Vegan Squash Mac 'n Cheese with Spinach

Oh man, this was delicious and not too difficult, just required a bit of planning. This takes a bit longer than my normal meals but was a nice, relaxing process. Very rich and flavorful - a complete meal. 

For 4 servings, you will need:

• 1 c raw cashew pieces, soaked in a bowl of water at least 3 hours (this is what takes the planning)
• 1 carnival squash
• 1 t garlic powder
• 12 oz bag of pasta - I used veggie radiatore
• 1.5 c plain almond (or soy) milk
• 3 t apple cider vinegar
• 1/3 c nutritional yeast
• salt & pepper
• 2 garlic cloves
• 3 c fresh spinach, chopped
• 2 T coconut oil
• paprika
• some vegan parmesan, optional

The steps:

1. Measure out raw cashew pieces into a medium bowl and completely submerg in water. Let soak for at least 3 hours. This will soften the nuts so that you'll get a smoother sauce.
2. About an hour before you plan on eating, preheat the oven to 350
3. Slice squash in half and remove seeds. Sprinkle garlic powder and salt on the squash.
4. Place squash sliced side up in a casserole dish with a bit of water in the bottom (about 1/2''). Roast in the oven for 30-35 minutes, until fork tender.
5. Remove squash from oven. While squash are cooling, start pasta cooking according to directions on the bag/box. Aim for al dente.
6. While pasta is cooking, measure out cashews, 1 c of almond milk, vinegar, nutritional yeast, salt and pepper, and garlic cloves and place in food processor. When the squash is cool enough to touch, scoop out the insides and place it in the food processor.
7. Now, really process that sauce very well until it is very smooth. I did it in about 4, 3 minute bursts. Scrape down the sides with a spatula as needed. Taste and add salt if needed. Add more almond milk to get it smoother about halfway through the blending process.
8. Once pasta is done cooking, drain.
9. Heat coconut oil in a skillet and quickly saute spinach for about 3 minutes, until just wilted and bright green.
10. Return the drained pasta to its pot, add cheese sauce and spinach, and gently fold in.
11. Serve into bowls and sprinkle with vegan parmesan and paprika.

Enjoy!

Super Easy Vegan Beer Bread

I think we've perfected this bread. Easy and yummy. Moist on the inside with a delightfully hard crust. Perfect with soup (like this one). 

For one loaf, you'll need:

• 2 1/2 c all purpose flour
• 1 T baking powder
• 2 t salt
• 2 T sugar
• 1/3 c olive oil
• 1 bottle of beer (I used an amber I don't like - this is a good opportunity to use up beer your guests have brought over that you don't care for)
• 1 T sesame seeds
• 1 T flax seeds
• 2 t melted vegan margarine

The steps:

1. Preheat your oven to 350
2. Sift together flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar in a large mixing bowl
3. Add oil and beer and mix until just barely combined.
4. Pour batter into a greased loaf pan
5. Melt margarine and spread over top the loaf 
6. Sprinkle seeds on top. You can use any sort of seeds that sound good to you.
7. Bake on the center rack for about 50 minutes, or until the loaf starts to brown and pull away from the edges of the pan

Served it with my potato, turnip, rutabaga soup and it was super delicious. Enjoy

Creamy Vegan Potato, Turnip, and Rutabaga Soup

Here is one of those recipes you can make when you have a lot of vegetables from your CSA that you don't know what to do with. Specifically, rutabaga and turnips. This actually turned out very good and will likely make a reappearance whenever I have a lot of these veggies. An added celery root, I think, would make this soup absolutely perfect.

For 4 servings, you'll need:

• ~2lbs bag of potatoes (I had Yukon Gold from the CSA)
• 1 bunch of sweet white turnips 
• 1 softball sized rutabaga
• 1 medium onion
• 3 cloves garlic
• 3 T nutritional yeast
• 3-4 T vegan margarine
• 2 T apple cider vinegar
• 1/3 - 3/4 c plain almond milk
• salt to taste (a few teaspoons)
• pepper to taste
• 2-3 t garam masala
• 2-3 t all purpose seasoning (I've become hooked on 21 Seasoning Salute from Trader Joe's but any well-balanced seasoning blend would work fine)

The steps:

• Peel potatoes, turnips, and rutabaga and chop into roughly 1 inch cubes.
• Roughly chop onion
• Place potatoes, turnips, rutabaga, and onion in a medium-large pot and cover with water. Boil 20-30min until fork tender
• When done, drain veggies in a colander. In batches, blend cooked veggies in your food processor until smooth. You should also add garlic and nutritional yeast to this mixture while you are pureeing.
• Return puree to your pot and add margarine, vinegar, and almond milk. Stir to combine, or until margarine has melted.
• Season, taste, and season again (if needed)

And that's it! I served this with some beer bread and it made for a rich, filling meal. Enjoy!

Buffalo "Wings" + blue "cheese" sauce

I've come to realize that being vegan means using a lot of quotation marks. Tonight's recipe: buffalo "chicken wings" (actually cauliflower) with "celery" (actually fennel stalks) and "blue cheese" dressing (actually not cheese). The above drawing is a confused chicken who has cauliflower stalks for wings (thanks to my bf for that ♥). Anyway, I was skeptical of this recipe but it was really, delicious and sinful. It's no secret that I love hot wings and, being vegan, I miss them more than occasionally. These really hit the spot. Here goes... 

For about a dozen "wings" (see, quotes again), you'll need:

• 1 head of cauliflower, chopped into small pieces (maybe 1-1.5 inches across)
• 1 c flour
• 1 c almond (or soy) milk
• 2 t garlic powder

The steps:

1. Preheat oven to 450°.
2. In a medium bowl, combine flour, milk, and garlic powder until smooth.
3. Place cauliflower pieces in mixture and coat.
4. Place battered cauliflower on a greased cookie sheet and bake for about 20 minutes.

For enough buffalo sauce for those "wings", you'll need:

• 1 standard bottle of hot chili sauce (a typical chili and vinegar one like Cholula or Tabasco would be good. I used Trader Joe's hot chili sauce)
• 1.5 T vegan margarine, melted

The steps:

1. Melt margarine in a bowl.
2. Add hot sauce and whisk until smooth
3. Thoroughly coat "wings" with this buffalo sauce once they've been removed from the oven.

For enough "blue cheese" sauce for those "wings", you'll need:

• 1 c vegan mayo
• 1/4 c tahini
• 2-3 t apple cider vinegar
• 1 garlic clove, finely minced
• 1/4 block extra firm tofu, crumbled (optional)

The steps:

1. Combine mayo, tahini, vinegar, and garlic until smooth. A whisk here helps.
2. Crumble and add tofu to simulate chunky blue cheese and gently fold in. (I don't really feel this is necessary)

Anyway, this was a really great dinner. I chopped up some fennel stalks (I had already used the bulbs in this recipe) to serve as a [more flavorful] celery substitute. Enjoy!

Sucrine Du Berry + Coconut Soup with African flair

This is a hearty squash soup. This is the second time I've made it, this time using sucrine du berry squash, an heirloom variety we received in our CSA last week. Previously, I've made this soup with acorn squash but prefer the sweetness and fleshiness of the sucrine du berry squash. Not to fear though, acorn or any of the other more mild squashes would be a very good substitute. To give you an idea, the sucrine du berry squash I used was about the size of a [lumpy] rugby ball. This soup is thick, spicy, rich, and perfect for a chilly fall day. Here goes...

For about 4 servings, you'll need:

• 1 sucrine du berry squash
• 2 dried red peppers (the small kind)
• 1/2 c raw cashews
• 3 T nutritional yeast
• 2 c unsweetened coconut milk
• 2 T coconut oil
• 1 T apple cider vinegar
• 4 t berbere spice
• 2 t curry powder
• 2 T raw sugar
• salt

The steps:

1. Preheat your oven to 425.
2. Slice squash in half long ways and remove the seeds and stringy parts. Place sliced side down on a greased cookie sheet and bake until easily pierced, about 30-40 minutes. Skin will darken and begin to bubble around the edges. Let cool (I put this in the oven while I was eating lunch and let it cool until it was time to make dinner. Cook it the night before or in the morning while you're getting ready)
3. Once cool, scoop all the contents of your squash into your food processor. Add 2 dried peppers. Process until a smooth puree results. Place squash puree into a large pot, with the burner off.
4. Measure out cashews and nutritional yeast and puree in the food processor until the consistency of chunky peanut butter is achieved. Add to the pot.
5. Turn heat to low and stir to combine squash and cashews. Once combined, add the rest of the ingredients.
6. Cover and let simmer about 10 minutes. Taste it at the end and season accordingly. You may need to add a bit more coconut milk to achieve the consistency you prefer.
7. Serve and enjoy while hot.

Delicata Squash + Crimini Mushroom Cream Sauce

Today, Jeff called me a MacGyver in the kitchen. I think this dinner turned out well too!

For two (quite large) servings, you will need:

• 1 delicata squash
• 1 box whole crimini mushrooms, sliced
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 3 T Earth Balance Vegan Buttery Spread
• 1/2 t crushed red pepper
• A few dashes each (or a seasoning blend containing) of the following:
• parsley
• basil
• thyme
• rosemary
• 1/2 c unsweetened almond milk
• 2 T nutritional yeast
• 1 T raw sugar
• salt & pepper to taste

The steps:

1. Stab your squash several times with a fork and microwave on high for 3 minutes. Turn over. Microwave another 3 minutes.
2. While squash is cooking, prep garlic and mushrooms and cook on low with Earth Balance and spices. Cover and let cook on low for about 7-10 minutes, until mushrooms are done.
3. When squash has completed cooking, slice in half (longways) and scoop out the seeds. Scoop flesh into your food processor.
4. Add almond milk and nutritional yeast to the processor and blend until squash is smooth.
5. Add the squash mixture to the pan with mushrooms and garlic. Add sugar. Taste and season.
6. Serve over pasta.

Creamy Vegan Potato Leek Soup w/Croutons

I made this soup last night for my dad who was visiting. A great way to use up leeks, potatoes, and greens that you've been getting in your CSA. A perfect, rich soup wonderful for a blustery early fall day. Next time, it may be good to add more leeks than I did below, but the following soup was still very delicious.

For 4 servings, you'll need:

• 2 T olive oil
• 1 leek, sliced thinly
• 2 pounds potatoes, washed and cut in 1" cubes
• 3 cloves garlic, peeled & crushed
• 4 c vegetable broth
• 2 T nutritional yeast
• 1/2 c plain almond milk (soy milk would be okay too)
• 1 head of radish greens (or some other strong flavorful greens like mustard greens)
• 2 T balsamic vinegar
• salt & pepper to taste and depending upon your broth
• 2 t fennel seeds
• 1 t paprika
• 1 t crushed red pepper

The steps:

1. Saute leeks in a large, heavy-bottomed pot in olive oil over medium-low heat until tender and translucent. Stir often. About 5-7 minutes
2. While leeks are sauteing, peel and crush garlic cloves
3. Add garlic once leeks are cooked and saute another 3 minutes, stirring often.
4. Add salt, pepper, fennel seeds, paprika, crushed red pepper, broth, greens, nutritional yeast, and almond milk and cover. Turn heat to high, bring to a boil then reduce heat and simmer for 25 minutes.
5. While that pot is boiling, roughly chop your greens and place in a large bowl. Lightly coat greens in balsamic and let sit until you're ready to add it to the pot. At least 15 minutes. This will help to soften the greens and reduce bitterness.
6. After 25 minutes, add greens to the pot, cover, and simmer until greens are wilted. About 5 minutes.
7. Remove from heat and blend in your food processor until smooth. Will likely take three stages because it won't all fit. Resulting texture is thick, sort of like mashed potatoes.
8. Serve hot with croutons on top

For enough croutons for 4 servings of soup, you'll need:*

• 2 slices of sourdough bread (I have a big oblong loaf, you'll need 3 slices if yours are more traditionally sized)
• 2 T olive oil
• 2 t grill seasoning blend (I use a garlic and herb blend that has salt in it)

The steps:

1. Preheat your oven to 400.
2. Cut bread into 1" cubes.
3. Place cubes in 9x13 pan and coat with olive oil and seasoning.
4. Bake for about 15 minutes, stirring once during the process.
5. Let cool and place on soup, salad, etc.

*If you want this soup to be gluten free, just don't use croutons or use Udi's bread to make croutons with.