CREAMY VEGAN MAC + CHEESE with OTHER GOOD STUFF


This cheese sauce recipe is based on the one from Buzzfeed that every vegan on earth tried a couple weeks ago. Jack was one of those vegans and he made it for him and me because he's a sweet heart. He tripled the recipe - we eat a LOT - so I got to have cheesy leftovers for a whole week! I loved putting it on rice along with steamed kale and beans. You can see my week of cheese on my Instagram feed.



After I used it all up, I just wanted more. But of course me being me, I cannot follow a recipe exactly. It's in my DNA or something. So I adapted this one to my own liking, adding extra goodies like miso and turmeric - that is the recipe you will find in this post. It doesn't taste like dairy cheese because the ingredients are absolutely unrelated to dairy cheese; but it IS a creamy, flavourful, delicious recipe that any mouth can probably appreciate and enjoy. I would HIGHLY recommend adding one more ingredient to this, by the way. It's the Bac'n Chedd'r Dip from Let Thy Food and it's outta this world. Add it into the sauce when blending, or scoop it on top. The ingredients are organic and mainly whole foods (think cashews, chilis, miso, spices).

The best thing about this cheese sauce is that it is made out of mainly potatoes and carrots. It's oil-free and gets its fat content from walnuts, which are super good for ya. What does all this mean? IT MEANS you can eat as much of this sauce as you desire, and you'll most likely still feel real good! As I said, I really like having it with rice and steamed kale, but you can serve it with whatever you prefer: any other whole grain, rice noodles, wheat noodles, buckwheat noodles, on veggies, on nachos... the list goes on. Get creative, or don't. But in any case, try it out and let me know what you think. Personally, I am obsessed. In the recipe I give below, I had the cheese sauce with kamut pasta, steamed kale, sunflower seeds and tomatoes from the backyard. It was heavenly.


CREAMY VEGAN MAC + CHEESE with OTHER GOOD STUFF

Cheese sauce:
2 yellow potatoes, peeled and chopped
1 carrot, peeled and chopped
1/2 onion, peeled and chopped 
1 tablespoon sauerkraut
2 tablespoons miso paste
2 garlic cloves
1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 cup walnuts, ideally soaked in water for 5 hours then rinsed 
3/4 teaspoon chipotle powder

Tahini sauce:
1 heaping tablespoon tahini
1 garlic clove
2-3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon miso paste
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
3-4 tablespoons water, as needed

Your fave pasta, rice, whatever (I used whole grain kamut pasta)
1 big bunch kale
1 cup chopped tomatoes
1 tablespoon sunflower seeds

To make the cheese sauce: boil the potatoes for 3 minutes, add the carrots and boil for another 3 minutes, add the onion and keep boiling until the potatoes are tender (it'll probably take another few minutes). Then scoop out the boiled veggies - but keep the water! - and add to a blender. Add the rest of the sauce ingredients to the blender, as well as most of the water you used for boiling (maybe 1 1/2 cups or so, add as needed). Blend it all until you get a creamy cheese sauce type thing. Adjust according to taste, adding more salt or whatever. You want it to taste very flavourful at this point and almost a little more salty than you'd normally like, because this is going to spread out on noodles / rice so the flavour will be less strong.

To make the tahini sauce: blend everything until smooth, adding more water if needed to get a creamy dressing consistency.

Rip the leaves off the kale and steam them for 5 minutes or until vibrantly coloured.

Cook your pasta, rice or whatever you're using according to directions on the package, and drain but don't rinse. Add the cheese sauce to pasta, rice, whatever and mix in well, add the kale, tahini sauce and tomatoes; enjoy!

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