The last Friday of Lent (Good Friday), is almost here which means only one more Friday of fasting/no meat. Honestly, I do not mind it that much, especially when you can have Yumm Bowls. Unless you are from Oregon, you probably have not heard of these. Café Yumm, originated in Eugene, Oregon and since, chains have popped up in different locals across Oregon. Their Yumm Bowls, consist of basically beans, rice, some various toppings and their secret Yumm Sauce. People either love or hate Yumm Sauce but those who do, find it addicting and you can put it on so many other things than just beans and rice. You can buy it in their store but the closest Café Yumm to me is an hour away, so I decided to make my own Yumm sauce. After scouring the internets and Pinterest, mixing several recipes together and adding some different ingredients to my taste, I believe I have come up with a pretty dang close copycat recipe.

Café Yumm Sauce Copycat Recipe:
½ cup water
½ cup fresh lemon juice
½ cup neutral flavored oil (light olive or avocado oil are best, I would suggest not using coconut oil for this)
½ cups almonds
1/3 heaping cup nutritional yeast*
1 can rinsed and drained garbanzo or white beans
2 tsp. soy sauce
1 tsp. garlic power
1 – 1 ½ tsp. curry powder (depending upon how much you like curry)
2 tbsp. fresh cilantro
1 tsp. salt

*Nutritional yeast IS NOT the kind of yeast you bake with OR brewers yeast and either cannot be substituted in this recipe. Nutritional yeast, are large, yellow flakes. A lady I work with described them as looking like human fish food, which sadly they do. It can be found in bulk food sections, generally at health food stores.

See...fish food. Hopefully that doesn't ruin it for you.

Directions: Place almonds in a bowl of extremely hot water, soak for 15 minutes. While your almonds are soaking place all the ingredients but the oil in a blender or food processor. Once your almonds have softened and are done soaking, drain, and place in the blender as well. Blend for one minute, scrape down the sides and blend for another minute. Next, blend again while slowly drizzling in the oil. Pour into an airtight jar and place into a refrigerator to let sit overnight. You can eat this right away and it still tastes great but it is best if you let it sit overnight to give the flavors time to blend.

Golden Deliciousness

Next you need to assemble your Yumm Bowl. Café Yumm has different combos of bowls, you can look at their menu online, but my favorite is the Jazzy Bowl, which is layered as so:
Jasmine Rice, Red Beans, Yumm Sauce, Tomatoes, Avocado, Cheese, Salsa, Sour Cream, Olives and Cilantro.

Recently they also added the option of adding a protein to the top of your bowl, chicken or grilled tofu, I go with chicken but since this is a Lenten meal I’ll be passing this time.

So fresh and healthy!

Yumm bowls are great to make for a crowd because everyone can customize their own to their individual tastes and they are very filling. I like to put everything out on a board when I make them at home because it looks pretty and also there are less dishes. Originally when I made this I did not take super great photos, so sorry for the lack of quality and quantity.

And there you have it! That is how you make a Yumm Bowl! I hope you enjoy them! Let me know what you think of the Yumm Sauce!