I have been wanting to make Fat Free Vegan’s Easy Macaroni and Cheeze for a long time. I finally got to the bulk store and remembered to buy nutritional yeast. I have been looking forward to trying nutritional yeast ever since I heard about its’ nutritional benefits and cheese and nutty-like taste! Seems too good to be true, right?
Here are some of the benefits of nutritional yeast:
- very rich in B vitamins- great for vegetarians/vegans!
- Yellowish colour comes from the concentration of the B vitamin Riboflavin
- Rich in vitamins niacin, thiamin, biotin, and folic acid
- Rich in minerals selenium, chromium, zinc, phosphorus, and magnesium
- Can be used as a supplement or condiment
- Can be sprinkled on cereal, spaghetti, popcorn, and smoothies (note: huge foreshadowing for tomorrow AM!)
- Two teaspoons (10 mL) of yeast flakes provide one microgram of vitamin B12, the recommended daily intake for most adults!!
I am seriously kicking myself for not trying this sooner! Especially after the outstanding results I had making this super easy vegan mac and cheese. For some reason I thought this recipe was going to be difficult, but all you have to do is cook the pasta and then take ALL the ingredients and throw into a blender or processor. Then heat it all up and stir. It was that easy!!
Vegan Mac and Cheese
I adapted the recipe based on what ingredients I had on hand and it surprisingly still came out stellar!
My version with tweaks below.
Ingredients:
1 pound vegan pasta (or regular if you prefer!)
1 1/4 cups water
1 cup plain Almond Breeze (may use other non-dairy milk)
3/4 cup nutritional yeast
3 tablespoons cornstarch or potato starch
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon salt (or more to taste)
1/2 teaspoon garlic puree
1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon turmeric (curry powder)
1 tablespoons tahini
black pepper to taste
Directions:
Cook your preferred pasta according to the directions on the bag or box. I used pasta shells for a fun change. It brought me back to the wonderful Velveeta pasta my mom used to make us as kids! While that is cooking, throw ALL ingredients (including 1 + 1/4 cup water) into the food processor or blender and blend for 30-60 seconds. Once pasta is cooked and drained, add sauce into sauce pan with pasta shells and simmer over low-medium heat stirring frequently. The thickening process takes 5-10 minutes. Don’t despair if you think the pasta is too watery- it REALLY thickens up nicely thanks to the cornstarch! Serves 8. You can get creative with this and mix in some vegetables or spinach too.
According to Fat Free Vegan’s recipe:
Makes 8 servings. Per serving: 303 Calories (kcal); 4g Total Fat; (10% calories from fat); 15g Protein; 54g Carbohydrate; 0mg Cholesterol; 316mg Sodium; 5g Fiber. Also, if you use nutritional yeast fortified with B-12, one serving provides 100% of the daily requirement of that vitamin.
Hers + His:
I had to make Eric’s fun to distract him from the fact that he was eating cheese less pasta! lol. Well, I did sprinkle on some parmesan and threw in a cheeseslice for him to be fair. :)
The taste?
It knocked both our socks off– even with a bunch of modifications! I honestly can’t believe that it tasted that good. It was cheesey and nutty tasting. Next time I will definitely add spinach or peas to it. So awesome. I will be buying nutritional yeast on a regular basis now– WOW!!!
Look how creamy that is!!!!
GAH! :D It was the perfect comfort food today for a post-night of drinking and dreary weather outside!
I wasn’t planning on working out today due to only getting 4.5 hours of sleep last night after the crazy bachelorette party, but for whatever reason I am not tired at all today. Not even one bit. It’s strange! I have a feeling I am going to crash tonight! It must have been my handy Hangover Prevention Kit (HPK) not to be confused with an EPT. ;)
The workout:
- Duration: 52 mins (including water breaks- always)
- Speed: 3.9 mph, incline 15%
- Max heart rate: 165 bpm
- Avg heart rate: 146 bpm
- Feel the burn: 450 kcals
- Distance: 3.19 miles
It felt so good! Even though I sometimes don’t feel like working out after a late night it always makes me feel back on track and in my normal routine.
Eric finished all the sanding and is now on coat 2 of the primer in the dining room, family room, and sunroom. Things are shaping up! We will be painting COLOUR on the wall this week! I can’t believe it!!! :)
The sunroom is going to be Ashley Gray to coordinate with the mortar in the brick. We are turning the sunroom officially into a workout room. We will eventually be putting in a gym floor in there.
For the family room we chose Peanut Shell. It will go nicely with the brick colours!
I can’t wait to have the walls painted! It will be coming together soon enough. :) After the paint, we are putting in engineered wood floors.
Well, back to normal Sunday stuff- laundry, cleaning, organizing, and preparing for the week ahead! Have a great end to your Mother’s Day!
Coming up tomorrow:
- Cookbook giveaway
- Shop 4 A Cause: When, What, Where, How, etc
- Spirulina
- and more!
Tonight’s question: What’s your favourite way to eat mac and cheese?
ohhhhhhhhhhh my god!!!!! that looks so decadent!!! my mom makes the best baked macaroni and cheese but i try not to eat it a lot since it has so much butter, cheese and fatty goodness lol. i will try this version for sure!
thanks for the nutritional yeast review, Ive always been too scared to try it but I will definitely have to now! The ceilings in that room are gorgeous as well!
That looks so good! I would have never thought to use nutritional yeast. I have some but I never know what to put it on besides popcorn! I will have to try this!
i lived with a vegan for a while and was so annoyed by his constant yammering about nutritional yeast. maybe enough time has passed, or your mac and cheese just looks so good, but now i want to try it!
That vegan mac looks crazy good! I’ve been wanting to try that forever but we are currently without blender or food processer. I love seeing the house pictures, it looks like you have a gorgeous home!
Emily- you could probably use a hand mixer too! :) I can’t see why not!
Love the idea of a workout room! Hubby and I have a third bedroom that is above our garage that we’re contemplating turning into a gym and putting in a gym floor. I’m excited to see what options there are out there.
Wow that mac & cheese looks so good and creamy! My favorite way to have it is with spinach – I actually had some two nights ago. Definitely a good comfort meal!
I loooove Nutritional Yeast…or as the cool kids call it Nooch =)
Now I have to try that recipe, I can’t believe I haven’t already!
I love nutritional yeast! It’s amazing how cheesey tasting it is! I learned a lot about it when my little daughter was diagnosed with a milk protein allergy. I used to make mac and cheeze all the time for her, but I used the box version made my Roads End Organics called Chreeze. The nutritional yeast comes in a packet, so it’s very user-friendly!
Wow, this looks so good! And such a healthy way to enjoy mac and cheese! I’m totally going to have to try this out.
Wow this recipe looks so good and thanks for the info on Nutritional yeast!
Just curious,long back you posted about your Mom’s erratic HRM, how is that working now?
Wait a minute…did I read that recipe right? I didn’t see cheese anywhere on the ingredient list. If it’s truly cheese free, I will absolutely have to try it someday – my tummy doesn’t do cheese (my life is very sad, lol) and I love m&c (and miss it so dearly) so this recipe could be my new best friend!
My fav way is Annie’s whole wheat max n chz with extra cheese added in, + brocs, peas, peppers.
I like to jazz it up.
I sure hope your using low or no VOC paint! Regular paint is extremely bad for both you and the environment! :)
Wow that mac n’ cheese looks so good! I noticed how creamy it is right away!
I love what youre doing with your place..those colors will look so good~
I don’t like cheese…so my favorite way to eat mac n cheese is to replace the cheese sauce with marinara…oh and swap penne for the macaroni, thanks :-D
YUM!
I will have to get some nutritional yeast. It seems so versatile!
My mom used to always make cheesy spaghetti, which was basically baked mac n’ cheese. SO delicious, so bad for you. Alas!
Looks amazing!!
I will have to look for yeast in the stores.. surely I can find some! Glad Eric is loving the creations! haha
Your house is coming along.. must feel great!!
That vegan mac n’ cheese looks and sounds AMAZING Angela!! Ahhh, once I can snag all the ingredients needed for the dish I’ll be making it very, very soon!