One of the things that has surprised me the most with vegan cuisine is how I’m able to create similar flavours and textures that I used to enjoy while eating animal products. The goal, for me, is not to aim for the vegan dish to taste exactly the same, but to try to bring out something about the non-vegan dish that I really enjoyed, like a rich sauce or a thick chocolaty pudding. This doesn’t apply to all foods however, I have no desire to create a dish that has the texture of meat because I just don’t crave that texture or taste anymore. It really just depends on the food!
[Butternut Squash Mac n Cheeze: Two Ways]
One of the things I’ve always loved about Mac ‘n Cheese is that it’s comforting and creamy. When I make a vegan version of Mac ‘n Cheese, I’m not trying to create a carbon copy, but a dish that gives me that same type of comforting feeling when I eat it.
Over the past couple years, I’ve found that I can create dishes that satisfy my cravings without having to sacrifice. I crave the new dishes that I make, instead of the dishes I used to eat. Now that I’m used to this lifestyle I rarely feel like I’m missing out. The only time I feel left out is when I am eating at a non-vegan friendly restaurant, otherwise I have so many choices the hardest part is trying to decide what I will eat!
One thing I don’t always enjoy about vegan cooking and baking is the often long ingredient list that is required to make some recipes. The recipes tend to involve more creativity, more spices & seasonings, and other ingredients to achieve that outcome that I’m looking for. It’s not necessarily a bad thing per say, but sometimes I just want a quick and dirty recipe that I know I can whip up within a minute’s notice.
This 5-ingredient cheeze sauce is one of those quick and dirty recipes that I know I will keep coming back to again and again! It’s hands down the easiest cheeze sauce I’ve made and it doesn’t require a food processor or other special kitchen tool. Just a stove top and a whisk…gotta love that!
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Low-Fat Vegan Cheeze Sauce
Yield
2/3 cup
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
This is the Lexus of all the cheeze sauces I’ve made to date. It’s extremely smooth, buttery, and comforting!
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup unsweetened, unflavoured almond milk (or more as needed to thin out)
- 6 tbsp nutritional yeast (Bob’s Red Mill makes one in natural food section of most grocery stores or bulk food stores)
- 1 tbsp Earth Balance or other non-dairy buttery spread
- 1 tbsp all purpose flour (or other flour)
- 2 tsp Dijon mustard
- 1/4 tsp garlic powder
- 1/4 tsp onion powder
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt & freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Directions
- In a skillet or pot, melt the Earth Balance over medium heat.
- In a medium sized bowl, whisk together the flour and milk until all clumps are gone.
- Add milk & flour mixture and nutritional yeast to pot and whisk well. Reduce heat to low-medium.
- Add Dijon, garlic powder, onion powder, salt and pepper to taste and whisk frequently until the sauce thickens up, for about 5 minutes. If it’s still too thin you can add more flour to achieve the thickness you desire. To reheat: reheat in the microwave or on the stove-top (add a splash of milk if it’s too thick) and whisk well. Store in an air-tight container for up to 5-7 days.
Just 5 ingredients and just as delicious as the other sauces I’ve made!
I first made this sauce a couple weeks ago and we’ve been enjoying it a lot! I’ve poured it into pasta, on vegetables, sandwiches, etc. It’s so silky and delicious, you really have to try this. You could also get creative and add some herbs or spices to it to change it up quite easily.
Yesterday, I also made a fantastic lunch with it…
more on that recipe tomorrow!
The Quick & Dirty 7-Ingredient or Less Challenge
Speaking of short ingredient lists, I thought it would be fun to challenge myself to create more vegan recipes with as few ingredients as possible. Quick & Dirty recipes if you will!
My goal is to create more recipes with 7 ingredients or less that don’t require a lot of time or even special kitchen tools. It’s going to be tough, but I’m really excited for the challenge!
I’m curious, what’s your biggest cooking or baking hurdle? Long ingredient lists, hard to find ingredients, special kitchen tools, not enough time?
Leave me a comment below if you have any recipes in mind that you’d like ‘condensed’…no pun intended!
My biggest hurdle in the kitchen is not having enough time. I love making complex meals on the weekends, but I’m really busy during the week and don’t usually have time for that kind of effort. I’m also cooking on a budget, so recipes with easy-to-find/small numbers of ingredients is a plus!
I love how easy this is!!!
Thanks for another great recipe =]
You read my mind! I was looking for a quick cheeze recipe exactly like this last week. Most had some obscure ingredient I didn’t have on hand. This one is perfect. My biggest challenge is long ingredient lists. If it’s got more than 10 ingredients I usually gloss right over it.
It’s definitely nice to have the quick + dirty recipes around, especially for busy days/nights! Great challenge…can’t think of anything specific right now to challenge you with though. :) My thinking cap is on.
Time & Ingredients are my biggest hurdle. I have a new baby, a full time job, two dogs, and I’m training for a hiking competition….. in my free time. HA!
Thank you for this! So helpful. I’ve been trying to master vegan cheese for quite some time :)
I love trying new vegan recipes, but I have to agree that the long ingredient list often deters me; especially during the week after I’ve worked all day! I love finding recipes that are quick & easy AND healthy for weeknights – I’m looking forward to seeing what you come up with!
What a fun challange for yourself. I have a very stocked pantry, so when I cook it’s nbd to have 10+ ingredient lists because most likely I have most of those things on hand already. …but I realize not everyone has this luxury and have been trying to focus on shorter ingredient lists myself. I think that makes cooking less intimidating and frankly easier and less time consuming. Plus, less expensive. Five ingedients or less is hard ! I feel like seven is a more managable number. Also, I always figure most people have salt, pepper, water and some kind of oil and tend to not count those.
I agree, I was like well does salt and pepper count as an ingredient? I guess it doesn’t have to be exact by I think 7 is more manageable!
Hey Angie!!!
I make your vegan mac and cheese whenever I get the chance. Its actually a big request in my house and I am the only gluten free dairy free chick! :) Thanks for incoportaing a few of my favorite things – sweet potatoes, pasta and “cheeze”!!!
xoxo
Maggie
www.mybreakfastblog.com
The great thing about those 5 ingredients are that I have them all right now. Meaning, I can make this sauce today!
Hi Angela!
What confounds me in the kitchen:
– too many ingredients
– too many steps
– too many tools required
I like recipes that are simple, easy-to-make, and don’t take an unreasonable amount of time to prepare.
I love one bowl and a whisk or one pot and a spoon. I hate having to “wash” all the gadgets and appliances. That cheese sauce is perfect!
I have to admit the thing that most puts me off going completely vegan is the list of ingredients on some recipes. It’s reall off-putting. This sounds lovely and nice ‘n’ easy to make. That pizza looks divine!
Time is a big issue for me. I work 8 hours a day, exercise for 1 hr, drive around on errands, give much needed attention to my kids and Hubby and squeeze in some painting or writing time. By the time dinner time comes around I am too pooped to get in the kitchen to cook. Fast and easy with simple ingredient list is what I have been surviving on most weekdays.
I am fascinated by nutritional yeast but am afraid to try it again. I didn’t have a good experience the first time around with it so I tend to shy away from recipes that call for it. Even though you make look so good :)
It took me a while to get used to the flavour of nutritional yeast but then I got hooked. I would give it another try and maybe not use as much until you get used to it.
What a great challenge idea! good luck! My biggest hurdle in the kitchen would be ingredients that are hard to find or too expensive to get. Sometimes things can get a bit pricey for a poor university student like myself haha :)
Hard to find ingredients :( I live in a town of about 6,000 and the nearest health food store with nooch, buckwheat, and all the other great finds from bulk bins is about 45 minutes away. Not a fun drive when I have 3 kids and one of them despises long car rides. And I have a Trader Joes about 75 minutes away, but again, not such a fan of long drives. I just need to make more time for myself, leave the kids with hubby, and make the drive for yummy stuff!
OMG, that butternut squash mac n cheez looks AWESOME.
My problem in the kitchen is that I have a tiny 2-cup size food processor, so when recipes call for a food processor, I usually have to chop things in batches. Not the worst thing ever, but it’d be nice to finally splurge on larger size.
Usually long ingredient lists don’t intimidate me – if I look through them and see that I have a lot of the stuff already. Sometimes lots of spices are needed to achieve a complex flavour in the dish… I seem to find that a lot in Indian cooking, at least. What DOES put me off is the use of special kitchen tools that I don’t want to clean afterwards! The problem isn’t usually that I don’t have them… but that I don’t want to clean them! (I don’t even like cleaning my tiny little food processor… even though you can work so much magic with it.)
I’m waiting for [local] butternut squash to appear so I can finally make that Butternut Squash Mac ‘n’ Cheeze! I like your notes about not necessarily duplicate animal products; that is definitely the best way to approach a vegan or special diet, I find. Rather than focusing always on what you’re “living without”, it’s much better to focus on what you’re “living with”. i.e. Don’t think “Oh I can’t have milk, I HAVE to have soy/almond/hemp/oat milk instead…” just think “I can have alternative delicious milks.” No need for the “instead”…
exactly!
Thanks for another GREAT recipe Angela! Can’t wait to try it this weekend :)
A simple (vegan & gluten-free) tzatziki or sour cream recipe would be greatly appreciated!!
I think I love you. I don’t have a food processor and usually skip making the vegan cheese sauces because they require either that or a TON of ingredients. Having a simple recipe with ingredients I already have on hand makes me SO HAPPY- I can’t wait to try this!!