The Best Cheese Sauce / Mac n' Cheese

 
I hated macaroni and cheese growing up (I also hated grilled cheese sandwiches and just about anything cheesy and gooey, so maybe there was something wrong with me). I've come to my senses now, but it can still be hard to get that gooey cheesiness in vegan food - especially with macaroni and cheese. I've had some bad vegan macaroni and cheese, and lots of mediocre macaroni and cheese. 

After having the amazing "mac and yease" at Plum Bistro in Seattle, I was determined to recreate it at home. I looked at other people's versions online, adjusted to my tastes and what I thought was in their sauce, and this is what I came up with - my family seemed to really like it and not really notice it was vegan - which is always my goal! You'll have to play with the sauce-to-noodle ratio to your own tastes, and I have a hard time remembering exactly how I make it because I don't really measure things, but I think it's pretty darn good. It's not as oily as Plum's, because I'm pretty sure they pan fry theirs, but it hits the spot!

The cheese sauce is also great to dip chips in, or use to make nachos, or spread on a sandwich, etc. etc. etc. 

Edit: I just noticed I already had a Mac and Cheese recipe posted. That's what happens when you never update your blog. I like this one better (sorry, Chef Chloe...). 

Ingredients for the Cheese Sauce:

• 3/4 cup Earth Balance margarine (stick or tub)
• 3/4 cup flour 
• 1 1/2 cups nutritional yeast
•  3 1/2 cups boiling water 
• 1 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp tumeric
• 1 tsp mustard powder or 1 tablespoon mustard

Warm the butter on low-medium heat in a large saucepan. When it's melted, add the flour and whisk together until it's a smooth mixture, turning up the heat to medium.

Add the boiling water to the butter and flour mixture, and all of the tumeric, salt, garlic, and mustard. Let it cook and thicken, then stir in the nutritional yeast. It should start becoming a thick, creamy, bright yellow sauce, and you'll have a few cups worth. If it's too thick, add a little more boiling water. It should be pretty thick, though. 

After stirring it for about 5 minutes, remove from heat. Cheese sauce is done!


For the Mac n' Cheese:

• Noodles - I don't even mess around with rice noodles (gluten-free) or whole wheat noodles (blech) because I'm already eating mac and cheese, and I don't care if it's healthy (it's not). But you can make your own decisions here. So get your noodles of choice, and cook them al dente. I like to make a lot so I have leftovers for days, so I'd cook a few cups of dry noodles so I can fill a large casserole dish. 
• 1 package silken tofu, blended to a cream in the food processor (optional)
• Daiya cheese, cheddar and/or mozzarella, about 1/3 - 1/2 cup is good
• Bread crumbs (optional)   

Pour the noodles into a big bowl (or directly into the casserole dish you're going to use) and stir together with the blended-up silken tofu (I think it just adds a little something extra, a little creaminess) and about 1/4 cup of each kind of Daiya (or 1/2 cup of one kind, or neither, it's up to you; the Daiya adds a little more creaminess as well). Pour in the sauce and mix around with the noodles, coating them evenly. You might have some sauce leftover (not always a bad thing - make more noodles? or dip chips in it?) depending on how much you want with the noodles. 

Throw on some breadcrumbs if you want and bake at 350 degrees for about 15 minutes, until it's all bubbly and the Daiya has melted. And then eat it.  

Vegan Caesar Salad Dressing + Croutons

I love a good Caesar salad, and this one is cheese and anchovy free, so I can eat it! It's probably low fat or low calorie or whatever as an alternative if you are into that and still want something creamy. I've also been spreading the leftovers on bread as part of my sandwiches for lunch and it's really good! I think this is originally from Veganomicon, but I found it on and copied it from this website. I usually double it because the Silken Tofu box has a lot of extra tofu in it and I don't know what else to do with it.

Ingredients for Caesar dressing:

• 1/3 cup almonds
• 3-4 cloves garlic (or more if you like garlic)
  
• 3/4 cup silken tofu
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 3 tablespoons lemon juice (fresh is always best)
  
• 1 heaping tablespoon capers
• 4 teaspoons caper brine
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon mustard powder
• Salt

Ingredients for Croutons:

• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 4 cloves roasted garlic
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice (optional)
  
• 1 medium size loaf French or Italian bread (little less than 1 pound), stale and torn or sliced into bite-sized pieces (or, I've just used regular bread in a pinch)
  
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

For Salad:

• 1 large head romaine lettuce, chopped
• Freshly cracked black pepper
• Spinach and/or arugula, torn into bite-sized pieces (optional)
• Gardein "Chick'n" for "Chick'n" Caesar salad, or tofu/seitan if preferred.
  
• Vegan Parmesan cheese, or make your own
  

Prepare the dressing: Pulse the sliced almonds in a food processor or blender until crumbly. Empty the ground almonds into an airtight container that you'll be using to store the finished dressing. Blend the garlic, tofu, and oil in the food processor or blender until creamy. Add the lemon juice, capers, caper brine, sugar, and mustard powder, and pulse until blended. Adjust the salt and lemon juice to taste. Put into the container with the ground almonds and whisk to combine. Cover and allow the dressing to chill in the refrigerator for a minimum of 30 minutes, optimally 1 to 1 1/2 hours.

While the dressing is chilling, prepare the croutons: Preheat the oven to 400F. Combine the olive oil, roasted garlic, and lemon juice in a large bowl. With a fork or immersion blender, mash or blend the mixture until creamy. Add the torn bread and toss to coat each piece with the oil mixture. Spread onto a rimmed baking sheet, sprinkle with salt, if desired, and bake for 12 to 14 minutes until golden brown. Toss the croutons twice during the baking process. Remove from the oven and cool the croutons on the baking sheet.

Note: This makes a LOT of croutons and they don't often store well, so sometimes I only make half of the recipe amount and make the other croutons fresh when I'm eating the leftover dressing :)

"Yumm/Whole" Style Bowls With Lemony-Garlic Tahini Sauce

If you've lived in Portland or Eugene, you're probably familiar with The Whole Bowl and/or Cafe Yumm, and the delicious bowls of rice, salsa, beans, olives, and special sauce that they serve up. We've been making these type of bowls for a few years, probably at least once a month - they're yummy, quick, and filling; and dairy-free, gluten-free, sugar-free, vegan. The problem is, we don't live near a Yumm Sauce vendor (nor do we want to pay $$ for a jar of sauce), and the Tali sauce (or sometimes called "crack sauce") at Whole Bowl is shrouded in secrecy. So, this is my best attempt to emulate it. I don't know if it's exactly like it, but whatever it is, it's good! We've also thrown the leftover sauce in soup, burritos, and in pasta.

Makes enough for about 4 people, or 2 with leftovers. As with any recipe I post, feel free to omit things you don't like and add things you do!

Ingredients for the Bowls:

• 2 cups of cooked brown or white rice (from 1 cup dry rice)
  
• 1 can of black beans, drained, rinsed, and cooked (or 3/4 of a cup dried black beans, boiled and drained)
• 1 can of sliced black olives
• 3/4 cup salsa of choice
• 1-2 ripe avocados, chopped into cubes
  
• 1 cup of fresh cilantro, chopped (optional, I guess - I have a few friends who don't like cilantro - but mandatory for a cilantro-lover like me!)
  
• green onion, chopped, for garnish (optional)
• sour cream or vegan sour cream (optional, but ewww in my opinion)
• shredded cheese or vegan cheese (also optional, I've never made it with cheese but I believe it is served with cheese at Whole Bowl)
• tortilla chips (I like to eat it with chips instead of a fork! mmm.)
  

To make yourself a bowl, layer desired amounts of cooked rice, beans, olives, salsa, and avocado in your bowl. Add a heaping spoonful of the "secret sauce" (below) and stir with some cilantro. Add whatever else on top if you want (cheese, sour cream, chives).

Ingredients for the Lemony-Garlic Tahini "Secret Sauce:"

• 1/3 cup tahini
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 5-7 garlic cloves
• 1/3 cup nutritional yeast
• 1/4 to 1/3 cup water

Blend tahini, lemon juice, garlic, and nutritional yeast in a food processor or blender, adding very small amounts of water gradually until the desired consistency is achieved. It will vary depending on the tahini you use (I use this kind, but don't endorse the racist packaging) - I like the consistency of a thick soup or gravy, but runnier than hummus.

Here's a picture of it all stirred together (I was told this looked gross, but whatever... I'm no food photographer!):

Basic [Vegan] Pesto

I have adapted this recipe from this link here. However, it's really basic, versatile, and I use it a lot, so I'd like to share it. Plus, of all the vegan pesto recipes, I like it the best. Non-vegans will like it and won't even know the difference, which is why I hesitate to give it the 'vegan' label that tends to scare people away.

Ingredients:
About 2 cups fresh basil leaves, rinsed and patted dry
1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon olive oil
1 heaping cup nuts (pine nuts are best, but they're pricey, so we usually use walnuts, pecans, almonds, or a mix of whatever we have)
5 cloves garlic (I usually use 7 or so, because I'm a garlic lover)
1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon nutritional yeast
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper (to taste)

All you do is mix it all together in a food processor until it's a lovely, tasty green mush. Usually I have to stir it around a few times to get it just right. My quantities are a little different than the recipe linked to because I like to have a little extra. Why? Because it freezes excellently. I always have some in my freezer to quickly thaw and easily add to a meal. It usually lasts us several weeks, then I make more, but it could last a lot longer than that- we just go through it! Trader Joes has a great plastic tub of basil you can buy, if you aren't growing any. I've also heard of people freezing pesto in ice cube trays so they have perfect one-serving frozen blocks.

Here are some ideas on what to do with pesto:

• mix with noodles (I like the gluten-free brown rice elbow noodles) and a little nutritional yeast, and maybe a splash of Braggs for some yummy pesto macaroni and "cheese" - or add mozzarella cheese if you prefer.

• spread on a whole wheat tortilla with mozzarella cheese (or vegan "cheese") and grill yourself a pesto quesadilla (or you can use slices of bread to make a grilled cheese sandwich ). Add fresh tomato to make it Caprese style! In fact, it's great as a spread for pretty much any sandwich.
  

• add globs of it as a pizza topping, or spread it on a pizza crust instead of tomato sauce.eat it as a dip with pita chips (this was discovered on accident at one of the 4th of July beach house gatherings). Mmm!
  

• mix it in with a salad instead of using dressing.
  

As you can see, it's very versatile, easy to make, easy to store for later, and yummy, which makes it an A+ in my book. Enjoy!