Monday, April 2, 2012

Ultimate Macaroni and "Cheese" with Tempeh Bacon...yeah + Giveaway Winner

Do WE have a recipe for YOU! Ok, scratch all the other macaroni and cheeses we've made because this one is the ULTIMATE vegan-gluten free macaroni and cheese. I'm certain that if you served this to any mac and cheese lover they wouldn't even have an inkling it was vegan let alone gluten-free and made entirely from whole food ingredients. The secret is in the liquid smoke for that bacon-y flavour and the coconut milk to make it extra creamy!

First things first,

You'll need:

16oz of gluten-free quinoa macaroni noodles (We used 2- 8 oz boxes)



Cook according to package (al dente), then transfer to a large bowl

Next prepare the "cheese" sauce:

Cheese sauce:

1/2 cup tahini
1/2 cup pumpkin puree
1/2 cup coconut milk (We used So Delicious Coconut Milk Beverage, you could also use lite coconut milk)
1/2 cup nutiritional yeast
1 tsp salt

Mix together in a bowl until smooth. Set aside.



Prepare "bacon" bits:

Tempeh Bacon Bits:
1 block tempeh, crumbled
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
1 1/4 tsp salt (or more to taste)
1/4 tsp black pepper
1 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp cumin powder
5-6 dashes liquid smoke
2 tbsp coconut oil, melted

Mix together all ingredients in a bowl. Let sit for about 15 minutes to let the flavours marinate. Brown the tempeh bits in a frying pan over medium heat with some coconut oil until golden and crispy.

Pre-browning




























All crispy!

Dump the cheese sauce and the bacon bits over the pasta and stir thoroughly. (try not to eat it all before you bake it ;)

It tastes as good as it looks

Pat on the breadcrumbs
 Empty into a parchment lined baking dish. Top with gluten-free breadcrumbs that have been mixed with 1 tbsp of melted coconut oil. (we used about a half package of Mary's crackers that we ground up in the food processor) Bake for 15 minutes at 350F or until heated through and the bread crumbs are golden. Remove from oven and let sit for about 5 minutes. Dig in!

Bacon and cheese? Yes please...




























Yummmm!!






























Oh and the winner of the stevia giveaway is Tammie Lee from Spirithelper, Jared from The Laughing Vegan, Rebecca from oink! and barb from Comfy Chair Astrology (coincidently everyone has their own blogs, well done!) Please email us your shipping address @ sketchfreevegan @ gmail . com
Posted by at 5:32 AM
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19 comments:

  1. Oh my gosh this looks AMAZING. Seriously, I'm bookmarking this!

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  2. What's with all of this gluten-free stuff? If you can tolerate gluten (and most people can), use wheat pasta and wheat bread crumbs. They taste better.

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    1. yes you could use wheat, but I find brown rice pasta, to me tastes very similar to wheat plus it cooks faster! the breadcrumbs are a bit more "seedy" but therefore more crunchy! :)

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  3. This looks absolutely delicious!!!

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  4. Wholly damn! That mac looks amazing!!!!!! Wow!

    http://haymarket8.blogspot.com

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  5. My parents just bought my liquid smoke from a US import store, and I've been so excited to finally try it out. This recipe looks wonderful, and perfect for the colder weather we're now getting in Australia :)

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    1. Liquid smoke is amazing! instant smoky bacon flavour :)

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    2. I need to find liquid smoke (another Aussie here!) This recipe sounds awesome.... and HANNAH I am jealous of your parent's liquid smoke... what store did they get it from?

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    3. My local gourmet deli-type place has it. I've used this online shop before and it looks like they have it - http://www.usafoods.com.au

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  6. Okay everytime I think I am going to miss a non vegan dish something better gets put in front of me. I need liquid smoke and then I will be eating pseudo barbecue everything!

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  7. this is totally vegan comfort food right here!!! wow, i would have never guessed it to be vegan and gluten free just by looking at the pic.

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    1. we couldn't believe it was vegan and gluten-free when we were eating it! Our roommate had a bite and couldn't believe there was no dairy or meat! Love it when you can shock people with crazy creations

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  8. What does the yeast do? Allergic to yeast so trying to find something to replace yeast.

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    1. It's nutritional yeast which you can find at any whole foods or health food/bulk store. It's actually dead yeast (non-active) and is only used as a cheesy flavouring. If you are allergic to yeast you should be fine to ingest it considering it's non-active. But of course make sure you won't have a reaction before you try it.

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  9. i was just discussing vegan mac and cheese last night!
    do you think the cheese sauce would be fine on its own (not a fan of tempeh)?

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    1. yes definitely! the "bacon" just gives it that extra smoky flavour

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  10. how do you come up with these amazing recipes? really creative and sounds so amazingly delicious! thank you for sharing how you make them.

    imagine my surprise as i scrolled down and saw i was a winner, thank you so much! I am smiling!

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  11. I love that you have come up with delicious alternatives, in my area there are lots of "nutritious" choices but very few that offer a gluten free option. It's even cooler that it is a vegan option too even though I am not a vegan I enjoy the recipes and the variety it brings into the kitchen! Keep up the amazing work! New to your blog but look forward to more to come!

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