So, I am cheating a little with this one. Technically, I did not have Mac and Cheese when I was a child. Growing up in Australia it was not something I was aware of, however, once I moved to Canada, I soon found this warm, gooey, cheesy, pasta and fell in love at first bite. I soon made up for lost time and probably consumed an entire childhoods worth in the first couple of years living here. So, I guess this is my “second childhood” meal memory.
Roasted Red Pepper Mac and Cheese
As a vegan, I searched around for a great version of this dish and finally found this recipe by Isa Chandra at the Post Punk Kitchen. If you have not yet visited her site, you should head on over there pronto. The recipe Roasted Red Pepper Mac and Cheese is so good, when I made it, I ate the entire pot full.
Enjoy,
Roasted Red Pepper Mac & Cheese
By Post Punk Kitchen
Yield: 2 large servings
1/2 pound macaroni or other small pasta
3/4 cups raw cashews, soaked in water for 2 hours
2 teaspoons olive oil
1 small yellow onion, diced medium
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 cups vegetable broth
1 1/2 tablespoons organic cornstarch
1 tablespoon nutritional yeast (optional)
1 roasted red pepper (jarred or homemade)
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 1/2 teaspoons pizza seasoning
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground mustard
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1. Preheat a 2 quart sauce pot over medium heat. Sauté onions in oil with a pinch of salt for 5 to 7 minutes, until onions are translucent. Add garlic and sauté for 30 seconds or so, then transfer to a blender or food processor.
2. Boil a large pot of salted water for cooking the pasta. Once boiling, cook pasta according to package directions.
3. Drain the cashews and add them to the blender along with the vegetable broth, corn starch, nutritional yeast, red peppers, tomato paste, pizza seasoning, salt, mustard and turmeric. Blend until very smooth. Scrape down the sides every 30 seconds or so and test for smoothness.
4. Transfer the sauce in the blender back to the sauce pot where you cooked the onions. Turn the heat up to medium and let cook, stirring very often, until thickened. This should take between 10 and 15 minutes. Taste for salt. It should taste slightly salty because you’re going to be pouring it on the pasta.
5. The pasta should be done while the sauce is thickening, so drain and place pasta back in the pot you cooked it in. Set aside.
6. When sauce is thickened, add it to the pasta in the pot, and use a large slotted spoon to mix well, taking care not to break the pasta.
Cold and rainy today, lots of leaves falling from the trees, looks like Fall has really arrived. Perfect soup day. What could be better than to curl up on the sofa with a nice cozy blanket, a good book and a big bowl of rich, bubbley, cheezy French Onion Soup. Mmmmmm 🙂
Growing up in Australia, the only onion soup I ever came across was a dry packet mix. While it was tasty it certainly was not drool worthy. When we moved to Canada, it was quite a few years before I tried the rich, cheesy, gooey concoction known here as French Onion Soup. It was love at first bite. I was also lucky enough to travel to Paris a few years ago and had to have a bowl there. It was even more delicious. Unfortunately one of the main ingredients to this lovely soup is cheese, so it was off limits……well, not any more. Thanks to the Cheez recipe I have used already in a few of the previous posts, the iconic French Onion Soup is here in all of its glory.
Cheezy French Onion Soup with French Baguette
The trick to this soup, is in the slow caramelizing of the onions. This is worth the trouble and the wait. By taking a slow approach to cooking the onions, the flavour really intensifies.
Now, you will notice in the photo’s, there is no “French Baguette” pictured. I made the baguette out of the same bread recipe as I used for the Rosemary Bread that paired up with the Chikn Noodle Soup, just omitting the rosemary. The baguette is cut into thick slices, lightly toasted, then placed in the bottom of the bowls before ladling the soup on top.
Enjoy,
Cheezy French Onion Soup with French Baguette
Cheezy French Onion Soup
Makes 6 serves
Ingredients
1/2 cup vegan butter
4 onions, sliced
4 garlic cloves, chopped
2 bay leaves
2 fresh thyme sprigs
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 cup red wine, or vegetable stock
3 heaping tablespoons all-purpose flour
4 cups vegetable broth
1 french baguette, sliced (recipe below)
1 recipe Cheez (see below)
Melt vegan butter in a large pot over medium heat. Add the onions, garlic, bay leaves, thyme, and salt and pepper and cook until the onions are very soft and caramelized, about 25 minutes. Do not skimp on the amount of time you cook the onions. To truly develop the rich onion flavour, cook for at least the full 25 mins. Add the wine, bring to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer until the wine has evaporated and the onions are dry, about 5 minutes. Discard the bay leaves and thyme sprigs. Dust the onions with the flour and give them a stir. Turn the heat down to medium low so the flour doesn’t burn, and cook for 10 minutes to cook out the raw flour taste. Now add the vegetable broth, bring the soup back to a simmer, and cook for 10 minutes. Season, to taste, with salt and pepper.
Cut the baguette into thick slices and gently toast. Place in the bottom of soup bows.
Ladle the soup in bowls and gently spread half cup cheez on top of each bowl.
Place bowls on oven tray and gently broil tops.
Cheezy French Onion Soup with French Baguette
French Baguette
Makes 2 Baguettes
Ingredients
1 1/4 -ounce packet active dry yeast
2 teaspoons sugar
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
1 teaspoon fine salt
Directions:
Stir the yeast, sugar and 1/4 cup warm water in a large bowl (or in the bowl of a stand mixer). Let sit until foamy, about 5 minutes.
Add 1 tablespoon olive oil, the flour, the fine salt and 3/4 cup warm water; stir with a wooden spoon (or with the dough hook if using a mixer) until a dough forms.
Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead, dusting lightly with flour if necessary, until smooth and elastic, about 10 minutes. (Or knead with the dough hook on medium-high speed, adding a little flour if the dough sticks to the bowl, about 8 minutes.)
Brush a large bowl with olive oil. Add the dough, cover with plastic wrap and let stand at room temperature until more than doubled, about 2 hours.
Brush 2 baking sheets with olive oil. Generously flour a work surface; turn the dough out onto the flour and divide into 2 pieces. Working with one piece at a time, sprinkle some flour on the dough, gently shape into a baguette. Let stand, uncovered, until more than doubled, about 2 hours.
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Bake the loaves 20 minutes or until golden brown, Transfer to a rack to cool.
Cheezy French Onion Soup with French Baguette
Cheez
Ingredients:
1 cup plain unsweetened soymilk
1/3 cup vegetable oil
4 Tblspns tapioca flour
3 Tblspns nutritional yeast
3 Tblspns mellow white miso paste
3 tsp fresh lemon juice
1 1/2 tsp raw apple cider vinegar
1 1/2 tsp tomato paste
3/4 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp dry ground mustard
1/2 tsp xanthan gum or guar gum
Add the ingredients to a mini or standard blender and process the contents until smooth. Transfer to a small saucepan and cook the mixture over medium-low heat, stirring slowly and continually.
Increase stirring speed as the mixture thickens and begins to form lumps. Stir vigorously until the mixture becomes very thick, smooth and glossy. Remove from heat.
Creme of Tomato Soup with Chedah Stuffed Bread Stixs
MoFo recipe #4 a classic soup that brings back childhood memories of cool weather. Tomato soup is deceptively simple with clean fresh ingredients simmered together into a rich tapestry of taste. I remember dipping toast “fingers” into mine as a child. With the abundant supply of tomato’s at the moment in Canada, it is perfect timing.
The oven roasting of the tomato’s first, developes the richness of taste which, when paired with the fresh herbs creates this wonderful comfort soup.
The gluten-free breadstix uses the All Purpose Gluten Free Flour Mix. This flour mix can be used in any recipe in place of regular flour, the trick is to use this flour by weight. So, for any recipe substitute 5 oz of the GF flour mix for each 1 cup of regular flour. When making a dough, bread or pizza etc, you need to add in a binding agent to get the right texture. For the binder mix together equal parts of psyllium husk, chia and ground flax. For every 5 oz of GF flour mix add in a pinch of the binder (or for 15 oz flour mix add in 1/3 oz)
Enjoy,
Creme of Tomato Soup with Chedah Stuffed Bread Stix
Place the whole tomatoes (with stalks attached) onto a baking tray and drizzle with 3/4 of the oil and cook in oven for an hour.
Heat the remaining oil in large pot and gently fry the diced onions for 10 minutes.
Add the chopped herbs and tomato purée and cook for a further 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Remove tomatoes from oven and when cool enough to handle, remove the stalks. Chop roughly and add to the pot along with the water. Simmer for 1 hour.
After an hour, transfer the contents of the pot into a blender and blend until smooth. Return the blended tomato mixture to the pot and bring to a boil, then add all but a couple of tablespoons of the cream and sugar and salt.
Allow to warm through then divide into 4 bowls. drizzle 1/2 tablespoon cream in centre and garnish with extra fresh herbs (parsley, rosemary, basil etc) if desired.
Creme of Tomato Soup with Chedah Stuffed Bread Stix
Chedah Stuffed Bread Stix
Makes 8
Ingredients
For the dough:
2 tspns sugar
1 1/4 -ounce packet active dry yeast (2 1/4 teaspoons)
2 Tblspns vegetable oil, plus more for brushing
2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting (for gluten-free use Gluten Free Flour Mix)
3/4 tspn salt
For the filling and topping
exta vegetable oil for brushing tops
1 tspn garlic salt
1 tspn granulated garlic
1/2 tspn dried parsley
Make the dough: Whisk the sugar and 3/4 cup warm water (about 105 degrees F) in a bowl. Sprinkle the yeast on top and set aside until foamy, about 10 minutes. Stir in the vegetable oil.
Whisk the flour and salt in a large bowl. Make a well in the center, pour in the yeast mixture and stir with a wooden spoon to make dough. Turn out onto a generously floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes, dusting with more flour as needed (if using gluten-free flour mix, kneading is not required, just mix thoroughly). Form into a ball. Brush a large bowl with vegetable oil and add the dough, turning to coat with the oil. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and set aside at room temperature until doubled in size, 1 – hours.
Cut the dough in half; transfer 1 piece to the parchment-lined baking sheet and stretch into an 8-inch square (keep the other piece of dough covered). Place half the chedah cheez on one side of the dough, then fold the dough in half to enclose the cheese, pressing to seal. Slice the dough crosswise into four sections, stopping just before the folded edge. Repeat with other piece of dough.
Brush with extra oil and sprinkle with salt and herbs.
Slide the bread on the parchment ontoa baking sheet. Bake until the dough is cooked through 12 to 14 minutes. Let cool slightly, then pull apart into breadstix.
Creme of Tomato Soup with Chedah Stuffed Bread Stix
I love MoFo, such an energizing and inspiring experience. I love browsing through all the other posts to see who is doing what. I look forward to starting my day, sipping my cup of coffee, sitting outside on my back deck, hitting “next” on RandoMoFo.com and being delivered a random blog to enjoy. Life is very, very good. So many great blogs, so little time…….what a great dilemma to have.
For MoFo recipe #3 I have a filling, chunky Broccoli Chedah Soup served in a Gluten Free Bread Bowl. What could be better than sitting down to this hearty soup, complete with its own bowl, and best of all, no dishes to wash 🙂
Enjoy,
Broccoli Chedah Soup with Gluten Free Bread Bowls
Broccoli Chedah Soup
Serves 6
Ingredients
6 Tbspns vegan butter
1 onion, chopped
1/4 cup gluten free all-purpose flour (GF AP Four Mix)
2 cups vegan cream (cashew cream)
3 cups vegan chicken or vegetable broth
2 bay leaves
1/4 tspn nutmeg
salt and freshly ground pepper
6 bread bowls – recipe below
4 cups broccoli florets
1 large carrot, diced
1 cup chedah cheez
Melt the butter in a large pot over medium heat. Add onion and cook until tender, about 5 minutes. Add flour and cook 3 to 4 minutes, then gradually whisk in cream till smooth. Add the chicken broth, bay leaves and nutmeg, then season with salt and pepper and bring to a simmer. Reduce the heat to low and cook, uncovered, until thickened, about 20 minutes.
Meanwhile, prepare the bread bowls: Using a sharp knife, cut a circle into the top of each loaf, leaving a 1-inch border all around. Remove the bread top, then hollow out the middle with a fork or your fingers, leaving a thick bread shell.
Add the broccoli and carrot to the pot and simmer until tender, about 15 mins. Remove bay leaves. Puree the soup in batches in a blender until slightly smooth, still leaving flecks of carrot and broccoli. Return to the pot.
Add the cheez to the soup and stir over medium heat until melted. Add up to 3/4 cup water if the soup is too thick. Serve in bread bowls.
Broccoli Chedah Soup with Gluten Free Bread Bowls
Gluten Free Bread Bowls
Makes 6 bowls Ingredients
2 Tbspns sugar
1 package dry yeast (about 2 1/4 teaspoons)
1/2 cup warm (not hot) water
1/2 cup non dairy milk
1/4 cup vegetable oil
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 Tbspns ground flax mixed into 4Tbspns water
20 oz ( 560g ) Gluten Free All Purpose Flour Mix divided
1/2 oz (15) g psyllium/chia/flax mix (this mix is added to GF flour to make bread products. for the mix, combine equal parts psyllium husk, chia and ground flax.)
2 tsp water
Instructions
Dissolve sugar and yeast in warm water in a large bowl, let stand 10 mins until foamy.
Stir in milk, oil, 3/4 tspn salt, and ground flax/water mixture.
Mix GF flour mixture with psyllium /chia/flax mix to form GF bread flour mix.
Add 17 oz (490 g) GF bread flour to yeast mixture, and stir to form a soft dough.
Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Knead until smooth and elastic (5 – 10 mins), add enough of the remaining flour, 1 tablespoon at a time, to prevent dough from sticking to hands.
Place dough in a large bowl coated with cooking spray, turning to coat top. Cover and let rise in a warm place for 1 – 2 hours or until doubled in size.
Punch dough down.
Divide dough into 6 equal pieces.
Take each piece and form into round shape (like a small grapefruit). using palm of your hand, press down on the top to slightly flatten.
Transfer the rolls to a parchment lined baking sheet and let rise for another 45 minutes, until doubled in size.
Preheat oven to 425ºF
Bake for 20-25 minutes until golden brown and cooked through.
Cool on a wire rack before cutting tops off.
Whole Grain Pizza with Smokey Chickpea Cheese and Roasted Vegetables
Mmmm, I love Pizza. This pie was made with a purchased whole grain thin crust base. You could also use a flatbread, wrap or pita.
What I don’t love about pizza is feeling guilty after I eat it. Too much oil and grease.
With this pizza, there is no guilt involved. The whole grain base is thin and not at all heavy. The Chickpeas Cheese, is light but has such incredible flavour (it almost didn’t make it onto the pizza, after I tasted it, I seriously considered just sitting down with a spoon and eating it out of the bowl) and the vegetables are freshly roasted, soft and delicious.
This makes four servings. Or, as in my case, one supper and a slice to take to work the next day for lunch (which I actually ate first thing in the morning because I knew it was in my lunch bag and couldn’t wait till lunch to eat it) Yes, I ate three slices for supper, but it was so good and I enjoyed every bite.
Let me know if you can stop at one slice 🙂
Enjoy,
Whole Grain Pizza with Smokey Chickpea Cheese and Roasted Vegetables
Whole Grain Pizza with Smokey Chickpea Cheese and Roasted Vegetables
I thin crust whole grain pizza base
Smokey Chickpea Cheese:
1/2 tin chickpeas drained
1 head oven roasted garlic
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
juice of half a lemon
1/4 tspn smoked paprika
2 – 4 tblspns water
Roasted Vegetables:
2 – 4 tblspns olive oil
1/2 small yellow zucchini sliced
1 tomato coarsely sliced
3 cremini mushrooms sliced
1 small onion sliced
1/2 red pepper sliced
handful baby spinach or baby bok choy
fresh ground black pepper
Preheat oven to 375
Toss vegetables with olive oil and spread on baking tray.
Whole Grain Pizza with Smokey Chickpea Cheese and Roasted Vegetables
Bake at 375 for 10 – 15 mins.
At the same time, cut the very top off the head of garlic, drizzle with olive oil and bake with the veggies.
remove vegetables from oven and set aside.
Squeeze garlic soft garlic cloves out of peel.
Place garlic cloves, chickpeas, nutritional yeast, lemon juice and paprika into food processor. Process until smooth and creamy, adding water if necessary. You will need to scrape down the sides a couple of times.
Spread the chickpea mixture on the pizza base.
Spread the roasted vegetables on top.
Return to oven and bake for 10 – 15 mins.
Whole Grain Pizza with Smokey Chickpea Cheese and Roasted Vegetables
Note: Nutritional Information below does not include the pizza base.
What a wonderful week. Hot sunny weather, the summer is in full swing.
I really enjoy being outside during the summer. I love pottering around in my garden or sitting on my back deck just watching and listening to everything around me.
Robins taking a dip in the birdbath, “Charlie” the chipmunk coming to get his peanuts, the tiny chickadees flitting to and from the birdfeeder and the squirrels chasing each other through the trees. There is a whole community living out there.
This year I have not planted many vegetables as I am receiving my weekly CSA basket, but I still have my cherry tomato plant. There is nothing like picking a juicy red cherry tomato off the plant and popping it into my mouth. The tomato’s never make it into my kitchen, let alone onto a salad. I eat them right off the plant as soon as they are ripe.
Nothing beats fresh produce. This week we received our third CSA basket filled with kohlrabi, lettuce, field greens, basil, parsley, cilantro, spring onions, broccoli leaves and radish, all from our wonderful farmers, Ryan and Isabelle from Field Good Farms.
CSA Week Three
All that was left from last week’s supply was one kohlrabi, a few basil leaves and some of the tomato BBQ sauce I made.
For the kohlrabi, I decided to make fries.
Kohlrabi Fries with Tomato BBQ Sauce
There is no formal “recipe” for this, I just peel the kohlrabi then slice into fry size pieces. Toss in a little olive oil and herbs of choice (I used oregano) then bake in a hot oven for 15 – 20 mins, turning halfway. Serve with tomato bbq sauce.
The crust is from a recipe from Richa’s blog, veganricha. A mixture of soaked brown rice and brown lentils make a nice base with good texture.
When I looked in my fridge, I had a tomato, a portabello mushroom and some olives. Perfect toppings for pizza. I then made my “cheese” to finish off. The end result was delicious.
Enjoy,
Tracy 🙂
Brown Rice and Lentil Pizza Crust Makes 3 individual pizza crusts
½ cup uncooked brown basmati rice
¼ cup uncooked brown lentils
½ cup water
Italian herbs
¼ tspn garlic powder
¾ tspn salt
¾ tspn active yeast
Generous pinch baking powder
Soak rice and lentils overnight in warm water
Drain rice and lentils and rinse. Blend with water into a smooth batter. You may need to add a little more water. Add salt, herbs and spices and mix well.
Add yeast and baking powder and mix well.
Cover and let sit in a warm place for an hour until batter gets bubbly.
Ladle onto parchment covered baking sheets. Spread out to approx. 7 inch diameter. Keep thickness similar to a pancake.
Bake in oven for 5 mins.
Remove from oven and add toppings.
Return to oven for another 5.- 6 mins. Remove from oven, allow to cool for a min before removing from parchment paper. Slice and serve.
Toppings:
1 tomato sliced
1 portabella mushroom sliced
12 fresh basil leaves
12 black olives sliced
¾ cup tomato BBQ Sauce
¾ cup coco-mozzarella
Coco-mozzarella
Makes approx. 1 cup
1 cup coconut milk
1 tspn Guar Gum
Pinch salt
1 tspn apple cider vinegar
½ tspn lemon juice
1 Tblspn cornstarch
1 Tblspn brown rice flour
¼ cup nutritional yeast
Heat coconut milk in pot over med heat until just hot. In separate bowl mix all dry ingredients. Add vinegar and lemon juice to coco nut milk. Very slowly ( ½ tspn at a time) add dry ingredients to wet over low to med heat, whisking continually. Cook for 3 – 5 mins until thickened.
Remove from heat and pour into greased container to set. Refrigerate for at least one hour.
To achieve a more “cheddar” like cheese, add herbs of choice, garlic powder, additional nutritional yeast and a pinch of turmeric before setting.
Coco-mozzarella or Cheddar
Assemble Pizza
Spread 1/3 tomato bbq sauce on each pizza base
Top with 4 slices tomato, four slices mushroom, four basil leaves and four sliced olives per pizza.
Drizzle 1/3 cup coco-mozzarella cheese over each pizza
stairway to vegan 