Vegan Cheezy Southwestern Chili Mac

Last night I made something crazy! In fact, it was so crazy good that I wanted to share it with you today. This meal happened completely by chance becuase I had misplaced my wallet and couldn’t go to the grocery store. I frantically ran around my basement pantry and through all of my kitchen cabinets and tossed a pile of ingredients on the counter and got to work. I had never eaten chili mac, but my husband used to order it from Hard Times whenever we went. I started with “Cheezy” sauce from my dog-eared copy of the Veganomicon: The Ultimate Vegan Cookbook, then started throwing stuff together based on what I found in my cabinet. I’ll tell you what I used, suggest some alternates and if you have any suggestions, please list in the comments below. The point is, that this was made based on what I had laying about the house, so you can add or delete depending on your taste as long as you start with a macaroni and cheese base, everything else is up to you.

Stuff you need:

1 lb box of elbow macaroni. *I used Eden Organic Kamut Elbows, 100% Whole Grain, 14-Ounce Boxes (Pack of 6)

1 box of extra firm tofu

1 can of vegetarian chili *I used Health Valley Organic Chili Santa Fe White Bean, 15 Ounce Cans (Pack of 12). You could also use any canned beans you have laying about (kidney, black, pink, pinto, etc).

1 can of corn (you can also use 2 cups frozen or 3 ears of fresh roasted/grilled corn)

1 can diced tomatos with green chiles (a jar of salsa would work great too).

1 cup of rehydrated Bob’s Red Mill TVP (Textured Vegetable Protein), 10-Ounce Bags (Pack of 4)
*you can use veggie burger crumbles frozen or in a can, or broken up veggie or black bean burgers. Veggie chicken breasts/strips would also be amazing, or you can grill some veggies instead. Zucchini, yellow squash, onions and red bell peppers would all be great additions or substitutions for the TVP.

1/4 cup of pickeled jalapeno slices (these are delicous, spicy and tangy)

1 Cheezy Sauce Recipe:

4 cups veggie broth (or water)

1/2 cup all purpose flour *I used King Arthur Flour Whole Wheat, White, 5-Pound (Pack of

3 tablespoon olive oil

6 cloves garlic, minced *I used roasted minced garlic in a jar, but garlic powder works good too

1 tsp dried thyme *I used italian seasoning

1/2 teaspoon salt

several pinches fresh ground black pepper

1/4 teaspoon turmeric

1 3/4 cups Bob’s Red Mill T6635 Large Flake Yeast, 8-Ounce Packages (Pack of 4)

3 tablespoon fresh lemon juice *I used the stuff from the squirt bottle

2 teaspoon prepared yellow mustard *plain old Safeway brand worked great

*here come my additions (my family loves spicy southwestern flavors, so reduce for less kick or toss in more if you are into fiery deliciousness:

1 tablespoon cumin powder

2 tablespoon chile powder

1 teaspoon of cayenne chile powder

1 teaspoon ancho chile powder

1 teaspoon chipotle chile powder

1 tablspoon of cilantro paste (use fresh as alternate. the dried has no flavor).

Equipment: 11×13 lasagna pan or casserole, stock pot, sauce pan, oven

What to do:

1. Heat oven to 350 deg.
2. Boil 3 quarts of water and cook noodles according to directions on package.
3. Make your Cheezy Sauce (see directions below).
4. Crumble tofu into casserole dish with hands until it looks like the texture of ricotta or cottage cheese. Add in the corn, salsa, remaining tablespoon of olive oil, remaining tablespoon of lemon juice, jalapeno slices, chile/beans, cilantro and mix. Sprinkle with pinch of salt and pepper. Begin mixing in 1 cup of cheezy sauce and 1 cup of noodles to get everything evenly distributed and coated. Bake for about 20 minutes or until the top is lightly browned. Allow to rest. The sauce will thicken as it rests and the flavors will marry and you’ll end up with a casserole that looks a lot like mac and cheese, but better!

Cheezy Sauce Instructions:

1. Combine broth & flour in a measuring cup or small bowl; whisk with a fork until disolved (some lumps are ok). Preheat small saucepan over medium-low heat. Place oil and garlic in the pan and gently cook 2 minutes, stirring often and being careful not to burn the garlic.
2. Add the cumin, chile powders, thyme, salt, and pepper, and cook for another 15 seconds. Add the broth, turmeric and nutritional yeast, and raise the heat to medium. Use a whisk to stir constantly. The mixture should start bubbling and thickening in about 3 minutes or so; if it doesn’t, turn the heat up a little higher.
3. Once the mixture is bubbling and thickening, stir and cook for about 2 more minutes. Add the lemon juice and mustard. The mixture should resemble a thick, melty cheese. Taste for salt (you may need more or less depending on how salty your broth is), turn off the heat and cover the pan to keep it warm until ready to use.

This was enough food to feed myself, my husband and my teenage daughter one night, then have enough for us to each take a big bowl for lunch. There will still be another portion or two that I will freeze for later when I get home this evening. I can tell you that it tasted even better today and I tossed a little Frank’s RedHot Buffalo Wing Sauce: 12 OZ on top and it was a satisfying meal on a cool, rainy fall day. This is my little chance to hang on to summer for just a few more days. My husband, who is a meatatarian or has learned to love vegan food because it’s inexpensive and healthy, but will never call himself a vegetarian actually said, “Are you sure this is healthy? Because, this tastes too good to be healthy. Are you sure this doesn’t have cheese or something in it?”. I giggled, and agreed whole-heartedly. This is one of the best vegan meals I’ve made in a while and it’s healthy and inexpensive. Enjoy your taste of the soutwest and perhaps a bit of summer as well.

Filed under Recipe | Tags: bake, casserole, Cheap, cheese, cheezy, chile, chili, DIY, easy, eco-friendly, economical, healthy, kamut, low-fat, macaroni, nutritional yeast, sauce, southwest, summer, textured vegetable protein, thrifty, tvp, vegan, veganomicon, vegetable protein, vegetarian | Comment (0)

Hey! What happened to my Spring?

Well, here in Baltimore Spring has sprung and gone. We went directly from cold weather sweaters to hot pants and flip flops in the last 3 weeks. With temperatures hovering just below 90 degrees at the end of March I’m not sure what to expect this summer. While I am certainly enjoying turning off the HVAC and tossing open the windows I am left feeling completely unprepared. I hadn’t yet switched my closet over to spring and now I’m going straight to summer! (I have a tiny, dark little close that requires me to make creative use of hangers, bins and shelves.) Worse yet; it’s too hot to wear shoes and my feet are in no conditions to be let out into the light yet. My friend and I are going for a pedicure after work so I can have some spring pruning done on my tootsies. And, yes, I know I should do it myself at home and save money, but…. I usually pamper myself once a year with a good professional pedicure and then I’ll do it myself from there. Oddly enough this usually takes place on Mother’s Day in preparation for the summer in May, not April! Fortunately I can perhaps even justify this (at least to myself) becuase I’ve saved up so much money by not using my credit cards or buying new clothes, etc for so long now. (I wonder if this rationalization will work on my husband too?) Anyway, I digress… The biggest issue at present for me though involves the garden and backyard.  In years past my husband and I had built a pump track and dirt jumps in our backyard so that we wouldn’t have to drive out to local trails to have some fun on our bikes; we could just ride at home.  Unfortunately this led to a permanently muddy kitcken floor thanks to my husband, dog, and daughter. Worse yet, the berms helped to collect water which I’m certain led to an increase in our burgeoning mosquito population.  Finally, as 30 soemthing adults it was generally frowned upon by our parents and others because we couldn’t hold a proper barbecue or patio dinner with such a mess in the back.  So… finally, now that we’ve decided to focus our moutain biking efforts on downhilling, we are flattening the back yard and putting in a real adult lawn and deck. (I do get to have a horseshoe pit, though which is pretty super). This means disassembeling wooden ramps, filling in some very large holes, removing rock supports and a whole lot of digging. We’ve felled a tree and are ready to rototill and pickup topsoil, then plant grass seed. Seed can really only be planted in the fall or spring and with the weather so hot we are really falling behind in getting this all done. If that weren’t enough we’ve got taxes, Easter and lots of family birthdays… and well, maybe some time to spend to ourselves doing other thigns like maybe eating, sleeping, or even saying hello to each other…sheesh!  To dig the hole even deeper, litteraly and figuratively, I it’s also time for the annual moving of the plants in my front yard and mulching. I landscaped my front lawn because it’s better for the environment and local wildlife for a variety of reasons, but it is also very draining on my personal scheudule and my pockets. I’ve even taken a vacation day from work trying to get caught up on my gardening nightmares and I’m still falling behind.  I’ve been shoveling, separating and transplanting all week. This weekend I’ll be digging, moving, mulching and weeding.  If you see me unconscious in the garden, I’m likely just exhausted and please feel free to revive me with coffee. Don’t even get me started on herb and vegetable gardening that needs to be started immediately… So far this entire year seems accelerated by the crazy climate in Baltimore and what I really want to know is, “Hey! What happened to my Spring!?!” Help…

Filed under Uncategorized | Tags: Baltimore City, DIY, eco-friendly, flowers, garden, mulch, plants, spring, summer, vegetable, weather | Comments (2)