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).

Tofu wellington with lentil and dulse gravy on a bed of wilted kale and chick peas

Tofu wellington (phyllo, tofu roasted and then baked with a sauce of shiitake mushrooms, horseradish mustard, vegan worcestershire sauce, liquid smoke, garlic, tamari, vegetable stock and sea salt) with lentil and dulse gravy (red lentils, dulse, garlic, vegetable stock, sea salt, herbs provençal) on a bed of wilted kale and chick peas (lemon juice, sea salt, garlic, turmeric, coriander, cumin).

For this dish, I thin sliced the tofu and roasted it until it browned a bit, and then I back it in the sauce until it had all thickened together. I find that, even when I marinade, large blocks of tofu don't soak up as much flavour as slicing and baking. Once the slices where done, I stacked them and rolled them up in a phyllo sheet and baked them. The gravy was straight forward (I put all of the ingredients in the pot, cooked until the lentils were done, blended, and then cooked down the to the consistency I wanted). The chick peas and black kale were a simple sauté until the greens were nicely wilted.

More camping and vegan shells 'n' cheese.

It was relatively warm and sunny last weekend for camping. The season's almost over up here, and I was pretty cold in the early morning hours!

Dinner was no problem, though. I made fire-cooked brown rice and wild rice shells with mushrooms, kale and sun-dried tomatoes (sea salt, lemon juice, liquid smoke) in a white, vegan cheese sauce (evoo, garlic, white flour, turmeric, white vinegar).

Black bean, jalapeno and corn chowder; walnut, acorn squash and kale empanada with mango salsa and taco salad; banana and avocado brulee

Black bean, jalapeno and corn chowder ( soup stock, white potato, sweet potato, garlic, ginger) garnished with cilantro and chili powder. Corn chowder is very common in Illinois, although it usually have other vegetables instead of black beans.

Walnut, acorn squash and kale empanada (vidalia onions, garlic, ginger, nutritional yeast, turmeric, sea salt, black pepper) with mango salsa and taco salad (I didn't make the salad or the salsa, but both were very good and went really well with the richness of the empanada). I ground the walnuts and roasted squash and then minced the kale and onions to make a sort of cheese and kale filling. With the squash added, the texture was very light and creamy (surprisingingly so).

Banana and avocado brulee (walnuts, agave syrup, vanilla, pinch of sea salt).

Split pea soup with kale

Split pea soup with kale
1 cup of dry yellow split peas
3 cups of water
5 stalks of dinosaur kale minced
2 cups of vegetable stock
2 tablespoons of garlic
1 teaspoon of ginger
1 dash of liquid smoke

Cooks split peas in 3 cups of water until they disintegrate (usually 1.5 - 2 hours). Add remaining ingredients and cook for an additional 15 minutes to wilt the kale. The kale adds some chew to the soup. For a softer texture, chard would be a good choice. Spinach is also fine, but it will colour the soup green.

Red beans and quinoa with roasted dinosaur kale, sweet potatoes and cauliflower in a tangerine walnut sauce

Red beans and quinoa with roasted dinosaur kale, sweet potatoes and cauliflower (evoo/flax oil, vegetable stock, ginger) in a tangerine walnut sauce.

For the sauce:
1/2 cup of walnuts
Juice of one tangerine
Half of the tangerine peel (all of the peel, not just the zest)
1 cup of water
Sea salt to taste
1/4 teaspoon cumin
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon chili flakes
Blend on high speed until liquefied.

Vegan dinosaur kale and mushroom quiche with sauce goémon

Vegan dinosaur kale and mushroom (evoo/flax oil, garlic, sea salt, chipotle, liquid smoke, garlic, ginger, lime juice) quiche (tofu, garlic, turmeric, rice wine vinegar, sea salt, nutritional yeast, baking powder) with sauce goémon (dulse, tarragon, miso, whole wheat flour, macadamia butter, garlic, rice wine vinegar).

Inspired by a recent post at DGMGV and another at Walking The Vegan Line these are minis without crusts (which I suppose makes them more frittatas than quiches, but anyhow). Goémon is just the French for dulse. I figured if I'm making quiche, why not go all the way and make myself a little sauce to go with them? I started trying to replace bernaise and this is where I ended up.

Raw cauliflower orzo with sundried tomato and hand-wilted dinosaur kale marinara

Raw cauliflower orzo (minced cauliflower, sea salt, cumin, dulse, lemon juice, evoo/flax oil) with sundried tomato and hand-wilted dinosaur kale marinara (lemon juice, sea salt, sundried tomatoes, red pepper, nama shoyu, evoo/flax oil).

Inspired by a pair of recipes in RAWvolution.

For this dish, I hand-wilted the kale, which means, in essence, that I minced the kale and then gave it a bit of a massage. Using the heat from your hands with a little salt and a little acid (usually lemon juice) is a traditional way to wilt greens and I find it useful for raw food preparation. The effect is similar to a light steaming.

Potato and onion pierogy with nutritional yeast over sauteed kale, chick peas and red pepper w/a saffron dulse broth.

Potato and onion pierogy (store bought) with nutritional yeast over sauteed kale, chick peas and red pepper (canola oil, sea salt, lemon juice) with a saffron dulse broth (ginger, vegan white wine, cider vinegar, vegetable stock, black pepper).

Deep dish pizza with dinosaur kale, vegan sausage, kalamata olives, mushrooms and green peppers

Dinner 21 May 2007.


Deep dish pizza (spelt flour, evoo, sea salt) with dinosaur kale, vegan sausage (Tofurkey Italian sausage, kalamata olives, mushrooms and green peppers (crushed tomatoes, oregano, basil, nutritional yeast, evoo/flax oil, garlic, black pepper).

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).

Mango, jalapeno and pomegranate soup; scrambled tofu, baked beans with kale and spelt bread.

Brunch, 19 May 2007.



Mango, jalapeno and pomegranate soup (sea salt, garlic, evoo, orange juice).

Scrambled tofu (evoo/flax oil, garlic, sea salt, turmeric, ginger, chile, cumin, paprika), baked beans with kale (tomato sauce, sea salt, maple syrup, black pepper) and spelt bread (spelt flour, yeast, sea salt, oregano, basil).

Roasted chick pea, mango and scallion salad; penne romanoff with dinosaur kale and kalamata olives

Dinner 14 May 2007.


Roasted chick pea (sea salt, cumin, turmeric, ginger, chile, evoo/flax oil, wine vinegar, mango and scallion salad (lemon juice, evoo/flax oil and sea salt).
Whole-wheat penne romanoff (red pepper, tomatoes, vodka, evoo/flax oil, garlic, oregano, basil, black pepper) with dinosaur kale and kalamata olives.