Lisa's Creamy & Delicious Vegan Macaroni and Cheese!! (Guest Post)

About Me

My name is Lisa Shimotani. I’m a wife, PreK teacher, grad student, soon-to-be nutrition educator, and just discovered the joy of cooking vegan and vegetarian meals! I’m passionate that food can be both nutritious and delicious 

 Kaori and I in Taylor, TX at Louie Mueller BBQ (before I became vegetarian). Kaori and her husband came all the way to Texas for our wedding and baked her famous matcha cupcakes for all of our guests!!

Kaori and her husband came all the way to Texas for our wedding and baked her famous matcha cupcakes for all of our guests!!

Why did I choose to become Vegetarian?

I started reading a lot of books on the benefits of going vegan, and being someone who did not eat a lot of meat anyways, I wanted to give it a shot. Originally, I wanted to go vegan, meaning I could not have any dairy, seafood, and eggs in my diet along with meat. I slowly bought less and less meat, as I didn’t want to go cold turkey but slowly incorporate a vegetarian diet. I found it too difficult to be completely vegan, as I do love fish and my husband loves his eggs in the morning, so I naturally went vegetarian and excluded meat from my diet. The quote “you are what you eat” has always stuck with me, so I do my best to include more fresh vegetables, fruits, and legumes in my diet to replace the meat.

What benefits have you seen so far from being vegetarian?

Eating more fruits and vegetables! I have always loved fruits and vegetables, but realized that I definitely didn’t consume enough in my daily diet. Even though you are vegetarian/vegan, does not mean you are healthier, you can still have a lot of unhealthy foods! I am very conscious of this and have made a lot more effort to include fresh foods in my meals, which has inspired me to cook more. Knowing that I am using whole, fresh ingredients makes me excited before a meal, as I know how vital fresh, whole foods can be for our body. By replacing meat with vegetables, legumes, and good carbohydrates I have also noticed a change in my energy level. I work full time as a teacher and recently started taking grad classes in nutrition, but within a couple months of consuming more whole foods I’ve noticed that I have more than enough energy to complete my daily activities without feeling completely exhausted at the end of the day like I use to.

Vegan Mac & Cheese

This is one of my favorite vegan meals: it’s so simple and delicious. Though I am not vegan, I enjoy cooking a lot of vegan meals and eating vegan bakery goods  I rarely eat cheese, but when I make this dish I don’t even miss cheese!

I found this recipe by following a group called thegreenplateclub on instagram. I made a few tweaks with the recipe, mainly decreasing a few of the ingredients, which is why I put a lesser amount for most of the ingredients. I would put the lesser amount first and taste the sauce after you blend it together to see if you want to add more.

Vegan Mac & Cheese Ingredients

• ½ lb. pasta
• ½ cup water
• 8 oz. firm tofu
• ¼ - ½ cup canola oil
• ¾ -1 cup unsweetened soy milk (I use almond milk)
• ¼ cup soy sauce (I usually add a little less as soy sauce has a strong taste)
• 1 cup nutritional yeast (key to making it “cheesy”)
• 1 ½ tsp paprika
• 1 ½ tsp garlic powder
  • 1 tsp kosher salt
  • crushed red pepper (I love using Tabasco sauce) and any fresh vegetables (cilantro, fresh diced tomatoes)
  
  
  Vegan Mac & Cheese Instructions
  1. Cook pasta al dente
  2. Combine water, tofu, canola oil, unsweetened soymilk or almond milk, soy sauce, nutritional yeast, paprika, garlic powder, and salt in a blender until smooth.
  3. Add sauce to the pot of drained pasta, stir and cook on medium for an additional 5 minutes.
  4. Sprinkle with crushed red pepper and any additional toppings
  
  

All ready for lunch: topped with cilantro and tomatoes

Thanks for the wonderful post, Lisa!! Look ahead for more posts from guest bloggers in the near future!! <3 Love Always, 

Kaori