Almond Sauce

The house has shown 7 times this weekend!! I'm supposed to disappear when people come so I've been bopping in and out. I even sat at the neighbors once while people where here routing through my closest (you know they were!)  Not cooking much. Stinky things like kale are followed by and airing out and quick spray of citrus. 

on to the recipe
This has been a vegetarian/vegan secret sauce for a while now. Time for the rest of us to embrace it.  
There is a lot of gobbly gook out there on the net about sourcing your "raw" almonds. I encourage you to look into it and to find a source you are happy with. 

The FDA has taken it upon themselves to say that from around Sep 1 2007 all almonds in the USA, Mexico and Canada can no longer be raw. While they will still be labelled 'raw', they will be 'pasteurized'. Some will be pasteurized with steam but many will be treated with a carcinogen Propylene Oxide

 'Nuff said.
I have also sampled a fantastic creamy cashew sauce (heaven) and if you search the net you'll find a few other variations. 

Creamy Almond Sauce
1 C raw almonds
juice of 1-2 lemons 
1/4 tsp salt
2-3 cloves garlic finely chopped
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
1-2 cups of reserved cooking liquid 

Fill a small saucepan half full of water and bring to a boil. Add the almonds and simmer for 5 minutes. Strain the almonds and reserve the cooking water.  Allow nuts to cool a few minutes then you squeeze the nuts to slip the skin off. (it's fun and sometimes they shoot across the room so watch out!)
Place the skinned nuts, garlic, salt, vinegar and lemon juice in a blender. 
While blending slowly add in the reserved cooking water to the desired consistency. 
Voila!

Serving suggestions
*on top of a baked potato (and you can skip the fat stuff like butter and sour cream) 
*thin into a sauce and serve over steamed collard greens, kale or spinach
*use thick as a dip for raw veggies
*on crackers
*as a  pasta sauce (add some brewers yeast for a cheesy taste..fake alfredo sauce) 
*go for a protein load and pour it over a bowl of quinoa with some chopped veg 

or just get a spoon and sit and eat it right out of the container. That's what I find myself doing. Maybe I can skip the garlic and bake it into a desert...hmmmm..