Peaches are ripe and ready here in Texas. And I’m lucky enough to have a yoga friend with two peach trees in her backyard — one yellow and one white. They are absolutely beautiful. Full of sweet, fragrant fruit.

My friend, Nicki, has lots of fruit trees in her yard and keeps a wonderful raised garden on the side of her house. She grows things like romaine lettuce, arugula, mint, tomatoes, kale, swiss chard. For her meals and snacks, she just walks outside and picks a few things. I’m in awe of her.

Because I knew Nicki’s peach trees were producing, I wanted to make her something that could go with them. So I soaked some cashews last night in filtered water. In the morning, I stuck them in the blender and made a batch of cashew cream. This stuff is so delicious. It has the texture of whipping cream with a hint of cashew flavor. You can sweeten it if you want. But with the peaches, it was perfect just the way it was.

You can substitute cashew cream for whipping cream or half and half in your recipes. Also, you can making it thicker and turn it into vegan whipped cream. I got my recipe from The Conscious Cook by Tal Ronnen. He is an amazing rock star vegan chef who’s revamped the restaurant menus at the Wynn casinos in Las Vegas, among many other things.

So go find some incredibly good local peaches (when they are in season in your area) and make this simple recipe. You will absolutely love it.

Cashew Cream

Adapted from The Conscious Cook by Tal Ronnen

Makes about 3 1/2 cups cream

2 cups whole raw cashews (avoid cashew pieces because they can be dry)

Filtered water

Rinse the cashews under cold water. Place in bowl and cover with cold filtered water. Cover bowl and refrigerate overnight.

Drain the cashews and rinse again under cold water. Place in blender with enough fresh cold filtered water to cover by 1 inch (about 2 cups). Blend on high for a few minutes until very smooth. If not using Vita-mix or similar blender, you may want to strain cashew cream through a fine mesh sieve.

To make a thicker cream, just add enough water to cover cashews.

Whipped Cashew Cream

Makes about 2 cups

1 cup thick cashew cream

1/4 cup agave nectar or other liquid sweetener

1/2 tsp vanilla

2/3 cups extra virgin coconut oil, melted

Filtered water

Place cashew cream in blender and add agave, vanilla and 1/4 cup filtered water. Blend until well combined.

With blender running, slowly add coconut oil in the hole of the blender lid. Blend until emulsified.

Pour into a bowl and chill in the refrigerator, covered, for 2 hours. Stir before serving.