CTTVCC: Vegan Mac 'N' Cheez

This recipe can be found on page 187. This is a pretty good recipe, though I admit I wound up making several adjustments to it. I've been searching for the perfect vegan macaroni and cheese recipe, and while I am still hoping to find or some up with one that tastes a little more authentic, this one isn't bad. In my opinion, it ended up tasting a little bit plain, so I'd pair it with some high-flavor sides.

The recipe calls for:

• 1 (16 ounce) package elbow macaroni
• 1/2 cup soy milk
• 5 tablespoons nutritional yeast
• 1/2 cup vegan margarine
• salt, pepper, and garlic powder, to taste

I used Ancient Harvest Quinoa macaroni, which is very yellow to begin with. Actually, I think that's where most of the color in the dish was coming from once I'd finished making the whole thing. I love quinoa pastas because they're higher in protein because quinoa is simply packed full of it. It's some of the best gluten-free pasta out there because many brands don't actually hold together very well, and just turn into mush. This, however, has rather good structural integrity.

For soy milk, I used West Soy shelf stable soy milk. By the way, shelf stable alternative milks are simply a must. All too often, I've run out of fake milk when the store isn't open, and then my coffee, tea, cereal, recipes, etc. either don't turn out, or can't be made at all. Save yourself some drama. Keep a few cartons in your sock drawer.

I've finally switched to buying my nutritional yeast in bulk at my local health food stores. I still haven't found the exact sort of container I'd like to keep it in, but it'll probably end up going in a plastic-bag lined sealable canister of some sort.

For the margarine, I used Earth Balance Coconut Buttery Spread. This is some of my favorite butter replacements ever invented. Coconut is so good for you, an it has an extremely delicious taste. The only downside is that it remains rather firm, so you have to let it sit out for a while if you want to be able to really spread it smoothly.

Salt, pepper, and garlic powder were a random assortment of things from my parent's pantry. Like a mentioned at the beginning of this post, I added a few things in. I used red pepper in addition to the black pepper. I ended up having to use way more nutritional yeast because the sauce was too runny. I probably should have added more garlic powder, except for that I didn't want to have garlic breath when I was going to be hanging out with my boyfriend later. 

All in all, this is a decent recipe. It goes really well with veggies like sugar snap peas, corn, or broccoli. It also is delicious with extra-seasoned potato wedges or fries. I will probably try more macaroni recipes before I make this one again, but I can definitely see myself making this again. I suppose smaller kids might like this because younger children tend to prefer more bland foods than foods with a kick. If you did anything to this recipe to alter it, let me know in a comment, and tell me what you thought! I'm really excited to perfect vegan macaroni and cheese.