vegan southwest mac & cheese

We are a family with a dishwasher again!  Our poor 13 year-old dishwasher passed away about two months ago and it finally got to a point that we became SICK AND TIRED of washing dishes...I do love to cook and that does NOT go hand-in-hand with hand washing dishes.  So, over the 4th of July weekend J and I went shopping.  Didn't take long as I knew pretty much what I was looking for.  Today, she was delivered and installed!!  Woo-Hoo!!!

Okay, on to food!  This is my third mac & cheese recipe I have tried and revamped.  Think it's a close second to my favorite recipe.  J loved it, and I agree it's good - but the "cheese" sauce from this recipe is still my favorite. The best part about making your own mac & cheese is that you can add whatever you'd like!!  Broccoli and Brussels sprouts are couple of our favorites, but give us a good spicy mac & cheese and we are always in!!

Vegan Southwest Mac & Cheese

Original From: Allyson Kramer's

To easily cook the butternut squash, preheat your oven to 350 °F and cut the butternut squash in half lengthwise. Scoop out the seeds and rub the flesh with 1/4 teaspoon sea salt (each) and a little bit of minced garlic. Add about 1/4 cup water to the pan and place on the middle rack, uncovered. Cook for 45 minutes, or until completely softened. Reserve 2 cups puree for the following recipe:

Ingredients

• 16 ounces whole wheat macaroni or penne
• 2 cups cashews, soaked in water at least 3 hours and drained
• 1  1/2 to 2 cups almond milk, to thin
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 2 cups cooked butternut squash (I buy mine already cooked in a bag)
• 1/3 cup nutritional yeast
• 1 teaspoon minced garlic
• 1 T. Garlic powder
• 1 T. Red Pepper Flakes
• 1 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup diced jalapeno (more or less as needed)
• 1 can diced tomatoes
• 2 T. Sriracha (more or less as needed)

Cook the pasta according to package directions, undercooking just slightly by a minute or so. Drain well and rinse completely with cold water to remove any starch.
Transfer the pasta back to the pot and set aside.

Place the soaked and drained cashews, 1 cup almond milk, lemon juice, cooked butternut squash, nutritional yeast, garlic, garlic powder and 1  1/4 teaspoons salt into a food processor. Blend very well, at least 7 minutes, until completely smooth and silky, scraping down the sides as necessary. Add about 1/2 cup more almond milk until thinned, pulsing between each addition.

Add the sauce to the pasta in the pot, and then stir in the remaining almond milk to thin (as needed). Stir in red pepper flakes, jalapenos and tomatoes. Warm up gently over medium-low heat, stirring often until desired temperature is reached. Add Sriracha as needed.

 

Back on the Treadmill

I hit the gym hard yesterday.  Painful to go after work when it's 112 degrees outside, but I made it. Decided to work on my 5k and really wanted to beat my best time.  It was one of those great running highs, just felt SO good running!  At first I thought my time wasn't very good, but realized later I took about a minute off!!  Woohoo!!  Found this cute saying on a water bottle someone posted today on Facebook, so of course I had to print it on a tee shirt!!  I should have changed it to "Vegan Dessert" though.  Next one I print will look like this one -

I read today about how great running is for losing weight.  I have to say once I really started getting into it I was amazed by how quickly I started losing weight.  Now I am finding my legs are looking more defined, and I am loving that!  I have found that on days that I really just don't want to run, I don't.  I am not in this to do something if I am not loving it.  Those days I just do something else for exercise like weight lifting or walk.  The key is to just DO something!  10 minutes, 20 minutes...get up and getting moving.  Keep that body healthy inside and out!!