Archives for dinner

Adult Mac and Cheeze

November 9, 2016 by Zucchini Runner in Food, Main Dish, Main Dish | 2 Comments

Yep, you read that title correct! If you are like me, you loooooooved mac n’ cheese as a kid. I couldn’t get enough of that stuff. I also looooooved eating that bright yellow goodness with a hot dog. YEP. I haven’t been plant-based my whole life folks.

img_0410_sized

So when we stumbled on a vegan mac n’ cheeze recipe for kids about a year ago, we modified it (a lot) to make it more substantial, and adult-like. We added onion, green peas, broccoli and yes, even vegan sausage. This recipe isn’t as quick as throwing a box of noodles in boiling water and then plopping in butter, milk and a neon cheese packet — but it is SO much better for you and it’s still a filling comfort food. Who doesn’t need a little of that from time to time, right?

Ingredients
1 c. cooked butternut squash
1/2 c. raw macadamia nuts*
2 TBSP. nutritional yeast
1 c. water
squeeze of lemon juice
few dashes of Real salt, maybe some ground black pepper too
6 c. dry macaroni noodles (or other similar noodle on hand)
10 oz. package of frozen, organic broccoli
1 c. frozen, organic peas
1 small to medium brown onion, chopped
1 Field Roast vegan Italian sausage, chopped
9″x12″ baking dish

Preheat oven to 375°F

  1. Peel, cut in half, scrape out the seeds and chop the butternut squash; or if you are lucky you can find it this way in the grocery store. Place the chopped pieces on a baking sheet, with a little water and bake at 375°F for 20 minutes, or until fork tender.
  2. In a blender, add the mac nuts, nutritional yeast, water, lemon juice and salt. Set aside while you wait for the butternut squash to cook.
  3. In a large stock pot, add water and 6 c. of noodles. (Follow package instructions for exact preparation.) We use gluten-free noodles typically; this time around I used garbanzo bean fusilli!
  4. In a steamer basket, place broccoli, peas and chopped onion. Place steamer basket over your pot of water and place lid on and steam until the onions start to become transparent and the greens are BRIGHT green.
  5. Cut up the vegan sausage link and set aside.
  6. By now the butternut squash is probably done, so you can add it to the blender, which contains the other cheeze sauce ingredients. Blend on low for about 10 seconds, then crank it up to high and process until you get a thick and creamy, cheezy sauce. Be sure to taste test it at this point and see if you want to add any more salt or other seasonings. Make it yours!
  7. Once the noodles are done, drain and place in the 9″x12″ baking dish.
  8. Add the steamed veggies, cheeze sauce and noodles as well.
  9. Stir well in the baking dish to combine.
  10. Cover with foil and bake for 10-15 minutes at 350°F. Serve immediately.

This dish will serve 6-8 as a side dish, or you can just do what we do and save it for leftovers for a couple days.

Below is a slideshow with more preparation instructions.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

(*Nutsinbulk.com is a GREAT place to get mac nuts FRESH and avoid the rancid grocery store variety. Fresh mac nuts are life changing. You can also use cashews if you like those too.)

Did you enjoy mac and cheese as a kid, or am I alone in this?

Rainbow “Rice”

March 10, 2014 by Zucchini Runner in Main Dish, Side Dish | 2 Comments

Do you ever have those days where you stare into the fridge, hoping it will tell you what to make for dinner? Well, that is kinda how this recipe became reality. We’ve been trying to expand our food horizons and while cauliflower used to hate me, we’ve now come to a mutual understanding. By the time this dish was hitting our taste buds, we were both pleasantly surprised by the delicious and light flavor! I’m excited to keep experimenting with different cauliflower rice flavors! It’s so nice having a new versatile veggie to work with.

IMG_0344

What you’ll need:
1-2 tbsp coconut oil
4 large green onions, diced OR 1/2 a brown onion, diced
3 cloves garlic

1 head of cauliflower, reduced to rice size bits in a food processor
3 small carrots, diced
1/8-1/4 head purple cabbage, diced
4 kale leaves (no stems), diced (you can also add or use fresh spinach, chopped)
1 large bok choy leaf, diced (optional, just add the flavors you like! load it with veggies and color, get creative!)
1/4 c. water

2 tsp Parsley
1/2 tsp Oregano
1/2 tsp Basil
1/4 tsp Rosemary
1/4 tsp Sage
1/8 tsp Thyme
Pink Himalayan Salt – a few dashes

Heat a very large skillet with the coconut oil on medium to low heat for about 1-2 minutes. Add the onions and stir, cooking for about 3-5 minutes or until they start to become translucent. Add the garlic and stir. Now you can add all the veggies that have already been chopped and are ready to go. Mix well to combine. Add half the water, and cover with a lid (if you can) and steam for about 5 minutes. Make sure you don’t brown or burn the veggies, you just want them cooked with a little crunch. While the veggies are cooking, you can prepare your spices in a small dish.

Remove the lid and stir again. Sprinkle all the spices on top, add the remaining water and stir well to combine. If necessary, you can add a little more water for steaming, but don’t add too much to make it soggy. Replace with lid and cook for another 5-7 minutes until veggies are desired tenderness.

This was a great side dish, or in our case, we used it as a light dinner which was later supplemented with some heavier foods. (Sometimes this is necessary with evening workouts or sports!) The most important part of this recipe is to just enjoy and add the flavors you like best – have fun with different veggies and spices!

The below slide show is the second batch of this same recipe that I made. Follow the instructions above regarding the onion; both times I forgot to add the onion first! Also, I think I used way more cabbage on the second batch and I food processed it versus chopping it up, which made the cauliflower purple; not as pretty as the first batch!

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

 

← Older posts