A quick, easy, and compassionate alternative to traditional cheesy rice, with the addition of spinach and cilantro.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup uncooked rice
• 2 cups baby spinach, packed

Sauce

• 1 cup raw cashews, soaked for 2 hours in water
• 3/4 cup nutritional yeast
• 1/3 cup millet flour
• 3 cups non-dairy milk
• salt to taste
• 2-3 tsp chili powder
• 2 cups chopped fresh cilantro

Preparation:

1. Cook rice according to package directions.
2. Just before rice is finished cooking (when only a small amount of liquid remains in pot), uncover and place spinach leaves on top of cooking rice.
3. Re-cover rice and continue to cook until both spinach and rice is tender.
4. Stir together to combine spinach and rice.
5. Drain cashews and puree in blender with about 1Ž2 cup water, or more if needed, until very smooth, about 5 minutes.
6. In 2 quart saucepan, whisk together nutritional yeast,millet flour, and about 2 cups non-dairy milk until no lumps of flour or nutritional yeast remain.
7. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until thickened.
8. Add in puréed cashews, chili powder, and additional non-dairy milk and keep whisking until the sauce is the consistency of a thick pancake batter.
9. Salt to taste.
10. Remove from heat and stir in chopped cilantro.
11. Combine sauce with rice and mix together completely.
12. Garnish with a little more nutritional yeast and additional cilantro and serve hot.

Variation: If you dislike cilantro, feel free to leave it out and add more spinach, parsley, or steamed broccoli florets in place of it.

Cheezy Spinach and Cilantro Rice Image Source: Allyson Kramer