The Ultimate Mac 'n' "Cheese" Post!

Amanda from Vegan Mafia was jonesin' for a vegan macaroni and cheese recipe on Facebook earlier this week and apparently got her fix yesterday. When I think of macaroni and cheese (a.k.a. mac 'n' cheese), I think of two completely different dishes. The first is the straight-from-the-box stove-top meal that used to be a lunchtime staple for me when I was a kid, as well as when I was a penny-pinching college student. The second is that gooey and greasy oven-baked concoction that conjures up images of casserole dishes, oven mitts and aprons.

Variations on either version get tried, tested or tweaked by so many North American vegans. I challenge you to visit a vegan discussion forum with a recipes thread and to not find at least one or two lengthy exchanges where favourite vegan mac 'n' cheese recipes are shared, with tang and texture discussed in great detail. Ingredients like cashews, miso, tahini and pop up alongside the nutritional yeast or vegan cheeses used in the recipes in an attempt to satisfy cravings for the nutty, tangy taste of cheese--without exploiting animals in the process. The "cheese" portion of the recipe titles is often places in quotation marks or changed to "cheeze" or "cheez". They're everywhere and they range from ones with creamy nutritional yeast-based sauces, to (yep!) gooey oven-baked concoctions that, thanks to the wide variety of vegan cheese now readily available on the market, are nearly identical to what your mom (or dad) used to haul out of the oven in a casserole dish.

My quick-fix stove-top mac 'n' cheese over the years has almost always involved a variation of this "cheese" sauce recipe posted at VegWeb.com. It's a simple nutritional yeast sauce that's easy to adjust for taste or thickness and that hits the spot with so little effort--check the comments and suggestions left in response to its original posting to get an idea of just how versatile it is. Another recipe I've loved (and which others for whom I've made it have loved) is the oven-baked "New Farm Macaroni and Cheese Casserole" from The New Farm Vegetarian Cookbook. You can find an adapted version of it here on the Get Sconed! blog, or many other places online.

Joanne Stepaniak's "Melty White Cheez" is another standby I use for quick stove-top mac 'n' cheese, and you can find the "Baked Macaroni and Cheez" recipe from her Uncheese Cookbook right here on the Comfort Food Vegan blog. Another variation of a stove-top nutritional yeast based mac 'n' cheese recipe can be found on the FatFree Vegan Kitchen blog; the list of ingredients for SusanV's "Easy Macaroni and 'Cheeze'" is a bit more lengthy and includes smoked paprika -- which I love -- as well as optional mellow white miso. Bryanna Clark Grogan has a somewhat more elaborate recipe on her Notes from the Vegan Feast Kitchen blog; "Bryanna's New Baked Vegan Macaroni and Cheese" offers up many variations, including a gluten-free option for the recipe.

If you're not a purist and are looking for a bit more variety with your mac 'n' cheese (i.e. more veggies, please!), check out the "Macaroni and Cheese with Cauliflower and Tomato" and "Mexican Macaroni and Cheese" nutritional yeast-based recipes on one of my favourite food blogs, Vegan Epicurean. You can also try Robin Robertson's soy- and nutritional yeast-free "Mac and Chard" or her Sheese-based "Easy Green Bean Mac and 'Sheese'", both featured on her Vegan Planet blog.

Speaking of processed vegan cheese substitutes: Here's a recipe that is the stuff of legend on the Vegan Freak forums. Using Sheese, Cheezly and Teese (all available via Pangea), it's the "Holy Trinity 'Mac 'n' Cheese'" recipe from the Yummy Vegan Dinners blog and I swear to you that I've heard that people have wept in absolute joy while eating it. And of course now with the "stretchy" Daiya available in more and more US stores (and also available by mail-order anywhere in North America), how could a post on vegan mac 'n' cheese be complete without an oven-baked Daiya-based recipe or two?

So there you have it--comfort food without compromise! Enjoy!

Soup!

I've never been a food blogger and have no interest in being one for various reasons, including that others are doing a much better job at it than I ever could. I have, however, spent many (many!) years experimenting in the kitchen. Those who've been around when that experimentation spiked as a passionate indulgence rarely complained about the outcome--including my mostly omni friends. One of my biggest loves over the years has been making soup (or stews) and I have a couple of favourite recipes I'd like to share.

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First up is a variation on a green lentil soup recipe I've been making forever (and which I've posted here before). I've no idea of whether there was a specific recipe of origin for it--it's become so "off the cuff" for me. The tarragon is really a worthwhile addition!

Lentil Soup

What you need:

1-1/2 cups lentils, washed
1-1/2 quarts veggie stock or water
1/2 tsp salt
3 Tbs nutritional yeast
2 stalks celery & tops, chopped
1 Tbs celery seed, ground
1 onion, diced 2 carrots, diced
1-1/2 to 2 cups tomatoes, stewed (I just use the canned and diced)
2 Tbs olive oil
1 Tbs lemon juice
1/2 or 1 tsp fresh tarragon, shredded (optional but recommended!)

What you do:

Place lentils in pot. Add water / veggie stock, salt and yeast. Cover and simmer until almost tender. Add remainder of ingredients. Cover. Simmer until carrots are done (about 15 minutes or longer). Add the tarragon during the last 5 minutes of cooking.

This soup is great with fresh whole grain rolls smeared with vegan "cream cheese" or a bit of Earth Balance margarine sprinkled with nutritional yeast. Serves 5-6.

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Next is an adaptation of Dorothy R. Bates' "Noodle Soup", from The TVP Cookbook. This soup is a ridiculously easy to make side for a sandwich, and reminds me a lot of the canned chicken noodle soup mom would often serve up when I was a kid.

Not-Chicken Noodle Soup

What you need:

1 cup of onions, chopped
2 Tbs olive oil
6 cups of hot water
1 cup TVP granules (smallish)
2 cups noodles, broken
1 tsp (or less) salt
1 tsp dried parsley, heaping
1/3 cup nutritional yeast flakes
1 cup frozen vegetables of your choice (optional)

What you do:

Heat the oil in a large pan and sauté the onion until it's just beginning to brown. Then add the 6 cups of hot water, TVP, noodles and salt and bring to a brisk boil and simmer for around 5 minutes. Add dried parsley and frozen vegetables (if using) and simmer for another 5-10 minutes. When done, stir in nutritional yeast flakes and serve. Garnish with chopped fresh parsley. Serves 6

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Each spring, I have a moment of veritable "doh!" when I remember that I've once again forgotten to place an advance catalog order for tomatillo seed to have time to sprout them early enough to grow seedlings to transplant into my garden. You can't get fresh tomatillos here and local seed choices are (sadly) limited. If I manage to find a way to get my hands on some soon so that I can grow them, I'll surely be making the following amazing soup by late summer. It's an adaptation of a recipe that was given to me in a vegan recipes forum years ago, and I'm unsure of its origins but ended up tweaking it and making it several times the two summers I didn't forget to buy seed.

Tomatillo Soup

What you need:

2-3 Tbs olive oil
2-1/2 cups chopped onion
5 medium fresh poblano or Anaheim chili peppers (or if you need to substitute, see here)
2-3 Tbs garlic, crushed and / or minced
2 tsp salt
2 Tbs chili powder
6 cups tomatillos, husked and chopped
4 cups water
2-3 Tbs sweetener
1/2 cup fresh cilantro, chopped

What you do:

In a large pot, heat the oil and sauté the onion for 4-5 minutes. Mix the peppers, garlic, salt and chili powder into them and continue to sauté for another 5 minutes or so. Add the tomatillos and mix well, cover and continue to cook for another 8-10 minutes, allowing the tomatillos to begin to soften. Add the water and bring to a quick boil, then lower to a simmer, cover the pot and allow to cook another 10-12 minutes. Purée some or all of the soup in a blender or food processor and return to the pot to heat. Stir in the cilantro, saving some to garnish, and serve immediately. Serves 6.

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General Soup Tips:

If you're serving hot soup, preheat the bowls and tureens you're using to serve it. If you're serving cold soup, chill the bowls or tureens you're using to serve it. It really makes a difference!

Garnish your soup! Although soups often turn out looking quite lovely and colourful, I often add a little something to individual serving bowls. Suggestions include:

-Chopped fresh herbs (e.g. dill, parsley, cilantro, et al., depending on herbs used in soup)
-Grated citrus rind (organic is ideal)
-Croutons
-A dollop of soy yogurt topped with a thin slice of lemon or lime
-Minced scallions or chives
-A sprinkle of paprika
-Thinly sliced radish, carrot
-Chopped nuts (e.g. walnuts, pecans, peanuts)
-A spoonful of chutney
-Black olive slivers
-Toasted almond slivers

You get the point... Now go make soup!

Vegan Recipes in the News

The St. Catharines Standard has a couple of scumptious sounding recipes from cookbook author and vegan blogger Laurie Sadowski, whose focus seems to be on gluten-free whole foods. The recipes include Creamy Baked Penne w/ Broccoli, Black Bean and Sweet Potato Enchiladas and Sticky Maple Syrup Gravy w/ Cinnamon Walnuts. You can find pictures of the finished products here on what seems to be her fairly new blog.

The Boston University student paper BU has a great article on eating veg*an at Thanksgiving that includes a whoppin' bunch of great recipes: Nut Roast, Tofu Turkey w/ Stuffing, Vegetarian Gravy (which is really vegan), Kale and Olive Oil Mashed Potatoes, Green Bean Casserole, Garlic Brussels Sprouts, Broccoli Roasted w/ Garlic, Chipotle Peppers and Pine Nuts and a couple of dessert recipes that aren't vegan. A few of the savoury recipes have optional dairy ingredients that are very easily substituted.

Vegan recipes in the news

The Erie Times-News has a recipe for vegan Macaroni and ''Cheese'' from Angeline Linardis' V Cuisine: The Art of New Vegan Cooking.

The Wilkes-Barre Times Leader in Pennsylvania is featuring a story on the very vegan-friendly Mill Hollow Café in Luzerne (check out their menu). The recipe is for Cashew-Tofu Cutlets.