Easy Mac and Cheese

Well, I love mac and cheese.  It is my weakness!  I used to make a vegan version loaded with fat and fake cheese.  I looked how many calories each serving was and I felt very guilty while I ate the whole pot.  I came up with this version after reading a bunch of other vegan blogs with mac and cheese recipes that seemed too long with too much prep.  This recipe makes 2 servings and can easily be multiplied.

A pot of boiling water
2 servings of your favorite pasta.  I use whole wheat rotini which is 1 1/2 cups dry.
1/4 C Daiya vegan cheddar
1/4 C Daiya vegan mozzerella  ( I imagine you could use another vegan cheese brand but I prefer Daiya myself.)
1/2 C Plain Soy Milk (or whatever milk as long as it's not sweetened or flavored.)
2 tsp. Nutritional yeast
1 T. Lemon juice
Pinches of basil, garlic salt and pepper

Boil your water, add your pasta, cook until it's al dente* and drain but don't rinse.  While your pasta is boiling, gather all your ingredients together and measure them out. When you take the pasta out of the pot, turn the burner off.  While your pasta is draining, throw the sauce ingredients into the still hot pot and place on the still hot but not as hot burner.  Stir until the cheese gets melty, mix your pasta back in.  Stir it up until the pasta is covered in sauce and serve.


*al dente means soft but not too soft. It should stick to your teeth but not be crunchy or mushy.

Nutritional info for the whole recipe: 658 calories, 103 carbs, 19g fat, 25g protein, 598mg sodium, 7g sugar.
Per serving: 329 calories, 52 carbs, 10g fat, 13g protein, 299mg sodium, 4g sugar.


VARIATIONS!  Sometimes I throw down some spinach in the end and stir it around until it wilts.  Sometime I saute some pablano peppers and faux ground beef with an extra half cup of soy milk and make chili cheeseburger mac.  The possibilities are endless.

Apologies to my aunt in a small town who will not be able to pick up the fancy vegan ingredients in this recipe.

Black bean strawberry brownies

I'm trying something GLUTEN FREE!  OMG I'm so scared.  This recipe comes out to 4 grams of sugar per brownie.  FOUR GRAMS OF SUGAR PER BROWNIE! I'm kind of in shock.  I didn't know you could get such low sugar from something without pumping it full of odd chemicals.

1 15oz can of black beans drained and rinsed (about 1 1/2 cups if you cook dry beans.)
8oz strawberries
2oz unsweetened bakers chocolate
1tsp vanilla extract
1/2 c plain soy milk (or whatever kind of milk you use, just make sure it's not sweetened.)
3 T agave nectar
2 T cocoa powder
6 or 7 diced up strawberries
wax paper

Put everything but the diced up strawberries and wax paper into a blender or food processor and blend until it's smooth. Like really smooth, you shouldn't be able to tell that there was ever anything solid in there. Cover a baking sheet with wax paper and spread the mix evenly.  Sprinkle in your diced strawberries and stick it in a 350˚ oven for 20 minutes or until it's not squishy.

I cut them up into 16 pieces.

Nutrition facts for total recipe: 1009 calories, 163 carbs, 34g fat,  41g protein, 1599mg sodium (mostly from the beans, it's probably less since we rinsed our beans.), 68g sugar.

Per brownie: 63 calories, 10 carbs, 2g fat, 3g protein, 100mg sodium (probably less), 4 GRAMS OF SUGAR


Notes: The next time I do this recipe, I'm going to use a smaller pan or double the recipe. They came out very thin.  Also, I'm going to use the rest of the pint for the diced strawberries. I would have this time but there were some lost to nibbling.

Recipe Time: Sweet Potato Cookies

I have been looking for a way to have my cookies and keep my sugar intake low.  I think I got it with this recipe.  These cookies aren't very sweet and that's why I put raisins in them.  You can use nuts or chocolate chips instead if you so desire.

You will need
1 sweet potato
1 cup oatmeal
1 T shredded coconut unsweetened
2 T agave nectar
1 T butter or margarine
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp rum flavoring
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp cloves
1/2 cup raisins

Peel and cut the sweet potato into a large dice.  Boil the sweet pieces until tender.  Drain and mash, then let them cool for a few minutes.  Put everything except the raisins in a bowl and mix until even.  Mix in raisins.  Place tablespoon size balls of dough on a greased baking sheet.  I got 13 cookies out of the recipe.  Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for about 10 minutes.  Let cool and enjoy!

The whole recipe has
899 calories, 177 carbs, 14 grams fat, 17 grams protein and 97 grams of sugar.
Divide that by 13 and each cookie has
69 calories, 14 carbs, 1 gram of fat, 1 gram of protein, and 7 grams of sugar.