Did you guys see all the penguins with sweaters? The oil spill in New Zealand is harming all these cute little birds, and bundling them in sweaters prevents them from preening their feathers and ingesting the oil. The sweaters also keep them warm, as the oil contamination reduces insulation.
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Also? They are so very cute. <– Look at all the cuteness!
Those little penguins aren’t the only ones wearing sweaters lately… we are getting our first look at the chilly weather here in Portland, frost and all!
I am terribly excited – I am so ready for winter! (I know, I was eating watermelon literally yesterday).
Today, bring on the cool, Snow Miser.
A need for comfort food plus recent (early) frosty mornings inspired this cheesy pasta. Remember my noocho cheese? When I first made it, I was adding it to everything. Everything. I told you I was obsessed. I was dipping cauliflower into the noocho cheese a while back, and… well, here we are.
noocho cheese pasta
serves 4-6
vegan, gluten free, dairy free
1/2 cup raw cashews, soaked
1/2 cup tahini
1/2 cup water
1/2 head cauliflower, chopped
1/2 orange bell pepper, sliced
1/2 cup nutritional yeast
1 garlic clove, finely minced
1 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
sea salt to taste
10 ounces organic brown rice pasta
In food processor, blend cashews, tahini and water to a semi-creamy consistency. Add cauliflower, blend to a crumbly consistency. Add pepper and blend until it becomes semi-smooth. While processing, add nutritional yeast, garlic, paprika, chili and onion powders, stopping to scrape down sides of bowl. Add sea salt to taste, and water by the tablespoon to thin.
Cook pasta according to direction. Meanwhile, select a saucepan large enough to hold sauce and pasta. Transfer cheese sauce to the saucepan, warm over low heat, stirring regularly. When pasta is done, drain and add to sauce.
I garnished mine with sun dried tomatoes and a splash of Tabasco. Jason’s had no tomatoes and many glugs of Tabasco.
The cashews bring the creamy texture and flavor, and the cauliflower is a healthy low-fat way to stretch the cheesiness. The bell pepper adds color and extra nutrients. All together, comfort food level eleven. Delicious.
Any signs of winter where you are? Aren’t the penguins cute?
{ 75 comments… read them below or add one }
Sounds yummy!
The penguins are SO cute…I hope the sweaters actually help them too!
In NY….the first sign of winter is showing up today…with rain-snow. It turns into slush on the ground, but in the air it’s a pretty interesting mix! (not terribly cold yet…)
wow, snow! I’m hoping for lots of snow this year.
yes, the idea behind the sweaters is that they keep them warm (oil contamination reduces their insulation) and keeps them from preening (which keeps them from ingesting the oil).
This looks like cheesy goodness!
Oh penguins are SO cute!! I love them!
Its getting cold here too! I just ordered a pullover hoodie today, I am getting ready!
xoxo
you and your hoodies, girl – let me guess, pink? sparkly??
a girl after my own heart, you know.
Oh this looks and sounds like the perfect comfort meal on a cold evening. I would have absolutely loaded up with sundried tomatoes too. Love the tangy flavor they add. In fact, I used them last night
yes – sun dried tomatoes are an essential in this kitchen. when I’m throwing something together and it needs some flavor? tomatoes!
I want a penguin in a sweater! I guess I’ll have to settle putting my large golden retriever in a slightly too tight one. He thinks he is a lap dog anyways.
hee, this made me laugh out loud – I love the image in my mind right now. I also love big dogs wanting to be lap dogs – SO cute. Basil rocks his sweaters too.
Yum! I never think to put hot sauce on my pasta, but it’s such a good idea for a kick.
The weather is cool and rainy here, but no signs of winter…yet. I’m so not ready for it! I feel like summer just ended!
hot sauce is SO good on pasta, especially the ‘cheesy’ kind! I know, I feel that way too – like summer really wasn’t long enough… I love the change of seasons, though, and I’m ready for winter and bundling up! time for fireplace coziness.
The penguins are so adorable! Made me smile. Thanks for sharing. And another delicious recipe…how do you do it?? TALENT, I tell you. As I type this, the temps are dropping in Dallas. We’ll have lows in the 40s for the next several days which is quite chilly for these parts! Time to bust out my legwarmers.
legwarmers!! I love it. I used to have so many pairs… and thank you, my dear. your compliments are always genuine and appreciated. really, they give me a boost every time. so crazy the weather – I would not have expected you to say that about Dallas yet – Jason is in Arizona right now and enjoying upper 80s. Last week he said it was 99. Woo.
I’m pretty stoked about the cooler temps! It makes the holidays a lot more authentic feeling and exciting to have a chill in the air. I’m sort of obsessed with legwarmers – I have an old school vintage pair – hot pink! And a brand new lululemon pair – obsessed.
I know – I have never spent the holidays in a warm area, it would be WEIRD. technically we will be home for both Thanksgiving AND Christmas this year, but missing the whole cold “holiday time” in between!
awwww those poor babies! i’m glad they’re finding solutions to protect them! and yes… penguins in clothes is uber cute.
its hot and cold on and off here, super weird! and btw this looks amazing! I love your varition nooch cheeze sauce — i’m going to give it a try! I tried ohsheglow’s squash cheeze and it was really good, this looks like it packs so much flavor too! yum!!!!
oh, I need to go look up Angela’s sauce, I have a squash and my resident squash hater is out of town…
Cauliflower as part of the base for a “cheese” sauce? Sounds brilliant to me!
yes indeed! didn’t know if it would work, but the creamy cashews really bought it all together! Mmm!
It’s actually still pretty warm here in North Carolina! I’m about to take the kiddos for a long walk…gotta savor these warms days while we can!
yes you do – enjoy!! I know Basil is already HUMPHing at the cold grass with his little shortie legs… poor guy.
I think we’re in for a biggie this winter…
I think we hit cold on Tuesday this week, came out of nowhere. I want that little penguin, my fave animal. Adorbs.
Thank you for this warm dish. No mac n cheese over here so everything has to be homemade. Perfection!
aren’t the penguins just precious? so so sweet. the cold temps just came out of the blue here too – a few days ago actual frost on the ground, Jason had to scrape his windshield (at 4 am…). I’ve always thought the weather over there was similar to here – it will be fun to follow along and see how accurate that is – so far, seems right on!
I thought I was the only one who likes (ok loves) tomatoes with their mac & cheese!! My fiance hates it but adds a bottle of hot sauce.
Oh and now I’m torn between buying a dehydrator or a juicer!! I think I’ll plunge for the juicer and just drool over your watermelon strips for a while longer
ha – exactly the same! I always like something in my mac & cheese… and sun dried tomatoes really add great flavor! so does hot sauce, I suppose!
and yes, if you are deciding which to get first, I would DEFINITELY recommend a juicer first! a dehydrator is fun, but my juicer is NECESSARY!
I’m definitely getting my juicer first. I can’t wait!! Hopefully you can give me some tips when it comes in the mail
most definitely! did you see my posts about the juice fast we did recently?
benefits of –> http://spabettie.com/2011/08/01/the-benefits-of-fasting/
a Q&A –> http://spabettie.com/2011/08/10/juice-fast-your-questions-answered/
ANYTHING I can do to help, please let me know! I’m excited for you!
Thanks for the links! I’ll check them out now. I’m so excited also! Expect plenty of Tweets and questions lol.
the penguin is totally adorable!! haha.
I loooove creamy mac n cheeze. Love it so much I can’t stop making it lately. Comfort food in winter is the best
Your recipe looks delicious! Cashews are a great idea.
hi Char! the cashews give this the creaminess much like the traditional dairy based counterpart – so very good!
I love the story of the penguins, because the outcome is good – they have all the sweaters they need and that makes me happy
YUM! This looks super delish. I actually thought your tomatoes were dried cranberries…which could also *maybe* be good…but sundried maters sounds better
Okay so important question: How can I make it my job to be one of the people who gets to dress the little penguins in the little sweaters?? That sounds like career heaven to me. 
funny you say that, Ali – when I was looking at these photos that is what I thought they looked like too… and then I wondered if cranberries would be good?
AW! wouldn’t that be a fun thing to do? those little sweeties are SO cute!
OOOH…that recipe is a keeper. OMG, those penguins are BEYOND cute!!!! The little sweater makes it look like a walking hot water bottle. AWWW!!! I saw the first sprinkling of snow up on the mountains north of Vancouver today. Guess the cooler weather really has arrived. Have a wonderful day.
“a walking hot water bottle” – that is a great description, I totally see it!
I can’t believe it’s the snow time of year… YAY!
Noocho noocho noocho noocho… totally word of the day.
it’s a great word of the day. it’s like the word of the kitchen around here – constant.
I love that I can really SEE all the nooch on this pasta. THAT’s how I like my nooch: thick!
right?? it really is a creamy consistency, but you can see the noocho… Mmm.
I was so disappointed to learn that New Zealand has all the penguin sweaters it needs and won’t be taking any more donations. Of course, at the rate I knit they wouldn’t be getting it soon anyway.
YESSSSSSSSSSSSS, more noocho cheese! I just ordered a massive cannister of nutrional yeast. Chilly weather definitely = massive amounts of comfort food for me.
I was just thinking I need to get more myself… A WHOLE LOTTA NOOCHO going on around here…
Oh wow wow wow!!! So good!!!! Anything with hot sauce is good with me
I’m in Michigan, winter is coming, but thankfully no snow yet!
thank you, Jen!! I know – I used to not like any hot sauce at all, but I’ve found the ones that are still flavorful, you know?? I don’t like the ones that are just heat and make me cry
I think penguins are just the cutest, but their lives are incredibly sad. The sweater is just adorable! I have to make this dish! I love that you added cauliflower. I mixed mashed cauliflower in my mashed potatoes not too long ago and I love the combination. I bet this combo would be perfect too! Yum!
but they’re happier now!! they have their life-saving sweaters! (I know… it is incredibly sad. I SO hate to see poor animals in any kind of distress – it hurts me). I love the cauliflower in mashed potatoes thing too – and funny you say that, I was thinking of mashed potatoes in THIS… cheese sauce! for a second, anyway – then I thought too much starch!
I totally love the penguins and just sent the link to my friend who totally adores them (she even has adopted a penguin
).
I still need to try out nut “cheese”.
yes you do!!
and what?? your friend adopted a penguin?? like, an adoption where, she HAS the bird, or… just send money for it’s well being? 
either way, I like your friend!
oh yes, I love penguins. Penguins and platypuses are my favorite animals. Or is it “platypusi” for plural? Anyhow, I think I’m biased towards funky birds.
I love the platypus also!! my friends have a band, and they have The Best Songs!! really. one song is called Platypus, and it’s about “a small aquatic egg-laying monotreme mammal” it’s a very cute song.
they also have a song called Church. the chorus is “God damn it, we’re goin’ to church”
it is awesome.
Okay, the penguins in sweaters are wicked cute! And interesting that it helps save the penguin’s life. I have not tried any cashew cheese yet, but I love cashews and I love cheese so it’s a pretty safe bet that I will like it.
cashews are my favorite. you should try some, its a whole new food group to me.
aren’t the penguins SO cute?? I’m so happy they’re all being helped, little sweeties!
I love the name of your pasta dish heh… I am in love with cashew cheese. Each week Kevin and I have pizza night and I put cashew or walnut cheese on my pizza. SO good every time!
I am a FREAK about cashews. a FREAK!!
Awesome recipe! Just pinned it. And those little penguins … oh my goodness, my heart goes out to those little guys.
Turning cold tonight here, so we’ll be having our first fire in the wood stove tomorrow.
xo,
Shirley
thanks for the pin, my friend!
we’re talking about getting our cord of wood, too – I LOVE to have a fire going, we have a wood stove too! 
enjoy!!
Mmm! This looks great Kristina, especially with the sundried tomatoes!
We’ve been getting cooler temperatures by the day…which is so crazy since it was 80 degrees over the weekend! It’s not supposed to get higher than 60 tomorrow. Ugh! You may be ready for winter, but I most certainly am NOT. I really need to look into moving closer to the equator!
I wish we had a longer (warmer??) summer, but I guess I just love the change of seasons, really. I like that we have them, instead of being “nice” all the time, you know? does that make sense?
Great combo – gotta love nooch
Especially with cauliflower. In NZ we call sweaters “jersery’s” not sure why 
yes, the nooch and cauliflower is pretty darn good together. sweaters – during this current news story about these penguins, I have also heard them called “jumpers” – which I thought was a British thing? do they call them that in NZ too?
Ooooh yum! I could eat a bowl of cheesy pasta right about now (even though it’s 7 am, I like dinner for breakfast)
I have so much penguin love going on at the best of times but right now I actually think my heart’s gonna go pop.
xxxx
it wouldn’t be the first time I ate pasta for breakfast….
and I know… aren’t the penguins so incredibly SWEET??
Hubba Hubba!!! I really think I would enjoy eating at your place every night
This looks gorgeous!! I love pasta and I love anything cheesy….or, well, “Cheesy” 
xxoo
aw – how much FUN would we have!?
yep – anything “Cheesy” is a good thing! Happy Friday, dear!!
This sounds great! But you simply must try some Himalayan pink salt. I get mine from Sustainable Sourcing https://secure.sustainablesourcing.com. The flavor is so much better than regular salt! Thanks for sharing this recipe—I can’t wait to try it!
I have some pink himalayan salt – we get ours from The Meadow here in Portland – they sell nothing but salt, chocolate and bitters – what a WONDERFUL shop!!
phew! Glad to see those were sundried tomatoes. At first I thought they were cranberries…???? Why I thought that i don’t know. Maybe because on someone else’s blog they had pics of granola. Anyways…love the story about the sweater penguins. They are so cute! I remember hearing about that and post to my fb page too. I wish I could knit.
it’s funny, I thought they looked like dried cranberries when I was looking at these photos after the fact… and someone else commented the same thing! I’m not sure that would be good… I don’t know??
sun dried tomatoes, though, YES.
the penguins are just too cute. though I’m glad others are volunteering to make them sweaters – I have never had a sewing / knitting bone in my body!
oh wow…
I read, “soak the cashews” and thought, “my goodness – I’ve NEVER heard of that…”
no surprise – I learn so much here!
SOOOOOO clever! sooooooo beautiful!
I lov the rice pasta too – it is GREAT! and the BF+ doesn’t even know the difference
really – it makes a big difference (just like peeling those chickpeas, you know!!)
the rice pasta is really good – just make sure to not SALT THE WATER so much!! I learned that the hard way. oops. 
Oh goodness, this is the third or fourth cheese pasta recipe I’ve bookmarked in the past HOUR, but I can’t help it – it looks so good! Bookmarked… yum!!
thank you, Angela!! hope you like it, enjoy! XO
YUM. you make vegan look good.
I’m so glad I just happend upon this while re-reading another one of your recipes..I cannot wait to make this. How long do you soak your cashews for? I’ve been experimenting with different soaking/texture times…its kind of a fun experiment.
hi Raysa! I soak them at least an hour, if I want to make something really quick that is generally enough time. if I soak overnight, I’ll put them in the fridge. I hope you like this!
yes, PLEASE ask anything anytime!! I LOVE to help people with juicing!
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