Variations on vegan mac & cheese

All made without animal slavery!

Vegan macaroni and cheese (nutritional yeast, tahini, evoo/flax oil, turmeric, lemon juice, black pepper, sea salt, garlic) with sauteed vegetables (kale, carrots, green beans, onions, celery, brown rice macaroni).


Vegan macaroni and chees with sundried tomatoes, mushrooms and spinach (evoo/flax oil, nutritional yeast, tahini, cayenne pepper, turmeric, white vinegar, evoo/flax oil, whole wheat flour, sea salt, garlic, tarragon, savory, brown rice macaroni).

Vegan macaroni and cheese (vegan margarine, nutritional yeast, evoo/flax oil, arrowroot powder, sea salt, garlic, brown rice macaroni) with kale, lentils, red peppers, mushrooms and raisins (evoo/flax oil, sea salt, lemon juice, vegan worchestershire sauce, liquid smoke).

White bean and kale soup; spelt stromboli with roasted pear, portabello, red pepper and spinach

White bean and kale soup (cannelini beans, dinosaur kale, vegetable soup stock, oregano, basil, rosemary, thyme, black pepper, tomatoes) garnished with nutritional yeast.

Spelt stromboli (spelt flour, sea salt, yeast, herbs de Provence) with roasted pear, portabello, red pepper and spinach (evoo/flax oil, sea salt, rice wine vinegar, nutritional yeast).

This is basic soup and sandwich combination. Stromboli is sort of like a white calzone (no red sauce) and it tends to be long like a baguette rather than a folded-over pizza (which makes it easier to eat with the hands). Typically, it's served with a side dish of, or sometimes sauced with, marinara. In this case, I added more tomato to the soup than I normally would.

Cannelini bean and short grain brown rice salad with spinach, red pepper, and grilled portabello mushrooms

Cannelini bean and short grain brown rice salad with spinach, red pepper, yellow raisins and grilled portabello mushrooms.

2 cups cannelini beans
4 red peppers diced
2 cups of packed spinach minced
3 grilled or roasted portbello mushrooms
1 vidalia onion diced
3 (or more!) tablespoons of garlic
1 tablespoon of ginger
1 tablespoon of tamari
1/2-1 cup of yellow raisins
2 drops of liquid smoke
2 tablespoons of lemon juice
1 tablespoon of chipotle (or black pepper to taste)
2 tablespoons thyme
2 cups cooks short grain brown rice
2 tablespoons of evoo/flax oil (or canola).

The wine was Clos de Los Siete.
This clos is an unfined/unfiltered wine from Michel Rolland. Most of the vegetables in the salad were raw, which made this a good pair for me. For a roasted vegetable salad, I might have preferred a more full-bodied wine.

Cannelini bean and dinosaur kale soup; vegan turkey and sundried tomato wraps; baba ghanoush

Lunch 21 May 2007.
Cannelini bean and dinosaur kale soup (vegetable stock, lemon juice, garlic, sea salt, black pepper, nutritional yeast); vegan turkey (tofurkey) and sundried tomato wraps; baba ghanoush (eggplant, tahini, garlic, lemon juice, sea salt).

Thin crust pizza fagioli with portabello mushrooms, red peppers, pears, spinach and red onion; insalata caprese

Dinner 16 April 2007.




The wine was Louis Jadot's Beaujolais.

Thin crust (whole wheat, flour, water, yeast, evoo, sea salt, oregano, basil) pizza fagioli (cannelini beans, wine vinegar, sea salt, garlic, black pepper, whole wheat flour, tahini, evoo, nutritional yeast) with portabello mushrooms, red peppers, pears, spinach and red onion on my pizza stone.

I plated a slice with some insalata caprese (tofu, nutritional yeast, soymilk, garlic, sea salt, oregano, fresh basil, tomatoes). To replace the bocconcini, I tossed the cubed tofu in a mix of nutritional yeast, sea salt, garlic, evoo, and soy milk and then baked it (shake and bake!).

I was going to go with a roux, but in the end, I decided to go with white beans instead. It was creepy how much it looked like melted cheese after about five minutes. If I had broiled it instead of regular baking, it would have probably browned up nicely.

Asparagus soup, roasted mushrooms and sweet potato stack, fennel and orange salad, ratatouille and strawberry sorbet

Dinner 5 April 2007. I had company for dinner and some vegetables that I wanted to get rid of (so, I went for a full five courses):

• Vegan cream of asparagus soup (asparagus, soy milk, sea salt, orange juice, black pepper);
• Sweet potato and portabello mushroom milles feuilles with chipotle and lemon catsup (sea salt, tomato paste, lemon juice, chipotle, sunflower oil, garlic, stevia) with basil and oregano;
• Salad of roasted fennel, clementines, green pepper and walnuts dressed with citrus and oil (clementine juice and zest, minced fennel fronds, sea salt and sunflower oil);
• Ratatouille with cannelini beans (garlic, onion, green pepper, grilled eggplant and zucchini, tomatoes, cannelini beans, brown rice, sea salt, basil, oregano, thyme) garnished with walnuts;
  
• Strawberry sorbet (frozen stawberries, stevia and soymilk)
• And finally, espresso and cognac.

The wine was Eyrie's Pinot Noir.