VeggieDag Thursday: Mac un Cheese

When you tell someone you’re vegan, they ask (often incredulously) 'What do you eat?!

To that, the writers of the blog Eat Air have had a hilarious response, right there in the name of their blog. To my dismay, they have announced that they are calling it quits.

I won't be updating this blog anymore. I'm finding I just don't have the time or energy to keep writing regularly and more importantly to keep it fresh and interesting. I've had so much fun writing this blog these last 4+ years. There were very few vegan food blogs when we started but now there are hundreds - please go show them some love.

I've cooked several of the recipes, but there was one, in particular, that was received with enthusiastic approval after I had prepared it (if skeptically at first): Mac un Cheese. [The link is dead, but the recipe is saved below.] It's a vegan recipe: no cheese was grated to make it, nor cow milked.

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Vegan Mac un Cheese

When you spend all your time in the kitchen making cupcakes instead of making dinner, here's a quick and easy recipe so you can have something other than just cupcakes for dinner. This is a variation on a recipe I make quite often from Very Vegetarian by Jannequin Bennett and Carl Lewis.

• Add 1/2 c. flour and 1/4 c. nutritional yeast to a saucepan. Whisk in 2 c. water then add 1 veg. boullion cube.
• Turn on medium heat and cook until the mixture thickens, stirring frequently.
• Add 1 Tbs. miso, 1 tsp. garlic powder, 1/2 tsp. paprika, and 1 tsp. salt. Mix well and simmer for about 5 min.
• Add 2 Tbs. vegan margarine and 1 tsp. mustard of your choice.
• Meanwhile, cook a pound of your favorite pasta.
• Before draining the pasta, add 1 c. of the pasta water to the sauce.
• Then put 1/2 c. frozen peas in your colander and drain the pasta over the peas. Mix pasta & peas with the sauce in a large bowl and enjoy!
• If you want to add some protein, fry up some seitan or TVP chunks and add to the pasta.

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A YFGF twist

The dish is done at this point, but it can be baked as well. (If so, omit the peas. I didn't, and they were mushy after the baking.)

Spoon into a casserole dish. Top with Panko breadcrumbs. Cover and bake for 20 minutes at 350 degrees. Uncover, spoon some vegan margarine on top, and bake for 10 more minutes, uncovered, to crisp.

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• UPDATE: Eat Air is no longer 'on-the-air' in any fashion. A Twitter handle does remain, however: @eatair.


• Why the name VeggieDag Thursday? Here.
• Read all the posts: here. Follow on Twitter with hashtag: #VeggieDag.
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