Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Vegan Moose & "Cheese"

I've been cutting back trying to cut back on my meat intake lately. I watched some documentaries on Netflix. They're very convincing!! Anyway, I'm not going to start preaching or anything because there are many points to be made about the benefits of veganism, many of which meat eaters don't like to hear. I myself am a meat eater but I have been trying to eat more vegetables and I love to cook and try new things so why not try something vegan?

This recipe is from a blog called Healthy Happy Life and is written by a vegan woman who lives in NYC. Her blog is obviously a pretty big deal. One time I emailed to ask her what she fed her cat because I was curious about how she dealt with her beliefs vs. what her cat eats. She never answered me. I swear I wasn't trying to be obnoxious! I was genuinely curious.

Anyway, I made this recipe the other day and I HIGHLY recommend it. Better than any salad I've ever had.

Another reason why I wanted to try this recipe is because I made a veggie burger from her blog a couple of weeks ago and discovered how yummy nutritional yeast is and wanted to use it again!

This Mac & "Cheese" is really good but it's best to get the cheese part out of your head because it doesn't really taste like cheese. Doesn't mean it isn't yummy because it was delicious! Even my super meat-eating boyfriend genuinely enjoyed it. It just doesn't taste like cheese.

This one is her Vegan Mac & Cheese.

6-7 Tbsp nutritional yeast flakes
1 1/2 cups plain soy milk
1 cup sweet potato, mashed
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
1/2 cup onion, finely chopped.
8 oz pasta - I used a whole wheat moose-shaped pasta I got at Ikea Market! 




Directions:

1. Cut up the sweet potato (so it cooks faster) and steam or microwave it. I steamed it on the stove as that's the easiest way for me. 


I got this steamer basket at Ikea but you can pretty much get them anywhere. You just fill the bottom of the pot with a little water, put whatever you want in the basket and then cover.

2. Cook the pasta according to the package directions. 

3. While the pasta's cooking, mix the other ingredients in a bowl.

4. When the sweet potato is ready, mash it and add it to the bowl. I didn't quite mash mine enough so I ended up with orange chunks in the sauce so make sure you mash it really fine. 


5. When the pasta is ready, add it to the sauce. You shouldn't need to heat the sauce but if you'd like to put the works on the stove, that'll make sure it's nice and piping hot! 



I added some panko to the top for that extra crunch!