Melicious11's Profile

Well Fed: Paleo Recipes For People Who Love To Eat is all dairy free -- plus gluten free, too! Lots of international recipes and yummy sauces.

As a paleo eater, peanuts are totally off limits for me, so I've gotten creative in Asian dishes. I agree that cashews are an excellent substitute when a recipe calls for chopped nuts.

For a dipping sauce, almond butter works, but I recommend sunflower butter instead. It has the creamy texture of peanut butter and is closer in flavor, too. Here's my recipe for dipping sauce... it's called Sunshine Sauce and it will blow your mind:

http://www.theclothesmakethegirl.com/2009/07/21/sunshine-sauce/

Two favorites: (1) cauliflower "rice" made into breakfast fried rice with scrambled eggs, coconut aminos (like soy sauce), broccoli, with a few chunks of pineapple... (2) sauteed green cabbage, cooked spaghetti squash, leftover cooked chicken, with the Tsardust Memories seasoning from Penzeys. Sweet, savory goodness!

Cook's Illustrated magazines and cookbooks are excellent for understanding how recipes work so eventually, a cook can improvise in the kitchen... it's like learning famous guitarists' riffs before a musician can throw one together on the fly.

I also taught myself a lot by making basics -- steamed vegetables or grilled meat -- and dressing them up with spices. It's easy to experiment with flavorings and you really can't produce anything inedible, so the risk is low.