Baked Vegan Mac & Cheese.

So I've been struggling with my almost 6-year-old with all things healthy eating. She use to be an amazing eater and eat any and everything healthy. Would ask me for healthy food and beg for shrek shakes. Long gone are those days, and I blame it all on kindergarten. It's like after seeing how the "other side" eats... and setting her eyes on that cafeteria line - it's all she wants. It's a constant battle.

One day, post kindergarten corruption, she told me she wanted to go have a playdate at her friend Emily's house because her Mom makes them yummy macaroni & cheese... I almost cried. Ouch. So, I was on a quest to find my baby girl some healthy mac & cheese. Found this recipe, on an awesome new site my friend Natalie told me about. I spent a good 3 hours drooling over all her recipes.

The bummer is, we all loved it, except her. I'm beginning to think that we're dealing with some sort of power struggle combined with the food issue. Lovely.

1/2 medium potato, peeled and chopped (about 1/4-1/3 cup)
1/2 large carrot, peeled and chopped (about 1/2 cup)
1/2 small onion, peeled and chopped (about 1/4-1/3 cup)
1 ½ cups raw cashews
1 cup unsweetened almond milk
4 garlic cloves
6 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
3 teaspoons kosher salt
2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
1 teaspoon mustard
~300-340 grams dry/uncooked whole wheat macaroni or other pasta
1 slice bread
1 tablespoon Earth Balance or butter
Fresh or dried parsley, to garnish (optional)
Paprika, to garnish

Preheat oven to 350*F. Grab a small casserole dish and set aside. In a medium sized pot, add the chopped potatoes, carrots, and onion and fill with water until just covered. Bring to a boil and then reduce to low-medium heat. Cook for about 15 minutes until tender.

Meanwhile, process 1 slice of bread until crumbs form in a food processor. Add in 1 tablespoon of Earth Balance and process until incorporated. Place in a small bowl and set aside.

Now assemble your cheese sauce ingredients (cashews, almond milk, garlic, lemon, salt, yeast, pepper, mustard) and add just the cashews to food processor. Process until a fine crumb forms similar to corn meal. Now add in the rest of the cheese sauce ingredients and process until smooth.

Once the veggies are cooked, drain and add to cheese sauce mixture in food processor. Process until smooth.

Add your pasta to a medium sized pot and fill with water until the pasta is covered by about 1 inch or so. Bring to a boil and reduce to low, cooking for about 7 more minutes. Drain and rinse with cold water.

In a large bowl, mix together your cheese sauce and drained + rinsed pasta. Scoop into your casserole dish and sprinkle with the breadcrumb mixture. Now garnish with paprika and bake in the oven for 30 minutes at 350*F. Allow to cool for about 10 minutes before serving. Sprinkle with chopped fresh parsley or dried parsley if you’d like.

Note: This is a heavy and drier mac ‘n cheese. If you want it less dry, you might want to add some Earth Balance/butter or additional milk.

from ohsheglows

my friend Natalie told me about her sight, and our friend Mimi told her

Hurry Up Alfredo.

Ya'll are going to love me for this one. Like, "L-O, L-O, L-O, L-O-V-E, L-O, L-O, L-O... I'm talkin bout... I'm talkin bout love!" (Any Ashlee Simpson Wentz fans out there? Nope? No one? Yeah, me neither!)

Anyhow, back to this amazing pasta. It's for sure going into the Hatch Family rotation. It couldn't be more delicious. It couldn't be more easy. And it couldn't be more any on-hand, go-to meal to make, whatsoever. [any Chandler fans catch that one?... Man, I have got to stop writing these up late at night!] Although if you're just starting up on this vegan/plant-based thing it won't seem at all 'on-hand' ingredients to you at first. But this one alone is well worth the investment of the ingredients.

I seriously wanted more and more of this one, and couldn't believe that it was vegan. Seriously, just try this tonight. Or, right now. I can't wait to play with it some and add roasted red peppers... or try it into a rose sauce... and try roasted garlic with it... yum!

The only downfall was the garlic is not cooked, so the garlic flavor is strong - be ready for that. Too strong for my little Ava... "it's so good Mom... but it's just too strong!" I'll tone that down or try some roasted garlic cloves next time.

1 cup soy or almond milk

1/3 cup raw, unsalted cashews

1/4 cup nutritional yeast

3 tablespoons low-sodium tamari/soy sauce/bragg's liquid amino's

2 tablespoons Earth Balance margarine

1 tablespoons tahini

1 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

2 teaspoons dijon mustard

1/2 teaspoon paprika (smoked is awesome)

1 pinch nutmeg

2-4 cloves of garlic, optional (used 2, will use 1 next time)

Black pepper, to taste

whole wheat thin spaghetti

Add all the ingredients to a blender and blend until smooth. This may work best in a high-speed blender (like a Vita-Mix), but you can definitely make it in a regular blender. Just blend extra-long, or perhaps strain if you want it perfectly smooth. Tiny bits of cashews won’t hurt anyone though!

If you’re making this sauce for pasta, drain the pasta and return it to the hot empty pan. Pour the sauce over, place on medium heat, and stir until heated through. Serve with lots of fresh cracked black pepper. I love it with steamed broccoli added in!

belly biters: amazing!!

5 Star Hurry-Up Alfredo...

I just moved this already yummy dish up to 5 star yumminess... I cut up sundried tomatoes and added to the pasta water 1 minute before it's done. And sauted baby bella mushrooms and added them in after I mixed the pasta and sauce together. SOOOOOOO yummy!

Mesclun Salad with Tarragon, Grapes, and Apple

Shayne was not excited when he came home and saw that we were having salad, leftover soup and muffins for dinner tonight. Mainly because he was worried about the salad. When he took his first bite, it was "Now that is good!" Score.

For vinaigrette

2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
3 tablespoons oil substitute
1 teaspoon finely chopped fresh tarragon leaves or 1/4 teaspoon dried tarragon, crumbled


For salad
1/4 cup sliced almonds
20 red seedless grapes
1 crisp apple such as Fuji
8 ounces mesclun (mixed baby lettuces) {red & green lettuce}

In a large bowl whisk together mustard and vinegar. Add oil in a slow stream, whisking until emulsified. Whisk in tarragon and salt and pepper to taste. Preheat oven to 350°F.

In a shallow baking pan toast almonds in middle of oven until pale golden, 6 to 8 minutes, and cool. Halve grapes. Core apple and cut into 16 wedges. Add mesclun to vinaigrette and toss to coat well.

Divide greens and apple slices among 4 plates and top with grapes, cheese, and almonds.

belly biters: all loved, except Coco because she's still figuring out lettuce

saw it on Anne's blog

who got it off Epicurious