Vegan Mac and Cheese with Coconut Milk

By request I searched out a new vegan mac and cheese. Made with coconut milk this one here pleases the picky little fella. He's trying to teach his little sis how to say 'cheese' and although she's only 8 months she's already got 'Mommy' and 'Daddy' down and I swear I heard her little voice say the sweetest version of 'Cheese'. Enjoy!

Vegan Mac and Cheese

Ingredients:

12 ounces uncooked wheat, rice or quinoa macaroni (I used plain old macaroni)
1 ½ cups unsweetened coconut milk (We use Trader Joes in the green carton.)
¾ cup nutritional yeast
1 clove garlic, minced
2 Tablespoons vegan butter (or olive oil)
½ teaspoon sea salt
½ teaspoon white or black pepper
½ teaspoon curry powder
1 teaspoon stone ground mustard
Parsley for garnish

Prep:

1. Cook the macaroni according to instructions.

2. While the macaroni is cooking, combine all of the sauce ingredients in a pan and sauté over medium heat. Stir occasionally until the mixture starts to thicken. Note: the mixture will continue to thicken as long as it is being heated. If it gets too thick, just add more coconut milk.

3. Pour the “cheese” sauce over the macaroni. Serve in individual bowls and garnish with fresh or dried parsley.

**Chef’s note: If you want an even richer cheese sauce, use coconut creamer instead of the milk (So Delicious original flavor).
from:http://yummyplants.com/vegan-recipe/vegan-mac-and-cheese/

Vegan Black Bean Soup

I am really not a huge fan of black bean soup. Every time I order from restaurants I seem to be quite
dissapointed. Well I think I found the winner....It's easy (relatively) and really good. Enjoy, beauties!

Ingredients:
1 Tbsp. olive oil
1 large yellow or white onion
3-4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
4 1lb can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 stalk celery
2 carrots
Juice of 1/2 lemon (I think this makes it!)
1/2 tsp. cumin
2 tsp chili powder
1 tsp. oregano (fresh or dry. I used fresh - so good!)
2 tbsp. finely chopped parsley
Sea salt to taste
Pepper to taste
4 c. water (or veggie broth)
1 can chopped tomatoes
few Tbsp nutritional yeast (optional)
*I threw in a handful of frozen veggies (mix of corn, peas and carrots) towards the end. You too can do the same if you want to be as hardcore as me.

Instructions:
Heat oil in large pot. Saute onions. Add garlic and veggies. Saute.

Add remaining ingredients, except the toppings along with the water and bring to a boil. Lower heat to simmer. Mash some of the beans (about half) with potato masher or electric mixer. Just enough to thicken base of soup. Cover and simmer 10 min.

Toppings green onions, daiya cheese, soy yogurt or soy sour cream.

Colleen Patrick-Goudreau

http://www.compassionatecook.com/

This woman is my hero! I'm hooked on her podcasts and her cookbooks (that insane strawberry chocolate pie on my site is from her!:) She's an incredible speaker who will no doubt engage you (you should check her out on youtube this is my favorite speech of hers: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xWD1Zze5Qo4).