Vegan Mac and Cheez

Well, I had some leftover greens and wanted some ersatz comfort food.  SO... I made Mac & Shews .  Secret ingredient is sauerkraut.  I never thought I would find any use for that strange food item, but this smells delicious baking in the oven, and I invited Chris to come and partake.  Hopefully he will stop by.  Anyhow, give it a try.  I made the greens with the same recipe I used Sunday night, and I know they will be delicious.

The only negative I can think of, is, I need a much larger food processor.  Mine is tiny, and the cashews/broth/sauerkraut BARELY fit in my blender.  I don't think I got the sauce as smooth as I would like it to be.  But it did look creamy when I added it to the roux and stirred everything up.  Here's hoping!

Update:  It was nearly perfect!  I would have liked the sauce to be just a bit creamier, but even with the nutritional yeast, it tasted fabulous!

Isa Pizza, Pizza Sauce and Cashew Cheesy Cream

I got a bit adventurous tonight.  Amy wanted pizza, and I didn't want to order out, so, I got out Vegan With A Vengeance and made the pizza crust and the pizza sauce for Isa Pizza.  The recipes make enough for two pizzas, so I decided to try something.  One pizza I did up with veggies (onion, spinach, and tempeh cubes on both) and Daiya (both cheddar and mozzarella styles.  The other pizza I made the same way, EXCEPT that instead of Daiya, I used the Cheesy Cashew Cream from the Nirvana Enchilada Casserole recipe in Isa Does It.  Both pizzas were good, but I thought the second one was AMAZING.  That cashew cream is just fantastic. AND I have four slices leftover for a lunch some time this week!  It was Amy's idea to put spinach on the pizzas - we sautéed all the veggies in olive oil before putting them on the pizzas to bake.  Needless to say, these pizzas were better than ANYTHING we could have ordered elsewhere. 

Did I mention I am beginning to love cooking at home?

Sweet Potato Gnocchi with Tarragon Sauce

Another recipe from Isa Does It.  I'm not tired of that book yet.  I did make so many substitutions that I'm not sure the author would recognize her recipe.  (Blasphemy, I know, but hopefully the vegan food gods will forgive me.  It's still vegan, after all)  I used twice the amount of cashews called for in the sauce.  I used canned yams instead of baked fresh sweet potatoes.  I used sparkling grape juice instead of the white wine (I really need to find some non-alcoholic wine)  Anyhow, it still tasted pretty good.  And I learned that I MUCH prefer fresh tarragon to dried.  The licorice aroma/taste is nowhere near as harsh.

In fact, I've discovered I really like fresh herbs.  They really make food taste fresher.  And they are easier to measure and much more difficult to mess up.  I will have to try my hand at growing an herb garden in the kitchen.  If I can keep the cats out of it.