I’m the type of person who tends to become overwhelmed by “choice.” Too long of a beer list, Spotify, cable television, my local Strack & Van Til, what to do at any given moment in this great city of Chicago…you get the picture. So of course this extends to internet recipe searches. Hence why it’s taken me almost a year to attempt vegan mac & “cheese.” It seemed like too much of a commitment to make just ONE.

So many versions of “cheese” - what will work and what won’t? Do I really need to drop that much green on raw cashews? Do I really need to prep this cashew cheese two days in advance? Eff that. I’m on a budget and I’m goddamn hungry. Two days prep is two days too many. So I took the plunge tonight, using this recipe, bookmarked many moons ago. And it turned out fabulous.

Here’s how it went down…

Ingredients

• one box medium shells (whole wheat)
• 1-1/2 cups nutritional yeast
• 1/2 pkg of extra firm tofu, “lightly” pressed
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/4 cup tamari (or soy sauce)
• 1-1/2 cups unsweetened soymilk
• 1/2 Tbsp sea salt
• 1 Tbsp paprika
• 1 Tbsp garlic powder
• yellow mustard to taste
• 2 Tbsp Earth Balance
• 1 cup plain panko bread crumbs

Directions

1. Pre-heat your oven to 350.
2. While a large pot of salted water is reaching a boil, prepare the “cheese” in your food processor. I pressed the tofu by hand (over the sink) and tossed chunks of the tofu into the bowl. Add the oil, water, tamari, soy milk. Blend. Add the nutritional yeast and blend some more. Next comes the salt, paprika and garlic powder. I finally added the yellow mustard while the food processor was, uh, processing (?) on Low.
3. Go back to that pot of boiling, salted water & cook your pasta al dente (about 7 minutes).
4. Melt the Earth Balance in a saute pan and toss the bread crumbs to coat.
5. Drain the pasta as best you can and transfer to a 8x11 casserole dish (or the equivalent). Pour on the “cheese” and distribute the bread cumbs evenly across the top.
6. Bake uncovered for 30 minutes. I then turned on the broiler for a couple minutes to brown the bread crumbs.
7. EAT! This paired nicely with 1) a bottle of cab and 2) Sriracha.

Reheated some today for lunch and it was still tasty. Looks like we have a winner!

No budget for presents = everyone gets baked goods!

Vegan Pumpkin Bread

Yield: One full-size loaf or four mini-loaves
Prep time: 10 minutes
Bake time: 35-65 minutes (depending on size)

Ingredients:

• 1c whole wheat flour
• 1c all-purpose flour
• 1/4c corn starch (or add’l all-purpose flour)
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 3/4tsp salt
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• 1/2 tsp ground cloves
• 1/8 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp allspice
• 1/8 tsp ground cardamom
• 1 can pumpkin (15oz)
• 1c sugar (for vegan use pure cane sugar)
• 1/4c oil + 1/4c applesauce (or 1/2c oil)
• 1/3 c water
• 2 Tbsp flax meal + 6 Tbsp warm water

1. Pre-heat the oven to 350 degress. Grease the pan(s).
2. In a small bowl, whisk the flax meal and warm water. Set aside for about five minutes.
3. In a medium-sized bowl, sift together all-purpose flour, whole wheat flour, cornstarch, baking soda, salt and spices.
4. In a second medium-sized bowl, combine flax meal mixture, oil, applesauce & sugar. Whisk until well blended. Add 1/3 cup water and pumpkin, whisk thoroughly. Start adding dry ingredients; folding or stirring gently to avoid over-mixing.
5. Pour batter into pan(s). Bake mini-loaves for about 35 minutes, or 65 minutes for the full-sized loaf. Test with toothpick.
6. Let cool for 15 minutes and you’re ready to go!

(adapted from this poorly written & organized recipe)

I love Madeleines. They make me feel fancy. (But make sure that sugar is raw!)

yummyvegan:

Vegan Madeleines

Ingredients

2 ½ tablespoon flax meal

¼ cup hot water

2 tablespoon plain vegan yogurt

150 g granulated sugar

125 g melted vegan butter

A few drops of yellow food dye

Zest of one lemon

½ teaspoon vanilla extract

160g unbleached all purpose flour

2 tablespoons non dairy milk

Method

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Grease and generously flour the scalloped pan.

Mix hot water with flax meal and stir for 30 seconds. Let this mixture rest for 1 minute.

Strain the flax mixture to separate the grainy strong flavor flax seeds.

Stir in yogurt, sugar,butter,food dye,zest of lemon and vanilla extract.

Slowly add the flour and mix well.

Add milk and mix well. The batter should be fairly stiff.

Fill Madeleine pans ¾ ways up and bake at 350°F for 7 minutes. Reduce heat and cook at 250 F for another 8 minutes. Turn off the heat in the oven and leave Madeleines inside for 20 minutes. Cool and serve with espresso or tea.

(via veganexperience)

I cannot wait to make this. The photo alone sells it. “Protein power salad” via gastrogirl

(via veganfeast)

Simple and Delicious Mac and Cheese! via findvegan

On my “to make” list. I keep seeing cashew “cheese” recipes all over the place and think I need to find some time to experiment

To make: Forkable’s Pretzel bread with spicy mustard butter

Jess Fusion = “Whats in the fridge? Let’s make a meal out of it”

- 2 medium-sized carrots, diced
- 1/4 large orange bell pepper, diced
- 1/2 cooked sweet potato, cubed 
- 1/2 pkg TJ’s tempeh
- 2-1/2 cups udon noodles
- TJ’s Soyaki sauce (eyeballed, 3/4cup?)
- cilantro to taste 

Softened the carrots and bell pepper in a small amount of EVOO with some salt (to absorb water) and pepper. Added the tempeh, tossed that around to get it hot. Poured in just enough Soyaki to cover the the veggies/tempeh, added a small amount of fresh cilantro and simmered until all sauce was absorbed. Meanwhile, the sweet potato was cooked in the microwave and the udon noodles were boiled in a seperate saucepan (not sure if this was necessary). Dumped in the noodles, added a smidge more sauce, tossed, added cooked (peeled) sweet potato, tossed gently. And that’s it! Made 2-3 servings.

I’ve never cooked with tempeh and was pleasantly surprised: biting into each “cube” was an additional flavor profile that proved very tasty. The sweet & salty Soyaki was great. And the different textures (tempeh, slightly crunchy carrot, soft sweet potato, etc) kept it interesting, with the cilantro adding a nice freshness.

I made enough for tomorrow, under the assumption I’ll be dealing with a hangover and craving something salty but fresh. Now that’s preparedness.

Still full from tonight’s dinner: fresh bolillo from Cermak Produce topped with just-prepared white bean advocado spread, some veggie crumbles & veggie cheese baked in the toaster oven, with my favorite homemade tomato soup.

And I have plenty of spread and soup for tomorrow’s lunch - gotta share with our Metro volunteers on packaging day!

OMFG I love pickles.

robotheartrecipes:

24-Hour Pickles
Makes a 1-quart jar

A lover of all things cucumber, I have always wanted to make “quick pickles.” This first foray was both simple and successful. I found mini hothouse cucumbers which worked perfect. I made these babies as a go-along for a dinner that is coming up later in the week, but they will serve as a great snack in the meantime!

INGREDIENTS

2 pounds cucumbers, sliced

1 small onion, thinly sliced (1 cup)

1 cup apple cider vinegar

1/3 cup sugar

2 tablespoons salt

1 teaspoon whole yellow mustard seeds

1 star anise

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

1/4 teaspoon ground turmeric

1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes

INSTRUCTIONS

Step One: Pack cucumbers and onions in a 1-quart jar. Bring vinegar, sugar, salt, mustard seeds, star anise, cloves, turmeric, and red pepper flakes to a simmer in a saucepan over medium heat. Cook 5 minutes.

Step Two: Pour liquid over cucumbers and onions; cover, and refrigerate at least 24 hours.

Source: Excerpted from “Ploughman’s Platter,” Vegetarian Times, March 2011.

(via veganfeast)

Spice Buffalo Seitan wraps with vegan ranch dressing

(recipe at Little House of Veggies)

Had to share, despite the horrible camera-phone photo. Okay, so I ended up eating dinner at 10pm tonight after not eating all day and this hit the mother-effin’ spot. It’s vegan and deliciously rich and fatty. And I’m sure the leftovers will make for awesome drunk food sometime this weekend.

Basically “Buffalo-style” anything is a weakness of mine. And I was looking to try a vegan ranch recipe so this wrap concoction was ripe for the testing!

Thanks to Tracy & Doug for the seitan!

The Temperature of Ingredients…How Important Is It? (via efccooking)

I’ll try this one next time. Can’t go wrong with Cooks Illustrated, right? Plus, the order of ingredients is different so I’m intrigued.

onlycupcakes:

Kathleen from Gonna Want Seconds sent me a link to these awesome looking red velvet cupcakes that she made!  If you are looking for a good red velvet recipe, look no further. 

(via efccooking)