The first recipe was Cosmic Kale and Chickpeas, which I intended to serve over brown rice. The first step is to make a cashew sauce with soaked cashews, water, garlic, and bouillon. I loaded the ingredients into my food processor, and pressed the button. Oops, my food processor does not have a watertight seal like a blender. Cashew sauce flew everywhere. I took out some of the water and tried again. More cashew sauce spilled. At this point I realized the chopped onion was burning in the frying pan. There was such a mess in my kitchen I wanted to cry.

But I regrouped. I turned down the heat on the onions, and added in the chopped kale and chickpeas. Then I mixed up a new sauce with 1/4 c. peanut butter, 1/4 c. water, a dash of soy sauce, and a dash of red pepper for just a little heat. When the kale was cooked, I stirred in the peanut sauce and about 2 cups of cooked brown rice. A few minutes later, I declared the dish done, and then calmly cleaned just about every surface in my kitchen.

I did get at least one compliment from someone who really liked the peanut sauce, and there was no salad left when I took the bowl home. Whether you make the recipe as it was originally written, or use the “peanut butter shortcut”, you will never know what you can do until you try.