I spent the past weekend in San Francisco celebrating my boyfriend, Tyler’s 30th birthday. We ate tons of awesome food, for example, the vegan pizza at Pizza Orgasmica, and breakfast at Greens Restaurant, but my favorite meal (other than the double vegan cheeseburger and chili cheese fries at Amy’s Drive Thru on the way home) was the Wasabi Burger at The Plant Cafe, it was seriously delicious! I could make a whole post about just the food in SF but just follow me on Instagram if you want to see some pictures. We also got to taste some really fabulous cocktails at a little bar called The Interval, I don’t usually like going to bars but I LOVED this place! They had a little history of each drink written on the menu, every one of them obviously thought out and perfectly crafted, and art from Brain Eno. When we drove home I had to go straight to work at the restaurant, but when I got there I was greeted with a gift from some of my favorite customers! A jar of fresh, homegrown heirloom cherry tomatoes and sweet peppers from their garden! What a treat! So for Tyler’s actual birthday meal I roasted some of the cherry tomatoes in the oven for about 15 minutes at 400 degrees while I boiled the noodles and made this sauce in the blender. I tossed it all together and we had a quick, easy and delicious birthday dinner! The sauce is super creamy with a nice bright flavor from all that lemon juice so it doesn’t feel too heavy. You can make it ahead of time and just heat it up with a little bit of water added if it’s too thick. Here’s the recipe.

Ingredients:

1 cup raw cashews, soaked 6-12 hours

1/2 cup warm water

2 raw garlic cloves

1 vegetable bouillon cube (NOT the reduced sodium kind)

1/4 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice

1 Tablespoon nutritional yeast flakes

3 Tablespoons Earth Balance buttery spread (olive oil will work fine too)

A little lemon zest (optional)

salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Put all ingredients in a small high powered blender. Blend until a super creamy consistency is achieved, this will take at least 5-10 minutes on high speed. If sauce is too thick, add a little more warm water. Toss with hot pasta noodles and add some oven roasted veggies and its all done! Serve with a salad or garlic bread for a quick and easy dinner!

In case you were wondering, here’s what those noodles looked like before I cooked them…so pretty!