjoyed a wonderful Thanksgiving -- we ate in the company of a large and truly wonderful family that took us Northerners into their South Carolina home.  

Here's some of the delicious food Erik made for Trisha's Healthy Table and for me for Thanksgiving...

Erik's creamy tahini mashed potatoes and oyster mushroom gravy.  Oh it was SO good! And so healthy!

Creamy tahini mashed potatoes, oyster mushroom gravy, green bean casserole and lentil loaf (I also added cranberry sauce to the plate and bread. Yum!).  100% plant-based, vegan and oil-free.

We also enjoyed a walk in Harbison State Park where the trees have finally changed to fall colors here (which I'm also very grateful for).

Erik and I enjoying the fall leaves in Harbison State Park, SC. Thanksgiving Day 2016.

Take Control Now Question

"What are you grateful for Chef Erik for?  His recipes, him supporting me to better serve you, or his freakin amazing food? 

Or, who haven't you expressed your gratitude gift to yet but should've?  When will you?" 

Please help Erik know how amazing of a human, husband and chef he is by clicking "comment" below and sharing your thoughts.  Or, let someone else important in your life, know how much they mean to you.

Love and Leafy Greens,

Trish
 

3 steps to successfully eat plant-based on Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving and the holidays in general can be a challenging time to eat a healthy, plant-based diet.  Especially if you just started improving your diet this way.  What we don’t want to happen is that you throw your hands up and say screw it from Thanksgiving Day to January 1st amongst all the holiday gatherings and unhealthy food.  

So today I’m sharing with you 3 critical steps you need to take in order to successfully and enjoyably eat plant-based over Thanksgiving.  

STEP 1:  Set a realistic goal for what you want to eat on Thanksgiving and write it down multiple times, multiple places.  

Do you want to eat vegan on Thanksgiving and not worry about oil or the amount of high-fat plant foods you eat?  Maybe allowing yourself to eat vegan treats that have oil or high fat plant foods in them, will save you from eating butter laden pies.  

Maybe you’re still transitioning to eating plant-based and you want at least 75% of your meal to be tasty and healthy, plant-based.

Or, maybe you want to eat the healthiest and most delicious meal of your life on Thanksgiving day.  

Whatever your goal is, you have to be very specific about what that goal is and how long you’ll stick to it.  More importantly, you have to write your goal down AND tell other people.  

Saying your goal in your head and only to yourself will make it less likely you’ll actually achieve it, than if you write it in your planner, take a photo of it and save it as your lock screen on your phone AND tell your husband and your kids your goal.  Get specific and get very real with what you want.

STEP 2.  Tell your host your dietary needs.

This is a crucial step.  Don’t skip it.  

If you don’t tell your Thanksgiving host what your food needs are, one of two shitty things will happen...

1.  They’ll cook something you don’t want to eat and you'll eat it to be nice or out of guilt.  In this scenario, you've compromised what you really wanted to eat for Thanksgiving and your goals.

2.  They've cooked you something and you tell them you can't eat it.  In this scenario, you'll piss the host off and now instead of finally getting to sit down with a glad of red wine and enjoy the holiday, they'll scatter around the kitchen trying to figure out what they can feed you.  

If you're nervous or not sure how to tell your host about your dietary needs on Thanksgiving, here's a script to help you...

“Hey (name).  I want to give you a heads up about my dietary needs for Thanksgiving.  I’ve recently started eating plant-based meals and it’s important for me and my health that I stick with it during Thanksgiving.  On Thanksgiving day, I’m avoiding all meat and dairy.  I’m more than happy to bring a dish to share and a meal for myself, so you don’t have to worry about it.  Thanks for understanding and I’m really looking forward to seeing you.”

STEP 3.  Have food for yourself to eat.

Whether you make it, you buy it or the host cooks it, know what you’re eating and where it’s coming from before you sit down at the dinner table.  If you don’t have a plan, there’s a good chance you won’t have enough to eat and then you'll say screw it and eat anything on the table (lol I've been there!).  

If you’re in Columbia, South Carolina, my husband, Chef Erik is cooking plant-based Thanksgiving menu items you can buy at our new healthy meals to-go service, Trisha’s Healthy Table.  And yes, it's open to the public.  If you’re interested, please sign-up for email updates at www.TrishasHealthyTable.com  The menu will be posted and emailed in the next 2 days.  You can buy oyster mushroom gravy, cinnamon kale salad, roasted butternut squash soup, green bean casserole and apple pie.

Now I want to hear from you.  I want you to take action now on the information you just learned. Here’s what I want you to do….

Take Control Now

Give yourself 5 minutes and think about what you want for yourself on Thanksgiving day.  What’s the healthiest way you can eat and still enjoy Thanksgiving?  Who will you tell your goal to once you've decided?  Write your goal and who you’ll tell it to as a comment in the blog.