Mac & Cheese - Vegan, Gluten Free Style!

I've been eating what a friend referred to as "gourmet rabbit food." Lots of nuts, beans, and veggies. And sometimes I just want something creamy and decadent! I had good success with the vegan cream sauce, so I thought I'd give a vegan cheese sauce a try. I looked at a bunch of different recipes, many of which called for fake cheese. But we don't eat meat and cheese substitutes. Most are soy, and all are full of odd fillers. Yuck. This gluten free vegan mac & cheese has no crazy ingredients and is actually a nice sneaky way to feed your family vegetables if they aren't otherwise so keen on them.

Vegan Mac & "Cheese" 

3 medium carrots, sliced
1 onion, diced
2 large cloves garlic, minced
dash paprika
1 tsp dried yellow mustard powder
1/4 cup olive oil
1 cup raw cashew pieces, soaked overnight, drained and rinsed
salt

Cook your carrots in salted water (covered by about an inch) until tender. In a skillet over medium-low heat, saute onion in olive oil until soft. Add garlic, paprika, and mustard, cooking for about 30 seconds longer. Set aside. When carrots are tender, combine carrots and their cooking water, onion/garlic mixture, and cashews in a high powered blender until super smooth. You could probably do it in a food processor, but it won't be as smooth.

I served my sauce tossed with rice pasta spirals and roasted broccoli. Season with salt and fresh cracked pepper to taste.

Lentil Almond Salad

I made this Lentil Almond Salad this week for a quick lunch. I had a couple mason jars of lentils that I'd cooked up for a previous meal. So I heated those up and added a vinaigrette, some capers, and chopped almonds. 

Lentil Almond Salad

serves 4

6 cups lentils, cooked and drained

2 tbsp capers

1/2 cup roasted salted almonds, coarsely chopped

Vinaigrette: 

1 tbsp dijon mustard

2-3 cloves garlic, minced 

1/4 c red wine vinegar 

1/2 cup olive oil

salt and pepper

To make the vinaigrette, mince your garlic with some salt to make a paste. Combine garlic with mustard and vinegar in a small jar. Shake well to combine. Add olive oil and shake vigorously until it emulsifies. Add pepper and more salt if needed. 

In a large bowl, combine lentils, capers, almonds, and vinaigrette. Stir well to combine. Serve warm. This would be awesome with some crusty homemade bread, if you are fortunate enough to be able to eat such things. 

This week's produce, because I like pictures of food

Gluten free, vegan, menu planning

Gluten free, vegan menu planning is about as fun as it sounds, ha! Actually, it's not that different from other creative processes. When I start a new painting, I feel excited Yay! I love to paint! then depressed OMG this is awful, why did I ever think I could paint?, then excited again OK, this is looking good now! and finally a sense of accomplishment when I'm done. I go through the same process while meal planning: Oooh! What are we going to eat this week!? becomes This is so hard when I can't have 27 common ingredients! I want tomatoes and lemons and cheese! I'm so depressed! and then Oh, that sounds interesting! This looks pretty good! and behold I've managed to come up with seven appetizing dinners.

I keep a menu board in my kitchen. It is not written in stone. I switch days around based on how busy I am (or, for example, if someone misses his nap and needs to go to bed early, I'll make whatever is quickest). But as I plan, I try to incorporate a nice variety of grains, legumes, nuts, and vegetables. Let's all agree to not eat rice everyday, okay? And every week I try a couple new recipes. Very rarely I try a recipe that doesn't work (oh, the perils of Pinterest--I'm talking to you sweet potato quinoa patties). And those times, I'm grateful for a meal stashed in the freezer since takeout isn't an option anymore.

A couple weeks ago, I posted a picture of my menu to Facebook. Lots of people liked it, and some even suggested that I sell my weekly meal plans. Well, I'm totally fine with sharing! If it helps someone figure out a way to eat more healthfully or to deal with dietary restrictions, then I've made a positive contribution to the world. If you want to give me money, go buy some of my art ;)

Without further ado, here is this week's menu:

Black Bean Tacos: For my tacos, I used a legume-based crepe. The boys had theirs on wheat tortillas. Corn would work, too, if you can have it. We filled them with refried black beans, roasted carrot sticks, raw cabbage salad, red onions, and mango salsa. That sounds like a lot, and the minimalist in me hesitated, but this was really a case where more = more! I served them with roasted green beans.

Chickpea and Cabbage Soup with Chickpea Flatbread: These are new recipes! The soup is from Post Punk Kitchen, which has reliably good recipes. I have one of her vegan cookbooks. I bought cabbage to make sauerkraut, then realized it would take a month to ferment. Who knew? So, I'm cooking it up instead. The bread is a traditional Italian flatbread, which I've seen on several sites, but I'm going to try this recipe. Seems simple. My batter is resting right now! 

Vegan Mac & Cheese: This one I'm going to wing. I looked at several recipes, some with sweet potatoes, some with carrots. (It's gotta be orange, right?!) I had that great success with cauliflower/cashew cream sauce last week, so I'm going to try a carrot/cashew version. It might be a total bust. We shall see. Serving with asparagus, yum!

Burrito Bowls: This is one of my go-to quick meals. As long as you cook the rice ahead of time, it's pretty quick to throw together. I might soak some extra cashews to make a 'chipotle crema'. But it's a pretty simple formula: spanish style or cilantro lime rice (or quinoa), beans of choice (black or pinto are my preferred choice), lettuce, veggies, salsa. Fajita style veggies--peppers and onions--are excellent! 

Split Pea Soup: I usually only make soup once a week, but I'm alone with the kids all this week, so I figure by Friday the chances of dinner happening are going to be greatly diminished, haha! I'm making it easy on myself! 

Quinoa Stuffed Acorn Squash: I thought I'd posted this recipe already, but I guess not. I will! It's just a basic quinoa pilaf heaped over roasted acorn squash. 

Mung Bean Dal, Curried Zucchini, and Basmati Rice: Like this, but with zucchini and no tomatoes because I can't eat those now (always with the tomatoes! mamma mia!)

Spinach Walnut Pesto

This Spinach Walnut Pesto is the perfect pasta sauce for the middle of winter when you'd love a basil pesto, but can't justify paying whatever the going rate is for several cups of basil in January. The walnuts give it a creamy texture. It tastes so indulgent, but it's so good for you!

Spinach Walnut Pesto

serves 8

1 cup raw walnuts

3 cloves garlic

1 tsp salt

4 big handfuls of baby spinach

Olive oil

In the bowl of a food processor, combine garlic, salt, and walnuts. Process until finely chopped, like crumbs. Fill the bowl with spinach. (I used about 4 big handfuls, which is not very precise, sorry!) Process, stopping to scrape if needed, until well blended. With machine running, pour in olive oil until you get a good consistency. I like mine thinner than soft butter, thicker than salad dressing. (I hope you are not here for exact measurements and such. Cooking is an art, not a science!)

For the pasta, I chose rice spaghetti for the first meal. I sauteed some garlic, lemon zest, and crushed red pepper and tossed that with the noodles before adding the pesto. But that is completely unnecessary as the sauce tastes great on its own. 

I froze the remaining pesto, then thawed it and put it on rice penne (with green beans added in) for lunch. Try it "Genovese" style with cubed potatoes and green beans.