Plant based charcuterie board

Charcuterie boards are a great centre piece and so much fun! You can build your own and be creative and impress your guests with very little effort. Snack boards are a great way to incorporate veggies, fruits, bean spreads, artisan breads, gourmet crackers and plant-based cheese (with no preservatives). I like the Miyokos brand. It’s important to unwind and gather around the table and enjoy food in a relaxing atmosphere and slow down, talk and enjoy time together.

Build your own board:

You can choose the following ingredients:

• Raw vegetables (red ,yellow pepper, cumbers, broccoli, cauliflower,, zucchini,, cherry tomatoes and radishes

• Fresh fruit (grapes, apple slices, strawberries, blueberries, cantaloupe, pears,mandarine oranges)

• Dried fruit (figs, apricots, raisins, dried cranberries, and dried mangoes all found in the dried fruit section in the website)

• Olives (marinated green olives or kalamata pitted olives or sun dried olives)

• Cheese ( try plant-based cheese with not too many ingredients you can’t pronounce- I like the Miyokos brand)

• Dips (Hummus, red beet hummus, Baba ganoush, roasted vegetable dip

• Nuts (Almonds, cashews, walnuts, pecans, macadamia nuts all found in our nut section on our website)

• Crackers (pick crackers that don’t have ingredients that you can’t pronounce- there are many that have good ingredients and are wholesome and delicious)

• Bread (baguettes, or home made bread)

• Other (roasted chickpeas, tortilla chips, potato chips, sweet relishes, pickles, sweet compotes)

SPICY ROASTED ALMONDS AND CASHEW

I played around with this recipe and finally got it down to perfection.  A few years ago, everywhere you went to get roasted nuts, the ingredients were always canola oil, maltodextrin and other ingredients whose names you couldn’t pronounce. My recipe has cayenne, himalayan salt, and water. Yes water!!   I make these nuts for friends and family and everyone is always impressed. You can add as much spice as you want. I just make them spicy enough for my taste buds. My Dad used to love these. Thought I would make these today in memory of my Dad for Father’s Day.

All you need is raw cashews, raw almonds, cayenne, himalayan salt and water.  First wash the nuts several times and soak for about 20 minutes. Studies show the longer you soak the nuts, the better. If you have time to soak them overnight, its better, but the roasting time will increase as the nuts will take longer to get that crunch.

After washing and soaking, mix cayenne and himalayan salt in 1/4 cup of hot boiling water and pour over nuts and mix thoroughly making sure all the nuts are evenly coated.

Bake for an hour and a half at 250 degrees F and keep stirring the mixture at 20 minute intervals. Leave the nuts to cool in the oven.

SPICY ROASTED ALMONDS AND CASHEW

• Serves: 6-10

• Prep Time: 30 minutes

• Cooking Time: 90 minutes

INGREDIENTS

• 1/2 cup raw cashews

• 1/2 cup raw almonds

• 1/2 tsp cayenne

• 1/2 tsp Himalayan salt

• 1/4 cup hot water

INSTRUCTIONS

Wash nuts several times and soak nuts in cold water for about 20 minutes.  You can soak for longer but this will increase your roasting time. Preheat oven to 250 degrees F.  Rinse nuts and set aside.  Mix the cayenne and Himalayan salt in hot water and stir till salt has dissolved and add the mixture to the nuts. Stir, making sure the nuts are coated evenly. Transfer to a baking tray covered with parchment paper.  Roast the nuts for about an hour and a half stirring every twenty minutes so they cook evenly.  Leave the nuts to cool in the oven.