Vegan Mac n' Cheese Recipe

Mac n' cheese is one of those amazing comfort foods that I have missed terribly. Not necessarily because it is tasty, more because I ate it in hoards as a kid. It takes me back to those kraft macaroni and cheese boxes, so tasty, and one of the first things I learned to cook. This is a recipe for a cheese sauce that can be easily be used for macaroni and cheese, or on top of veggies, or as nacho cheese. Endless possibilities!

Vegan Cheese Sauce:
You Need:
3 tablespoons margarine
3 tablespoons flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 and 1/2 cups soy milk
1 cup vegan (daiya) cheese
1/2 teaspoon dijon mustard

To Make:
1. In small saucepan on medium melt the butter.
2. Take the saucepan off the burner and whisk in flour, salt and pepper until smooth. Put back on the burner.
3. Add 1/2 cup of milk, and whisk constantly until the mixture is thick. Add the rest of the milk 1/2 cup at a time, whisking constantly and letting it get thick before adding more. You should end up with a thick white sauce.
4. Add the cheese a handful at a time to the white sauce, letting the cheese you add melt fully before adding more, whisking constantly.
5. Add the dijon mustard.
6. Pour over macaroni (or veggies, or whatever your hearts desires).

You can use any vegan cheese for this, but I used daiya and seriously it was one of the best things I have eaten in a long long time.

Vegan Fettuccine Alfredo Recipe

Vegan alfredo is something I have been experimenting with for ages. Every recipe I have tried uses tofu. The cream cheese works so much better as a base then tofu its nuts! This is a pretty basic recipe you can change any way you want depending on what you like. Roasted pine nuts are always awesome to add if you want a roasted taste, more or less onion changes the taste, the amount of nutritional yeast, etc. I could not believe the difference adding melted daiya cheese in made! I seriously feel like I am cheating. Its not traditional alfredo, but it is the closest thing I have made to alfredo yet. 

Vegan Fettuccini Alfredo

You Need:
1 ¾ Cup Soymilk (If you want it extra creamy use coconut milk)
1/2 or so of a small onion sliced
Garlic to taste (this really depends on how much garlic you like, I use a couple cloves) minced
1 tablespoon vegan butter
½ teaspoon black pepper
½ teaspoon salt (more or less depending on what you like)
¼ cup nutritional yeast flakes
half a container vegan cream cheese
half a bag of shredded daiya cheese (again, this can be to taste on how “cheesy” it is)
A box of fettuccini pasta

Directions:
1.Cook the fettuccini according to the package directions

2.In a medium pot sauté the onion and garlic in the vegan butter until the onions are clear

3.Lower the heat and add the vegan cream cheese to the pot, so it melts but doesn’t burn

4.In a blender blend the soymilk, salt, black pepper, nutritional yeast flakes and the onion, garlic and cream cheese from your pot.

5.Put back in pot, heat. Make sure the mixture is hot enough to melt the cheese, but the heat is not so high you will burn the sauce.

6.Add the daiya cheese a handful at a time, making sure it melts before you add more.

7.Pour over fettuccini! Top with fake chicken, broccoli, peas, etc. etc.


Also, why does alfredo show as being spelled wrong? It is a real thing, whats word thinking? 

Vegan Ice Cream Recipe

Prior to going vegan I was totally an ice creamoholic. It was one of my favorite meals (yes MEAL). I went through a slight depression after going vegan, missing ice cream and annoyed at how expensive vegan ice cream was. One day I went over to a friends and the most amazing shiny hot pink appliance was sitting in the kitchen- an ice cream maker. We made ice cream and my mind was blown, it was better then most vegan ice cream on the market and a whole lot cheaper. I immediately went home and ordered one for myself. I have never looked back. Most of my treat making focuses on not having to get a ton of fancy vegan ingredients, I try to keep it to things you normally buy/are fairly cheap to get. There are a few vegan ice cream recipe books on the market, but I have yet to be impressed by any of them and they love to add unnecessary ingredients. For ice cream I usually substitute soy milk for the soy creamer, but that’s just because I won’t spend the money on creamer. It comes out just as yummy, just not as thick.

My favorite type of ice cream to make is peanut butter! Rich and creamy, it is super easy and super cheap. The vanilla recipe is a good base with a ton of possibilities. You can easily subtract 1 cup of the soy “creamer” and add a cup of fruit. Make sure to use soy milk as well, I tried rice milk for the first time in these photos and it was way too watery.  

Basic Vanilla Vegan Ice Cream

4 oz. egg substitute (2 “eggs”)

1 cup sugar

1 cup soy milk

2 cups soy “creamer”

1 ½ tsp. vanilla

To Make:

1.Combine egg substitute, sugar, and vanilla in a blender.

2.Add soy creamer and milk.

3.Blend well, chill thoroughly.

4.follow standard instructions for your ice cream maker.

Vegan Peanut Butter Ice Cream

1 Cup soy “creamer”

1 cup soy milk

1 cup sugar

1 ½ teaspoon vanilla

1 cup peanut butter
4 oz. egg substitute (2 "eggs")

To Make:

1.Combine sugar, peanut butter and “eggs” in a blender.

2.Blend in soy creamer, soymilk and vanilla.

3.Blend well and chill thoroughly.

4. Follow standard instructions for your ice cream maker.

I got extra fancy tonight and made vegan cookie ice cream sandwiches. I used my chocolate chip cookie recipe, then sandwiched my ice cream. The ice cream was vanilla with raw cookie dough swirled in. As I have told all my friends, I have no idea why I am not 300 pounds. 

Vegan Donuts X2

I made vegan donuts about a week ago and was not too impressed. This time though I had the proper donut pan and actually glazed them and wow! While they might not be straight from dunkin donuts, I am pretty happy with how they came out. Maybe next week I will try to make chocolate ones. 
This recipe comes from Vegan Yum Yum

Vegan Donuts:

You need:

1 Cup Flour

½ Cup Sugar

1 ½ tsp Baking Powder

¼ tsp Salt

¼ tsp Nutmeg (a shake or two)

A shake of cinnamon

½ cup soymilk or rice milk

½ tsp Apple Cider Vinegar

½ tsp Vanilla Extract

1 Egg (egg replacer, I use ener-g)

4 Tbs Earth Balance

To Make:

1.Preheat oven to 350 degrees

2.Mix flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, nutmeg and cinnamon in a large bowl.

3.Combine soymilk, apple cider vinegar, vanilla extract, egg replacer and earth balance in a small pot on low heat on the stove.

4.Mix until earth balance is melted, the mixture should be warm, not hot. You should be able to dip your finger in it.

5.Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients. I folded it in, the dough does not require a ton of mixing. Vegan Yum Yum has a youtube video of what your dough should look like.

6.Using a tablespoon measure, scoop out dough into each of the mini donuts in the pan. The dough should sit just below the rim, or else they will come out like mine, a little bit of a muffin top.

7.Bake for about 12 minutes, it shouldn’t get brown. You should be able to remove a tester clean.

8. Glaze, cover with sprinkles, dip in chocolate, powder sugar, or cinnamon.

 Glaze:

½ Cup Powder Sugar

1 Tablespoon soymilk or rice milk

1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract

Whisk together ingredients and dip donuts in it. Then top with sprinkles if you so choose. Plop the donuts on some parchment paper so any excess glaze (or chocolate) drips off but your donut won’t stick to anything.

You can also melt your favorite chocolate and dip the donuts into that for hostess like chocolate covered donuts.

Notes: The recipe on Vegan Yum Yum says to use soymilk. I did not have any, so I decided to try rice milk. The donuts are a little softer and fluffier. Either one works well, you can play with it and see what your preference is.

Vegan Enchiladas Recipe

This is a super simplistic enchilada recipe that comes out so tasty! I have made enchiladas a few time with recipes off the internet and they are always overly complicated, a lot of pizzazz I don't need. This was birthed from a word of mouth recipe from a friend and I am surprised how amazing it is.

Vegan Enchilada Recipe

You Need:

1 can black beans

1 package frozen corn or 1 can of corn

Package of small flour or corn tortillas depending on your preference

Oil (I use olive oil, vegetable oil works as well)

1 can of enchilada sauce

Vegan Cheddar Cheese Grated (Daiya is always the preference, Follow Your Heart is my next choice)

Onion salt, garlic powder to taste (a teaspoon or two of each)

9x9 glass baking dish, you can use a larger one if you want to make more.

Green Onion otherwise known as leeks. Sliced into quarter inch parts.

Tofutti sour cream (optional!)

To Make:

1. Cook the black beans in a skillet/frying pan, season with the onion salt and garlic powder. Heat the corn. Mix the two together.

2. Pour oil into a small frying pan, half an inch is the most you will need. Heat until simmering when something is placed in it.

3. Dip each side of a tortilla into the oil, then fill the tortilla with a spoonful of the corn/bean mixture and sprinkle cheese on. Roll the tortilla up and place into you dish.

4. Repeat oil, spoon, cheese, roll until your dish is full.

5. Pour enchilada sauce over everything using the whole can. Sprinkle cheese over all of it. Finally sprinkle the onions overtop, you don’t need to go overboard.

6. Bake at 375 degrees for about 20 minutes, or it’s simmering and the cheese is melted.

7. Enjoy! You can top with tofutti sour cream for a little something extra

Vegan Lentil Soup Recipe

Sometimes I want a recipe that isn’t super simple, but also is not really complicated. It turns into a hunt to find what I want though. Lentil soup tonight was like that. It was either recipes with the bare minimum, or so complicated it seemed unnecessary. I melded two different recipes to reach this in between, it is super simple to make and even tastier then I could have imagined.

You need:

1 Tsp oil (veggie or olive)

1 Onion, diced

1 Carrot, sliced

4 Cups Vegetable Broth, or 2 vegetable bullion cubes and 4 cups water

1 Cup dry lentils

1 Tsp Cumin

1 Tsp Turmeric

1 Tsp Salt

¼ Tsp Pepper

In large pot, sauté the onion and carrot in oil till the onion turns clear.

Add vegetable broth/water, lentils, cumin, turmeric, salt and pepper. Reduce heat and simmer for about 45 minutes. Enjoy!

The spices can be to taste and you can add any vegetables you want as well such as potatoes or mushrooms. Bread for dipping is crucial as well. 

Vegan Pancakes Recipe

I stalled in bed as long as possible this morning enjoying the opportunity to be completely lazy. Finally having to get up because of sharp pangs of hunger, I made pancakes. It is a beautiful spring day, so I got a little fancy and made them blue with food coloring.

A friend of mine always makes pancakes without measuring, he just throws everything into a bowl and somehow makes perfect pancakes everytime. I am not that good, so this recipe came from me demanding we measure everything out. It is really simple, but is a great base to add things to. My personal favorite is adding chocolate chips, but banana, berries or pretty much whatever you can imagine taste great as well.

Vegan Pancakes Recipe
You Need:
1 cup flour
1 tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 cup soymilk
2 tablespoons vegetable oil

Mix all ingredients together, just enough to blend, you don’t want to over mix pancakes. I have been told it is good to let batter sit in the fridge for about an hour, but I am never patient enough to do so. Butter your pan. I heat up the pan, dripping a little batter to check when it in ready. When it is hot enough, pour your pancakes! I cannot flip large pancakes, so I always spoon out silver dollar sized pancakes. They won’t take long to brown since they are small, flip when ready. Easy! This recipe makes enough for about 2 people. I always just half it when I am making it for just myself.