We’re in the FINAL stages of our kitchen renovation, and I can’t wait to show you all the before and after pics! It took so long to find the right styles and materials, and we spent so long looking through different kitchen designers melbourne for some inspiration (we heard they were really good)! So I am finally excited to see our before and after pics to see how far we have really come. I’m waiting for some frames to arrive to hang up artwork, and then I’ll reveal the final look. It’s been very exciting! 🙂
On Thursday night, we decided that we’d had enough of eating dinner in our basement. We brought most of our kitchen stuff upstairs and started putting food, cups, plates, bowls and other accessories in their new homes. For the first time in my life, I have a pantry and soft close drawers and doors! It’s the little things.
We decided to break in the kitchen by making our first dinner in the new space that night. And we shared some pretty nasty champagne to celebrate! 
Inspired by a recent visit to the AWESOME MOMs Organic Market and cafe in Hamdpen, I decided to take a stab at making vegan cauliflower nachos, a dish they had on their menu at the Naked Lunch cafe. My friend Katie and I split it the other day when we met up for lunch, and it was delicious!
As a kid I never ate beans, brown rice, avocados or scallions, so everything in this dish represents quite a few transformations along my food journey. Our taste buds are highly adaptable, so give foods you’ve previously sworn off a second chance!
Since removing dairy products from my diet (here’s why I did), I’ve missed some of the creamy goodness dairy-based foods provide. But, because my body feels and functions so much better without them, I don’t consider it a struggle to be without them. And that’s what motivates me to find alternatives like the cheese-y sauce used in this recipe.
The “cheese” sauce has a bit of a kick to it (back off the cayenne if you want less).
It’s creaminess comes from the cashews and tahini, two ingredients I use in a lot of my recipes that you can find at just about any grocery store (find tahini in the natural food aisle or international aisle in the Mediterranean section).
We haven’t made this cheese sauce in over two years, and Bill liked it so much that he said, “We need to make a batch of this stuff every week!”
From start to finish, this recipe comes together pretty quickly, as the cauliflower takes very little time to roast and the cheese sauce can be whipped up in a matter of minutes in the blender.
Ingredients
- 1 head cauliflower, cut into bite-size pieces
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 2 cups cooked brown rice
- 1 15-ounce can no sodium added black beans, drained and rinsed (Eden Organic or Field Day Organic are our go-tos)
- 1 avocado, diced
- 2 scallions, chopped
- Sea salt and black pepper to taste
- 1 batch noocho cheese sauce
To learn more about the ingredients in the noocho cheese sauce, check out this blog post I wrote about it previously.
Directions
- Preheat oven to 400F.
- Toss cauliflower with olive oil and a few pinches of sea salt and pepper. Roast on a baking sheet for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown and a fork pierces through easily. Remove from oven and set aside.
- Add rice and beans to a medium bowl and stir to combine. Top with roasted cauliflower, avocado, scallions, and noocho cheese sauce.
