Creamy Mac N Cheez

This is a delicious, healthy(er), cruelty free, version of mac and cheese.  The cheez sauce is thick and creamy and has a powerful flavor. 

You will need:

Cheez Sauce:

-1 cup of nutritional yeast flakes “Nooch”

-1 cup of all purpose flour

-2 cups of warm water

-1 tbl Dijon mustard

-1 tsp lemon juice

-Garlic powder (to taste)

-Salt and Pepper (to taste)

Pasta:

-Shiritaki Penne Noodles

Optional Ingredients:

-Fresh tomatoes (diced)

-Fresh peppers (diced)

-Fried Onions

What to do:

Cheeze:

-Pour 2 cups of warm water in a sauce pan.  Pour in nooch and stir until dissolved.

-Combine all other ingredients, except flour, into the sauce pan. Stir until mixed.

-Place on stove on medium heat. 

-As the mixture heats up, slowly add the flour, stirring constantly.  Ensure that the flour does not clump.

-As the mixture heats, it will thicken.

-When it gets to desired thickness, remove from heat.

Pasta:

-The shiritaki noodles need to be removed from the water in the package and drained and rinsed very well.  They have a slightly unpleasant smell that will go away, but they need to be rinsed off very well.

-Place the noodles in fresh water and let boil (Do not boil in the water from the package).

-Boil rigorously for 5-10 minutes.

-Drain very well.  I recommend pressing down lightly with a paper towel.  Do not press enough to damage noodles, but enough to get excess water off of them.  These noodles tend to soak up water.  If you do not drain them thoroughly, the cheez will get thin.

-Mix pasta and cheez together

-Stir in tomatoes and peppers and top with fried onions

-Enjoy!

Seitan Roast with Stuffing

I was feeling a bit autumnal, so I decided to make this roast with stuffing.  This recipe will focus mainly on the roast itself.  I will include what I stuffed it with, but feel free to stuff it with anything that creams your twinkie.  This is also the first one I made, so feel free to leave comments on what I could have done better or any tips, tricks, variations.

You will need:

Roast:

-1 10oz. Box of Arrowhead Mills Vital Wheat Gluten

-1 can of pinto beans (drained)

 -2 cups of water

-Sage (to taste)

-Thyme (to taste)

-Rosemary (to taste)

-Garlic (to taste)

-3 to 4 Shitake Mushrooms

-1 tbl tamari (or Braggs Liquid Aminos)

-Black Pepper (to taste)

-Salt (to taste)

-Oil (to grease the pan)

-All purpose flour

Stuffing:

-1 cup of rice/quinoa blend (or just brown rice)

-1/2 large white onion (diced)

-3 celery spears (diced very small)

-1 large pepper (any color)

-Olive oil

-Tamari

-Garlic

Broth:

-1 cup vegetable broth

-2 tbl tamari

What to do:

-Preheat oven to 375

-Empty the box of vital wheat gluten into a large bowl and set aside

-Begin cooking the rice or rice/quinoa mixture based on directions (probably will be 2 cups of water to 1 cup of rice)

-Place all of the diced veggies, garlic, oil in a pan on low to medium heat.  (They will continue to cook in the oven so do not cook them too tender in this stage)

-Open can of beans and drain lightly.  Pour beans into food processor along with the mushrooms, thyme, rosemary, tamari, and garlic. Blend until smooth.

-Combine the bean mixture with the dry wheat gluten. 

-Add the 2 cups of water and begin stirring together. It will begin clumping together quickly. 

-One all combined, start kneading with your hands until a large ball forms. 

-Sprinkle flour on the counter and take ball of dough out of the bowl.

-Either by hand or with a rolling pin, flatten the dough out into a rectangle. Make sure it is equally thick throughout.  If any holes form, pinch together or patch with a piece of dough from another part of the blob.

-By now the veggies and rice should be done.  Combine them together.

-Spoon the rice and veggies into the middle of the dough and spread out.  You will not want to go all the way to the edges.

-Once covered, roll the dough up over the veggie and rice mixture. 

-Once rolled up, pinch together the edges and the seam.

-You can take a little tamari, salt, and pepper and coat the outside of it.

-At this point, I would advise putting it into a greased loaf pan.  I did not have one available so I used a casserole dish.  The loaf pan will keep it from spreading and it will be a more firm roast.  The casserole dish will spread and leave you with a thinner, crispier roast.  Either way, it will be delicious.

-Place in oven and bake for 45 minutes to an hour.

-Baste with the broth occasionally

-Enjoy!

No Bake Chocolate Coconut Peanut Butter Pie

This cool, creamy pie is a treat! It is easy and delicious. Your non-vegan friends will love this. It's so rich and decadent that people won't believe it's healthy.

You will need:

Crust:

-9oz dried, pitted dates

-1/2 cup raw walnuts

-1/2 cup raw almonds

-1 tbl agave

Filling:

-3 cups of raw cashews (soaked overnight, if possible)

-3/4 cup peanut butter (I used Earth Balance crunchy coconut peanut butter)

-2/3 cup vegan chocolate chips

-1 can coconut milk
1 tbl. agave

What to do:

Crust:

-Combine ingredients in a food processor until nuts are chopped and clumped together. You should be able to grab a clump and roll into a ball. 

-Empty out contents into a spring form pan and spread evenly on the bottom. 

-Set aside

Filling:

-Combine all ingredients in a food processor or vitamix and mix until smooth and creamy. 

-Pour on top of crust into spring form pan. 

-Top with more chocolate chips if you so desire. 

-Let pie set in the freezer for at least 2 hours. 

-Sit out for 15-20 minutes before serving.

-Serve with a dollop of cashew whipped cream. 

-Make lots of "Mmms" and "holy shit's" as you scarf it down.

Upcoming Changes

Greetings and Salutations!

You will begin to see me phasing out processed foods in my recipes.  I have decided to clean up my diet.  While we vegans and vegetarians are lucky to have more products on the market that we can eat, we now have to watch out for foods that are made in a lab rather than grown from the dirt! It may take a while, but by the end of 2014, I want to consume only foods that contain only natural ingredients! 

With that said, I will begin to feature recipes for my own tortillas, breakfast bars, cereal, cashew milk, etc. 

I hope you enjoy the changes to Wesley’s Vegan Kitchen! Thank you for your support!

Avocado Waldorf Salad

This is a clean, satisfying summer salad.  We had this between a long day at work and a Kundalini yoga class.  While it is filling, it does not leave you feeling bloated. This is served right in the avocado! 

You will need:
-1 ripe avocado per person
-Coarse sea salt (to taste)
-Red Grapes (halved)
-Shelled walnuts, unsalted
-1.5 tsp. Dijon mustard per avocado (more or less to taste)
-1 tsp lemon juice per avocado

Now what?
-Cut each avocado in half and remove seed.
-Carefully scoop out avocado into a bowl, leaving skin in tact
-Mash the avocado while adding in mustard, lemon juice, and sea salt.
-Once all mashed up, add in walnuts and halved grapes
-Scoop contents back into avocado skins, put on a plate and serve immediately

Pictured with side of watermelon and pineapple with sea salt.