Macaroni and Casheeze!

I just finished eating this about five minutes ago, but it was sooooo good that I had to post it right away.  This is kinda a spin off of Macaroni and Cheese, the ultimate comfort food.  It tastes amazing and is healthy! I have tried about 3 different recipes and read about a million others.  This one was a mixture of a bunch of them plus I added some things I thought would be yummy to the mix.  It turned out to be the best ever! Warning:  You will not be able to eat just one helping, but it's OK...no one has to know. -insert wink here-

First you have to gather your supplies:

4 cups dry macaroni noodles

1 cup cashews

1/2 cup Brazil nuts

1/8 cup rice vinegar

2 tablespoons coconut oil

2 3/4 cups almond milk

1 tablespoon cornstarch

1/2 tsp dry mustard

1/2 tsp onion powder

1 1/4 tsp sea salt

2 cloves garlic (I used leftover roasted garlic so I used 4 cloves this time because the flavor is a little less strong when roasted, but 2 fresh cloves are about the same.)

About 1 1/4 cups crunchy fried onions for topping. (You can use crackers, bread crumbs, or chopped nuts as a topping too if you want, but I wanted the onions.)

-First, boil your macaroni noodles until they are just cooked.  Do not overcook them or you will end up with mushy macaroni and texture is everything.  While that is cooking, throw the cashews and Brazil nuts in a food processor, blender, or coffee bean grinder and grind into a fine flour.  

-In a blender or food processor, combine all the other ingredients (except for the topping.) and blend well.  Add the ground up nut flour and blend again. (This is what I am calling "Casheeze sauce" and would be really good in lots of other recipes!) 

-Once the noodles are done, drain them completely and return them to the pot.  Pour the Casheeze sauce over the noodles and mix well.  Pour this all into a lightly greased baking dish and top with the fried onions.  Cover with foil and bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.  Uncover and bake an additional 5-7 minutes. The Casheeze sauce will thicken up quite a bit.

Serve with some leafy greens and your favorite salad dressing!
Yummmmy!

<3 Ashlyn

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Crispy Granola

This granola is delish and sooo easy to make! I love it because when you eat it, you do not get a side order of chipped teeth to go with it.  It is just crisped to perfection!  Sound good?  You want some?  Well make some for yourself because I am gonna eat all mine.

What you need:
5/8 cup pure maple syrup (Yes I use this a lot)
1/4 cup olive oil
1/8 tsp salt
3 cups quick cooking oats
1/2 cup finely chopped walnuts
1/2 cup finely chopped pecans
1/2 cup cashews
1/2 cup sunflower seeds
1 cup grated coconut
1/2 cup dried blueberries (Or any dried berries of your choice)
1/4 cup raisins

Now to put it together:

-Preheat your oven to 255 degrees.  Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper or tin foil that is lightly greased.

-In a small bowl, mix up the maple syrup, olive oil, and salt. In a larger bowl, mix all other ingredients but set aside 1/4 cup of the cashews.

- Place the cashews (You know, the ones you just set aside.) in a food processor, blender, or coffee bean grinder.  Grind them all up so they are the consistency of a rough flour, and then throw those in the bowl with all your other nuts and stuff. (Why? Because once the syrup mixture gets in there, it will turn those ground up cashews into the yummiest little crispy clusters ever!)

- Pour the oil/syrup mixture over the nut mixture and mix it all up. 

- Spread it all out on the two cookie sheets and pop them in the oven for 30 minutes.  Half way through, move the granola around to make sure that it cooks evenly. 

Note: Most granola recipes call for you to cook for an hour or more, but like I said before, I prefer my granola without a side order of chipped teeth. If you like the dental expenses, then by all means, cook it longer.

Let your granola cool for about 30 minutes and then transfer it into some airtight containers.  I like to put some in a bowl with a little almond or coconut milk on top and eat it like cereal.  

Enjoy!

<3 Ashlyn

Portabella Burgers

Seriously, this was probably one of the best burgers I have ever had, vegan or not!  If you blindfolded someone, made them this burger, and had them take a bite, they wouldn't even know it wasn't a "Burger" burger.  Know what I mean?   The flavor's of the portabella, avocado, and nut "meat" mingle together to make this meal a party in your mouth. So. Good.  Don't believe me?  Try it for yourself...

What you need:
4 Portabella mushrooms
4 small avocados
lemon juice
nut "meat" (I tweaked it a bit for this recipe...details below.)
lettuce (Enough for 4 burgers)
2 tomatoes, sliced
1/2 onion, sliced
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1/4 tsp salt (And more for sprinkling.)
1/4 tsp pepper (And more for sprinkling.)
1/8 tsp onion powder
Hamburger buns (I used vegan kaiser rolls that I found at Safeway)
Grape seed oil or other oil of your choice

Note:  This recipe can be made as a raw recipe, or a cooked recipe.  If you want it cooked, preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

First, cut the stems out of the mushrooms and then set the mushroom heads aside for later.  I used the stems in my nut"meat" instead of a whole cup of mushrooms, because I didn't want the burgers to be too "mushroomy."  Then I just added a bit of water to make it not too dry (About a tablespoon was all that was needed.)  For those of you who don't know, whenever you see words that are blue, instead of black, you can click on them and it will link you to the recipe I am referring to. In this case, nut"meat".  Did you get it?  Ok, good.  We are all on the same page. :)

So, after you follow the recipe for nut"meat", (Linked one more time in case you are slow like me.) plop all of it into a bowl.  Add your finely chopped garlic, salt and pepper. Mix it up really good.

Next, spoon that yummy nut"meat" into the bottom of your mushrooms and spread it out a bit.  Add some of your sliced onion on top (I left it off of the burger for my girls since they don't care for onions.) and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Drizzle with a bit of oil.  I used grape seed oil because it has a nice nutty flavor that goes great with these.  If you are not eating these raw, go ahead and pop them in the oven at this point.They only need to cook for about 10 minutes.  If you are eating them raw, set aside while you make your avocado spread.
To make the spread, cut your avocados in half, remove the pits, and place in a bowl.  Mush them up with a fork and add the onion powder and a little lemon juice. (About a tablespoon.) Sprinkle with salt and pepper and it's done. 

At this point, your burgers should be done. Now let's assemble these puppies.

You can just use the avocado spread as a sandwich spread, or you can use a little nayonaise (Soy based mayonnaise.) with the avocado. Put on some lettuce and tomato (And more onion if you want it.) and wala!

Serve with some humus and peta chips, kale chips, or sweet potato fries!

Raw version:

Enjoy! Be sure to subscribe, share, and pin!

<3 Ashlyn

Raw "Cheese" Cake!

I am gonna make this post quick, because I want to finish eating my slice of cheesecake.  And because it is pretty easy (And amazing) to make.

First, you want to place 2 cups of almonds in a bowl and cover them with water.  Let them soak for about 4 hours.

Next, in a food processor or blender, grind up 1 more cup of almonds (Not the ones you soaked.) until texture is like a course flour.   Throw in 1 cup of raisins and blend again. 

Dump this all into a pie dish and press it into the bottom and up the sides.

Now that it has been 4 hours, (It has been 4 hours right?) drain the water from your soaking almonds and put them in a blender. Grind them up like you did with the previous batch. I probably should have warned you before, but it will be pretty loud.  Once that's done add in 5/8 cup of water, 1/8 cup rice vinegar,

1 tsp vanilla, 3/8 cup maple syrup, dash of salt, and a tsp of coconut oil.  Blend it all up and then pour it into your crust.

Smooth it out with a spatula, cover, and plop it in the freezer for a couple hours so it firms up.
Slice a little piece for yourself, and a big piece for me.

Sprinkle a little bit of coconut on mine and throw a couple Chanana Bites on my plate too please.

Hope you love it!
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<3 Ashlyn

Melanzane Con Quinoa (That is fancy Italian for "Eggplant with Quinoa")

So tonight was another success!  We have been on this Italian kick (Or at least I have, and everyone else in my family has to suffer since I am the one who cooks.) so yet again, I made a delicious, Italian type concoction.  My rating:  5 stars.  So here's how it's done:

Here is what you need:

For Quinoa:

2 cups quinoa (rinsed)
4 cups water
olive oil

For the rest:
2 medium eggplants chopped

1 cup chopped mushrooms

1.5 cups chopped bell peppers

3 cloves finely chopped garlic

3 tbsp EVOO

1/4 tsp onion powder

3/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

1 tsp parsley

1tsp basil

Your favorite marinara sauce. (I reeeeeeaaaaalllyyy promise I will post my recipe soon!)

First things first: Making the quinoa.
Put the water in a large pot to boil.  While water is boiling, put a bit of olive oil in a skillet and heat on med.  Once oil is all swirly, (or for normal people, when it is heated.) drop in your rinsed quinoa and saute for a couple minutes just to toast it.  This brings out the nutty flavor a bit more than just boiling it.  Once it is a pretty golden brown color, put it in the pot of boiling water.  Cover, and reduce the heat to low and let it simmer for about 15 minutes. Remove it from the heat and just let it sit while you are cooking everything else.
Now for the best part:
Place your olive oil, onion powder, salt, pepper, parsley and basil in a skillet and mix it all up over low heat. Toss in all your chopped veggies and saute for about 20-25 minutes.

While those yummy veggies are sauteing and filling your house with an amazing smell, warm up your favorite marinara sauce in a sauce pan. Once the eggplant is cooked through, it's time to dish up!

Fluff up the quinoa with a fork and then make a nice little bed for your veggies with it.  Plop the veggies on top and spoon a bit of the marinara sauce on top of that.  Sprinkle with some cheese alternative (I had some leftover from dinner last night.) and serve with some leafy greens and your favorite dressing!  Enjoy!

And for desert, I made "cheese"cake!


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<3 Ashlyn

Some kind of Zucchini lasagna type thing...

This. Is. Yummy.

This is what I made for dinner tonight and it was delicious!  Here is what you need:

Ingredients:

-6 or 7 small zucchini (Or a couple large ones. )

-About 4 cups of your favorite marinara sauce
(Homemade or pre-made if you choose. I will post the recipe for mine another time.)

-4 cups grated vegan mozzerella "cheese"
(You can use soy based or nut based, but nut based is healthier.)
-Nut "meat" or other Vegan "meat" alternative.
-2 cloves of garlic (Crushed)

-1.5 tsp. Dried parsley 

(You can use fresh too, I just didn't have any on hand.)
-Sea Salt

-Pepper

And here we go!

Thinly slice your zucchini lengthwise and pat dry.

Pour about 3 tablespoons of EVOO into a skillet and season your zucchini with a little sea salt and some fresh ground pepper.  Cook for about 1 minute on each side.

Now to assemble:

First, throw the garlic, parsley, and some salt and pepper into your nut "meat" and mix it all in.  
(Go ahead and taste a little too...you know you want to.)
Then, take a bit of your marinara sauce and put it into a large baking dish, just enough to coat the bottom.
Place a layer of your lightly cooked zucchini over the sauce and then crumble half of the nut "meat" on top of that. (Note: The nut meat is very moist so you will have to use your fingers to crumble it. It's messy.)
Put half of the remaining sauce on top and then sprinkle half of the cheese on top of that.

Repeat the layers and top with remaining cheese.  Toss it in a 350 degree oven for about 20-25 minutes.
(Note: Vegan cheese does not melt completely like regular cheese, so do not wait for it to melt before removing it from the oven...it won't happen.)

Slap some Vegan margarine and garlic on a Vegan french loaf and toast it in the oven.  Cut a slice and serve it with this delicious Zucchini lasagna type thing.  It's really good.
(Sorry about the poor quality photos. I snapped them real quick with my phone and will upload some nicer ones next time I make this.)

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Basic Nut "Meat"

This is a basic recipe for a Vegan meat alternative.  It really is easy and delicious!

What you need:

1 cup nuts (I used cashews and walnuts)
1 cup Mushrooms (Rinsed and dried)
Salt and pepper
(You can season it to go with whatever you are making. For tacos, season like taco meat.  For Italian dishes, season like Italian sausage.)

Blend ingredients in a blender or food processor until you have a rough texture, similar to ground beef.  Do not over blend or it will be mushy.

You can use this in any raw recipe, or cook it into another vegan recipe!