Pasta and garlic bread

So next up, let’s use up some of that Teese Mozzarella. I’m also trying to use down some things that have been hanging out in the freezer. In this case, some Gimme Lean Sausage. So I made up a red pasta sauce which started off by frying up onion, garlic and the sausage in a saucepan, then I added a big can of crushed tomatoes, and seasoned with basil, oregano, thyme, red pepper flakes, salt and pepper. I pretty much never buy jarred pasta sauce because it’s so easy to make your own and you’re just going to doctor it anyway.

To use the Teese, I made some garlic bread. It was soaked through with garlicky Earth Balance and deliciously bad for us.

At least I used whole wheat pasta. Because that will make up for all the other sins here. Like no veggies. The other half of this Teese tube went into a lasagna, but I didn’t take pictures. It included more Gimme Lean, some Twin Oaks Italian Tofu, the layer of Teese and then Daiya on top. Oh, and both regular and whole wheat lasagna noodles. Can you tell I was using stuff up?

The laziest Mac & Cheeze

With all the Daiya hype over the last couple of years, poor Teese has kind of been pushed to the side a bit. Now that Cosmo’s Vegan Shoppe is closed and Sevananda doesn’t carry it, I don’t think you can even get it in town. But recently I filled in a survey they tweeted about and was chosen to receive Teese as a thank you: the Creamy Cheddar Vegan Sauce, Mozzarella and Cheddar.

The first thing I did was make Mac & Cheeze for a potluck. Boil up pasta, toss with a tube of Teese Cheddar Cheese Sauce, sprinkle top with bread crumbs, vegan parmesan and a little paprika, and bake until less crispy than pictured here. Normally I might mix something else in there like broccoli, but this is lazy mac & cheeze so no veggies, just straight up.

Here it is hanging out with kale salad, spinach salad, tots and I think that’s a chik patty on that bun. It was a tad dry so I either overcooked it or should have used 12oz. of pasta rather than the full pound.

Just a tad though. Still made awesome leftovers, here with a beer brat and kale salad.

Baked pasta & cheese, Tex-Mex style

After making a pot of chili, I flipped back a few pages of The Happy Herbivore to the Baked Shells and Cheese recipe. One of the variation was to add a can of chili and make it a chili mac. So I just added a cup and a half or so of the chili to it. I’ve always been a fan of nutritional yeast cheezy sauces, but I don’t think I’ve ever made one that uses silken tofu in it. It made the sauce really creamy. Very nice. Apparently it’s like glue on plates though. My dishwasher wouldn’t get it off. I had to hand wash some of those dishes. The top is sprinkled with bread crumbs and a little Daiya.

Meanwhile, there was still chili leftover. It went on to become lunches and top grilled hot dogs. I really stretched that one out!

Healthier fettuccine alfredo

When you do your grocery shopping once a week, you learn to have some meals with ingredients that will make it to the end of the week, or even beyond if need be. Things happen and you can’t always cook everything when you want. This Fettuccine Alfredo from The Happy Herbivore works well as that dish. And broccoli is one of my go to sturdy vegetables. Other great back-ups are frozen peas and frozen greens.

This turned out creamy and a little tangy from the nutritional yeast. It even made an abundance of sauce so there was a little extra to drag my broccoli through. Oh, and this fits in great with a lazy vegan lifestyle. I also used that Good Karma Flax Milk again with good results. Sprinkled on top is the Vegan Parmesan from Yellow Rose Recipes. I like it better than Parma.

Winging a chili mac

Not every meal is planned. Sometimes you look around your kitchen and see what you can do with what you’ve got. This was one of those meals. Pasta, black beans, Daiya, tomatoes, tomato paste, bell pepper, onion, a jalapeño … sounds like a chili mac! And indeed it was.

Chili powder, garlic, cumin, cayenne, maybe some oregano … sorry, this is definitely no recipe.

If you find yourself afraid to stray from recipes, just keep cooking things. Once you’ve cooked enough things you will eventually be able to collect ingredients and make a meal out of them without outside help.