Vegan mac and cheese dinner with Elizabeth :)

My fellow vegan alien Elizabeth had me over for dinner and showed me her take on vegan mac and cheese.  She used a recipe from AllRecipes.com, and veganized the recipe with a few modifications.  This mac and cheese tastes just like the frozen Amy’s version of gluten-free mac and cheese, but much tastier.  The secret ingredient is mustard!  Mustard makes the sauce extra creamy and gives it a cheesy tang.

To veganize and customize to your taste buds, use:

non dairy milk (soy or almond)

vegetable broth

vegan cheese (try Daiya brand, or just use lots of nutritional yeast)

onion powder and garlic powder to taste

a splash of soy sauce

To make this recipe gluten-free, use:

gluten-free pasta (try quinoa brand)

gluten-free flour

Elizabeth tells me that this recipe makes a lot of pasta, so just estimate how much you want to eat.  Don’t worry too much about the exact measurements of the ingredients.  Her mac and cheese turned out great without her measuring a single thing!  Just make sure to add more broth or milk to your sauce if it gets too thick on the stove top.

We also had salads, watermelon, and Pirate’s Booty (the veggie flavor tastes like Cheetos!) along with the mac and cheese for dinner.  YUM!

Birthday Weekend Fun!

I had SO MUCH fun this weekend!!  I really have the greatest friends ever!  The only thing that made me sad was that my boyfriend wasn’t here to celebrate with us   But he’s returning to the states soon, so I’ll have to whip him up some vegan foods especially for him (not that I don’t do that already…hehe).

My friend Michael helped me prepare food for my birthday party this weekend.  Everything was vegan and gluten-free!

Michael made crispy rice treats from The Gluten Free Vegan cookbook by Susan O’Brien.  Making gluten-free vegan rice crispy treats can be difficult because regular rice crispy cereal contains barley malt (which I am also allergic to, and I believe it’s related to gluten), and traditional marshmallows contain gelatin (powdered horse hooves and animal bones).  Susan O’Brien’s recipe calls for puffed rice (we found gluten-free rice crispy cereal and used this instead) and brown rice syrup as a marshmallow replacement.  Brown rice syrup is very sugary and sticky!!  You won’t miss the marshmallows.

Cassie really, really wanted to help taste test these treats…unfortunately these are human treats only because they contain raisins, and LOTS of sugary goodness.

Michael modified the recipe a bit by adding dried goji berries (loaded with vitamin A and available at Earthfare), vegan carob chips, and some other random nuts and seeds that I had lying around.

Leela couldn’t resist licking the peanut butter jar clean!

I made some gluten-free vegan mac and cheese since it’s always a crowd pleaser.  And yes, I portion out all the ingredients before I start cooking…it helps me feel like I’m food network or something…haha   Click here to see my blog post which includes the recipe for the mac and cheese.

I also made some cornbread using Bob’s Red Mill gluten-free cornbread mix.  This is available at Kroger, Earthfare, and maybe at Publix.  So far I’ve tried the gluten-free pizza crust mix in addition to the cornbread mix, and both are fantastic.  Both were light and doughy, just like “real” bread!

Here’s the collection:

Here’s Michael cutting up the rice crispy treats.  He made two batches (one had a bit of honey since we ran out of the brown rice syrup).

AND we made homemade vegan and gluten-free pizza!  Click here to read my blog post about pizza, including which vegan cheese you should use!  Fresh zucchini is one of my favorite ingredients to throw on top.  Even the non-vegans were raving about the cheese.  YUM!

And we had homemade lattes with Silk creamer to keep us motivated during all the cooking

The party (and prepping the food with Michael) was so much fun!  We only spent around $30 for all the ingredients for the food, so it wasn’t expensive at all, and I still have a few leftovers.  What a deal!

Thanks to everyone who came out (or who wanted to but couldn’t make it).  Love you all.

Vegan gluten-free Mac and Cheese

I have searched high and low for a vegan recipe for mac and cheese.  Most vegan cheeses don’t melt the same way dairy cheese does, so many of the vegan mac and cheese recipes just don’t satisfy my cheese tooth.  Fortunately, I came across this vegan mac and cheese recipe in a PETA magazine a few years ago.  I modified a few things to make it gluten-free, but it is still just as decadent as good ol’ cheese-filled mac and cheese.  Believe it or not, no vegan “cheese” is used in this recipe.  Nutritional yeast is all you need for a fatty vegan cheese sauce.

Behold!

Remember, if you aren’t allergic to gluten, you can make this recipe with regular noodles and flour.

Also – this is the best brand for gluten-free pasta.  The noodles are firm enough to retain their shape unlike rice pastas.  Quinoa is also a complete protein, full of fiber, and high in magnesium and iron.

Ingredients:

1 lb. Quinoa gluten-free elbow macaroni (available at Kroger in the natural foods section, Publix in the pasta aisle, and Earthfare)
1/2 cup Earth Balance vegan butter (available at Kroger and Earthfare)
1/2 cup of Bob’s Red Mill gluten-free all-purpose flour (Kroger in the natural foods section, and Earthfare in the baking aisle)
3 1/2 cups boiling water
2 teaspoons salt
2 tablespoons wheat-free soy sauce (La Choy brand at Kroger)
1 1/2 teaspoons garlic powder
1 teaspoon black pepper (omit black pepper if you don’t like it spicy)
pinch of turmeric
1/4 cup vegetable oil
3/4 cup nutritional yeast flakes (available at Earthfare in the bulk bins)
1 small can diced green chiles
paprika, for garnish

Makes 6-8 servings.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Cook the elbow macaroni according to the package directions.  Drain, and set aside.  You may want to drizzle a little bit of oil on the noodles to prevent them from sticking together.

In a saucepan, melt the vegan butter over low heat.  Whisk in the flour.  Continue whisking over medium heat until smooth and bubbly.

Whisk in the boiling water, salt, pepper, soy sauce, garlic powder, and turmeric.  Continue whisking until dissolved.  Once thick and bubbly, whisk in the oil, nutritional yeast flakes, and chiles.

Mix 3/4 of the sauce with the noodles and place in a 9 by 13 casserole dish.  Pour the rest of the sauce on top.  Sprinkle paprika on top for fanciness.

Bake for 15 minutes, then broil for a few minutes until the top is crispy.