BBQ Tofu with Mac and Kale-Shroom

This was a quick meal put together on the desire from the crew for something "tofu" and "mac'n'cheese"--a pretty standard love affair at my house.

The tofu is simply pressed and baked with bbq sauce from the store. I kicked myself afterwards since Vegan Table has a SIMPLE homemade recipe. Live and learn - at least the bottle will be fun to reuse!

Mac'n'cheese is also Vegan Table. I LOVE this recipe and my crew love the cheese sauce it makes. I like how light it is. It is also runny enough to slop up into the noodles.

Lastly, kale and mushrooms. I roasted the mushrooms in oil and vinegar and added them to the kale, which I like to make in my steamer (so easy!). Splash on a little more vinegar and you're set!

Carrot-Beet Salad with Raw Sundried Tomato Cheeze

It as been a while since I've posted. Finals, winter break, sickness, holidays, family visiting, and other random madness (snow storms!) left me with just a bit of time to keep from going crazy! I did spend some time thinking about life and figuring out how to deal with some of the issues I've been having on a personal level. This lead to some heavy reading in macrobiotics and raw foods. I'm not sure where things will really end up in terms of my diet and cooking, but for now I'm working on cleaning things up!!

I've been inspired by the raw chat thread on vegweb so I decided to make some raw stuff today. I have some crackers (sweet apricot flavor) in my dehydrator and I made some quite excellent sundried tomato cheese from Ani Phyo's book Ani's Raw Food Kitchen. It was a bit thick, so I used a scoop to make "cheese balls" for the top of this salad. The base is spinach and the pink "stuff" is carrot and beet that were grated in my food processor. Ha, that made a mess! Topped it with sunflour seeds and some flax oil. The cheese is really strong, but tasty. It would be easy to thin it down to make a spread or dressing.

Mac'n Cheeze

Humm. Mac'n Cheeze. I keep trying out different recipes in hopes of finding one I really like. So far, this one is the winner.

For the record, as we say on vw, the posts will be slow and lazy for the next bit. The semester started and I have a three-load, dissertation, and job market to manage. Therefore, I don't cook dinner.

What am I eating?

Saucy Pasta and Greens

The other night we were feeling too lazy to do what we wanted with the braising greens, which involved something with quinoa and indian spices that I was cooking up in my head, so I went to the old fall back: pasta and greens.

The pasta is a "secret recipe" that isn't much of a secret. DR wanted mac'n'cheese, I wanted normal pasta, so I made a half and half sauce: half cheeze sauce, half regular red sauce. Mix them together and they are great! I used the mac'n'cheeze recipe from the new Vegetarian Times that is very easy and surprisingly good! It's also nut free, for any nut free people out there.
On the side, I made some mixed greens that we got in our CSA box (kale, bok choy, and ??? green). I cooked them with a little oil and balsamic vinegar. They were great! I love me some greens.

Stromboli

DR and I had a good time at the potluck today. I'm sure pictures will follow! I was thinking about dinner. I had leftover cheeze, seitan'o'greatness, and some pizza dough from the potluck. I was thinking of making a pizza when DR suggested Stromboli. I've never had a "real" Stromboli, but the idea of rolling everything into the dough and baking it seemed like a good plan.

Essentially, I took about 1/2 c mushrooms, 1 c cheeze, and the end hunks from the SOG and blasted them in the vitamix until they were all chopped. I when mixed them together and spread them onto the dough, which I had spread out in a large rectangle on the counter. I rolled it up and stuck it in the oven. Yum!

Veggie Mac'n'Cheeze

Tonight we decided to go downhome with some classic comfort food: mac'n'cheese. I've been eating a lot of junk this week (as much as a vegan can do that!) and wanted to make a healthier version of mac'n'cheese. I had spent a little time in the afternoon making some uncheese for a potluck I'm going this weekend so I tossed some of the leftover stuff in the vitamix and ended up with this creation. It still needs a little work, but it was a nice blander cheezy dish. It also makes a gallon, so its good if you have a crew to feed.

Mac'n'Cheeze with Mushrooms and Spinach.
1 palmetto (from a jar)
1/3 c nutritional yeast
2 c water
2 cloves garlic
1 squirt of prepared mustard
2 handfuls (1 c?) raw almonds
splash of soysauce
1/2 silken firm tofu
2 spoons tahini (2-3 TB)
generous squirt of lemon juice
1 tsp onion powder
2 heaping spoons cornstarch

Combine all of the above in a blender and blend until smooth. You can add in spices or whatever you like--this is a base recipe by far!

Next, place 8 oz (about 2-3 cups) sliced mushrooms in a large frypan with a dash of oil and a little water. Cook on medium heat for about ten minutes, or until they are soft and juicy looking. Add in 2 c frozen chopped spinach (or a few handfuls fresh) and heat until cooked though. Pour in the cheeze mix from the blender and bring to a low boil for a few minutes. This will result in a thickened cheeze sauce.

To serve, pour onto pasta. This amount made enough sauce for one pound of elbow macaroni.