Monday, October 25, 2010

It Ain't Easy, Bein Cheesy...

So for some reason, most vegans I know are obsessed with finding a good mac and cheese recipe.  I admit, I include myself in that group.  For a while now I have had a very good mac and cheese recipe that is my go-to recipe, BUT.... it's not really like classic mac and cheese.  As I mentioned a while back, an awesome company sent me some dairy-free "cheese" samples.  I thought that having this available would be the perfect chance to try to just "wing it" and make my very own recipe.

I got out:
1 pkg Whole Wheat elbow noodles
1 pkg Galaxy Nutritional Foods Rice Cheese Block
1/3 cup Earth Balance Margarine
1 3/4 cup Almond milk
2 Heapin teaspoons Nutritional Yeast
big dash of paprika
big dash onion powder
flour
4 table spoons vegenaise (seriously, I have yet to find something vegenaise did not improve...)
Panko bread crumbs
italian seasoning
onion flakes
garlic salt
More Earth Balance


I set water on to boil for the noodles, and then cooked them, while they were boiling I added the margarine and "milk" to a seperate pan and set it to warm.  Then I grated the cheese block into fine shreds and added it and the big dash of paprika, big dash onion powder, flour and 4 table spoons vegenaise.  I stirred this all till the cheese had completely melted and become an orange colored "sauce".  By this time the noodles were done, so I drained them, put them in a baking dish and poured the sauce over them. 

Now, if you like the Kraft mac and cheese style of macaroni and cheese, then you would want to stop here.  At this point it is already totally edible, BUT, I personally like baked Macaroni and Cheese with bread crumb topping, soooooo, I took the Panko bread crumbs, italian seasoning, onion flakes  and garlic salt and mixed them in a little dish and poured it over the mac.  I don't give you measurements here because it is all to taste.  I like quite a bit of seasoning, but that's me.  Then I put dollops of earth balance over the top (do small bits, but all over.  It makes the crust brown and crunchy.  Mmmmmm.)and baked it for 45 minutes at 350 degrees.  This was the result:



Do you see that?  Do you see it's deliciousness??  I hope this is coming through the page at you... all steamy and cheesy.  Not to toot my own horn (TOOT TOOT!) but it was awesome.  Even hubby was a fan, and he hates vegan food! :)

I served it with peas and some falafel balls cooked in a mushroom gravy.  Side note on the falafel, not so great in a mushroom gravy.  Eh, I tried something new, you win some, you lose some.  Anyway it was a success overall, so I can't complain, and for once, neither did my husband! ;)



6 comments:

  1. I have to try this! Is it good enough to serve at Thanksgiving, would you say?

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  2. Yeah, I could make it then if you like.

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  3. I found your blog through the Galaxy Foods page on Facebook. I'm also a long term vegetarian who has recently gone vegan. Not for political reasons, but simply for health. I am also sturdy in a strong wind (e.g. I'm a size 14,) so to speak, so people look at me surprised when I say I'm vegan. I do like my carbs and sugar, and if it's going to inconvenience a host, I happily eat cheese. It's validating to know there are others out there like me who are "mostly" vegan!

    Where do you find vegan Parmesan-style cheese? The Galaxy Foods one contains some milk products, I was sad to see.

    Going to try this mac and cheese tonight for my meat eating family! Thanks for posting recipes!

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  4. Allison, it sounds like we are very similar, food wise (and "sturdiness" wise, LOL) and belief system wise, glad you found my site! The galaxy foods one you find at the grocery store has milk in it, but the purple bottle you find at the health food store from galaxy is vegan. It's clearly marked vegan on the front, it's just not nearly as readily available as the non-vegan kind, which makes me sad. It's very yummy! You can find it on veganessentials.com, if I remember correctly. Let me know how your macaroni and cheese works out! :)

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  5. For vegan cheese that melts and tastes good try Daiya brand vegan cheese. It only comes shredded so it can be a bit messy to make sandwiches with but it is delicious.

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  6. I seem to be the only vegan out there who doesn't like Daiya. The flavor/texture just aren't right to me. I know it melts, but it seems to get... slimy maybe? I don't know. I keep trying to like it. I find I like the cheddar better than the mozzarella. I used it to make a pizza actually, and even though cheddar is not what you think of with pizza, it was pretty good.

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