Category Archives: Recipes

Vegan Macaroni & Cheese Recipe

Vegan Macaroni and Cheese Recipe
Vegan Macaroni and Cheese Recipe

Here’s another health conscious make-over of an old comfort food favorite. This recipe is vegan, dairy free, gluten free and very, very good. You have to try it to believe it. The “cheese” sauce is also great on nachos, as a topping on broccoli or baked potatoes.

Vegan Macaroni and Cheese Recipe

  • 8 ounces dry Macaroni noodles
  • 4 slices of bread
  • 2 tbspns + 1/3 cup margarine
  • 3 tbspns shallots, peeled and chopped
  • 1 cup red or yellow potatoes, peeled and chopped
  • 1/4 cup carrots, peeled and chopped
  • 1/2 cup yellow onion, peeled and chopped
  • 1 cup water
  • 1/4 cup raw cashews
  • 2 teaspoons sea salt
  • 1/4 tspn fresh garlic, peeled and minced
  • 1/4 tspn prepared dijon mustard
  • 1 tbspn fresh squeezed lemon juice
  • 1/4 tspn ground black pepper
  • 1/4 tspn ground cayenne pepper
  • 1/4 tspn ground paprika

In a large pot, bring the water and salt to a boil. Add macaroni and cook until al dente. In a collander, drain pasta and rinse with cold water. Set aside.

In a food processor, make breadcrumbs by pulverizing the bread and add 2 tbspns margarine to a medium-fine texture. Set aside.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a saucepan, add shallots, potatoes, carrots, onion, water and bring to a boil. Cover pan and simmer for 15 minuts, or until vegetables are very soft.

In a blender, process the cashews, salt, garlic, 1/3 cup margarine, mustard, lemon juice, black pepper and cayenne. Add softened vegetables and cooking water to blender and process until perfectly smooth.

In a large bowl, toss the cooked pasta and blended cheese sauce until completely coated. Spread mixture into a 9×12 baking dish, sprinkle with prepared breadcrumbs and dust with paprika. Bake 30 minutes or until the cheese sauce is bubbling and the top has turned golden brown.

 

Recipe created by:

Allison Rivers Samson, Maven of Mmmm.. at www.AllisonsGourmet.com. Originally printed in her award-winning column, ‘Veganize It!’ in VegNews Magazine.

 

 

Spicy Tuna Lettuce Wraps

Spicy Tuna Lettuce Wraps

Lettuce wraps are great because you can do almost as many things with lettuce as you can do with traditional sandwiches. Here’s a great recipe we made up recently that’s flavorful, filling, gluten free, dairy free, and loaded with high density nutrients.

Spicy Tuna Lettuce Wraps

A Can of your favorite tuna
2 Tbspns mayonnaise or equivalent dressing
2 tbspns capers
1 small brown tomato, chopped
2 sticks of celery, chopped
1/4 cup diced yellow or green onion
1/4 cup diced spanish olives
1 tbspn minced pickled jalapeño peppers
Romaine lettuce

Just mix the first 8 ingredients together well, and spoon onto rinsed and dried lettuce leaves. Suggested variations on this: chicken, salmon, hard-boiled eggs or tofu.

Avocado Onion Salad

Avocado Onion Salad

If you’re looking for a great tasting gluten-free, dairy-free meal, try this Avocado Onion Salad from my friend Geninne Zlatkis:

Avocado Onion Salad

  • 1 ripe avocado, peeled, cored, sliced into 3/4 inch chunks
  • 2 hard boiled eggs, peeled and cut in half
  • 1 medium onion, peeled and sliced
  • juice from one lime half
  • sea salt
  • extra virgin olive oil
  • ground pepper

To make the onion milder, just salt it generously and let it sit for 15 minutes, rinse them well and squeeze out any excess water between the folds of a towel.

Add a pinch of sea salt and pepper to taste, to one tspn olive oil, plus the juice of the lime. Drizzle over the top and enjoy!

Thanks to Geninne Zlatkis of La Marquesa Mexico for the idea. Follow her on Instagram: @geninne on Facebook
or check out her art blog here!

Sesame Ginger Salad Dressing

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There’s nothing like a salad made with fresh raw vegetables to make you feel energized, satisfied and content without being weighted down and feeling like you need a nap after lunch.

The key to enjoying a healthy salad for lunch is combining it with the right dressing to make it pop.

This is one of our favorite salad dressings which also happens to be fresh made, vegan, dairy free, gluten free, and contains no preservatives or chemicals to make your skin crawl or your hair fall out.

Sesame Ginger Salad Dressing

1 cup olive oil
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
4 tbspns soy sauce
4 cloves of garlic, peeled and minced
4 tbspns wildflower honey
4 tbspns peeled and minced ginger
2 tspns toasted sesame oil

Just add these ingredients to a pint canning jar, or a plastic bowl with a lid and shake it up, spoon onto your favorite salad. Also works great as a teriyaki marinade.

Vegan Sandwich – BBQ Carrot and Spinach

Today’s lunch was a hearty, healthy vegan sandwich:

Vegan BBQ Carrot Sandwich

Vegan BBQ Carrot and Spinach Sandwich

For people eliminating meat, dairy and wheat from their diets, it gets tricky trying to make meals that have a satisfying taste and still provide healthy solid nutrition. Here’s one I made up today because I was craving BBQ. Would I rather have BBQ pork smothered in cheese on a wheat roll? Hell yeah! But I have to say, this was a delicious alternative I think you’re going to like. Also – It’s packed with vitamins and minerals, Vegan, Dairy-Free and Gluten-Free!

  • 1 large raw carrot, washed, sliced into 1/8 ribbons
  • 3 cloves raw garlic, peeled, diced
  • 1 tbspn olive oil
  • 1 cup fresh baby spinach leaves
  • 2 slices of your favorite bread
  • BBQ sauce to taste

I used a slicing mandolin to cut the carrot, add along with garlic, 1 tbspn extra virgin olive oil to a good size cast-iron frying pan over medium heat. Saute the carrot ribbons, turning every minute or so, until they start to soften enough that you can bend them easily; about 7 minutes.

Meanwhile, toast the bread. We like Whole Grain Genius by Glutino for this (an absolutely delicious gluten free bread). It’s hard to tell the difference between this and “regular” bread that contains wheat, especially when it’s been toasted.

Carefully layer the spinach leaves, carrot ribbons and garlic onto one slice of the bread, top with BBQ sauce (we also put a little A1 sauce as well) and the other slice of bread and chow down!

Oh yeah, and have a napkin handy before you sit down to eat… this is a leetle messy!

 

Great Gluten-Free Choices

Anyone looking to eliminate Wheat from their diet knows it’s tough to find great tasting substitutes for the foods we’ve come to love. We’ll here’s one we really like: Genius by Glutino Whole Grain Bread.

Veggie SandwichIt’s good right out of the bag, but toasted, even better. Seen here with tomatoes, pickles, onions, green bell peppers, pepperoncini’s, oregano and a little olive oil. Manga manga! Check out other great Glutino foods for gluten free dieters here.