Monday 1 September 2014

MoFo '14 Day 1 - Favourite Mac and Cheese Recipes Redux



Mac and Cheese, or Macaroni Cheese, as we call it here in the UK, was always up there with my favourite foods before I went vegan and it's still right up there now. Hence the Mac 'n Cheese Monday theme! I wrote the original version of this blog post during VeganMoFo last year but my favourite macs are a constantly evolving thang so I wanted to update y'all on my favourite mac and cheeses as of right now.

As a student I used to eat the kind that comes out of a can and when I met my husband it was one of the only things he could cook so he made it for me a lot. When I first went vegan I avoided trying to make a macaroni cheese for fear of disappointing myself but once I threw myself off of the nutritional yeasty deep end I realised I didn't need to worry, vegans can have cheesy pasta fun too!

Here are my favourite macaroni cheese recipes in no particular order...

New Farm Cookbook Mac and Cheese

One of the first vegan mac recipes I ever tried and still up there with my favourites. This recipe is all over the internet and it's totally worth making.

Mac and Trees - Appetite For Reduction



I eat a lot, both when I travel and when I'm reviewing restaurants and eating out locally, so when I cook at home I occasionally eat foods at the low fat end of the scale, y'know, for balance. AFR is by far my favourite healthy cookbook and the Mac & Trees is one of my go-to dishes when I need to make a fast healthy meal, I love the high broc content and easy to throw together sauce.

Mac Daddy - Veganomicon

Only the second Mac recipe I ever tried and still a favourite today. I love the creaminess of the tofu ricotta, the cheesy sauce and the overall creamy baked deliciousness of the recipe. I like to add peas to this one!

Five-Cheese Baked Macaroni and Cheese - Hearty Vegan Meals for Monster Appetites



This book, now known as Home Cooked Vegan Comfort Food, contains one of THE MOST EPIC macaroni and cheeses in the history of veganism. You really do need five cheeses to make it, Daiya (or FYH / Veganic Pizza Cheese), Toffuti Cream Cheese, noochy sauce, a tofu ricotta and walnut parmesan sprinkles. It's insanely delicious and totally worth the effort. If I had these ingredients to hand more often I would have made it many more times than I have currently. Joni posted the recipe for this on her blog, here's a link. Go make it!

Best Ever Mac and Cheese from Crafty Earth Mama


Photo Credit : Crafty Earth Mama

This recipe was posted during Vegan MoFo 2011 and it's seriously one of the best mac and cheeses I've ever made. It's also Nick's absolute favourite. We'd eat it more often if laziness and bad planning didn't often prevent us from buying and roasting a red pepper!

Cheezy Mac - Vegan Diner



Similar in style to Crafty Earth Mama's mac this creamy cashew based sauce gets the majority of its flavour from smoked paprika rather than roasted red pepper. It's delicious and one I come back to over and over again.

Last year I wrote about a whole host of mac's that I hadn't gotten around to making yet which included Isa's Chipotle Mac & Cheese with Roasted Brussels Sprouts (minus the chipotle's!), Isa's Mac & Shews, Allyson Kramer's Smokey Butternut Mac and Cheese and VegNews' Vegan Macaroni & Cheese. I still haven't made the majority of these (c'mon Jojo, sort our your mac game!) but I did make...

Isa's Mac & Shews from The PPK Blog



Whilst this was similar in texture to the Mac Daddy from Veganomicon it had a much deeper flavour thanks to the sauerkraut. It even made Nick admit that sauerkraut isn't all evil! You can find the recipe online here.

One recipe that hadn't come into my life last year is this next one, also from Isa.

Roasted Red Pepper Mac & Cheese - Isa Does It



This new cashew based mac recipe has quickly become a favourite in my house, it's rich and creamy and I find it impossible to stick to the portion size! The sauce also comes together super easily in the blender which is a bonus and makes me inclined to gravitate towards this recipe when I fancy something quick, warm and comforting. Luckily Isa has posted the recipe for this one on her website so even if you don't have Isa Does It yet you can give this recipe a whirl. 

I really need to try the Sunflower Mac from Isa Does It too, it looks and sounds delicious and I've heard rave reviews. The BLT Mac & Cheeze from the PPK blog also looks fantastic. I think Isa might be a mac & cheese machine! Did I list your favourite mac here? I'd appreciate any and all mac recipes that you can bring into my life so do let me know what yours is in the comments. Happy MoFoing!

46 comments:

  1. Who knew there were so many mac and cheese options out there?! It's actually a dish I never ate pre-vegan but I have tried a few vegan recipes and really enjoyed them.
    I think the Isa Does It recipes are next in line for me :D

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  2. I recently discovered and fell in love with the New Farm recipe. I honestly think it is the most realistic mac n cheeze I've ever made. I particularly like it when I've baked it long enough for it to go all crisp on the top...so good! A lot of your favourites are mine too, including the mac n trees and the roasted red pepper one from Isa Does It. I can never have enough mac n cheeeeze :D

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  3. Wow, I've only ever made the Alyson Kramer Smokey Butternut one which is gorgeous. I clearly need to up my mac and cheese game. Looking forward to trying some of these other ones out over the winter.

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    1. Oooh I've never made that but as we're heading into butternut season I'll have to check it out.

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  4. What an awesome list of macs! I have been going through a mac and cheese phase this year and trying to make as many different ones as I can. You have several here that I've never tried. I've heard a lot about the roasted red pepper one from Isa Does It. That book is consistently great. I need to try that one for sure!

    My current favorite, which I think is really unbeatable, is an Ethiopian inspired mac & cheese from Kittee & her zine, Papa Tofu Loves Ethiopian. It's out of print now, but if you can get your hands on it, it is amazing.

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    1. I have Papa Tofu Loves Ethiopian!! I have to make it!

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  5. I'm a macaroni cheese fiend, too. I love that roasted red pepper mac from IDI. But usually I just make it the way I did pregan, but subbing non-dairy milk and cheezly or whatever. I don't really have a recipe, but you make the sauce the classic way, but starting with a roux and then adding milk (unsweetened!) and eventually melting in the cheese. Then you can bake it with the cooked pasta, or not, but I like it baked. ^_^

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    1. I mean *by starting with a roux. Ooops

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    2. Thanks Loz, I haven't made a classic mac & cheese like that for years!

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  6. Cheese and Chocolate are possibly two of my favourite things. MoFo theme jackpot!

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  7. Ermagerd, I need to make so many of these! How have I missed so many? I make a mac & cheese like every 8 days! I will be stealing Vegan Diner from your house :P
    ALSO I REFUSE TO CALL IT MACARONI CHEESE!! And I'm going to keep referring to American pants as pants! :)

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    1. OKAY!! You are welcome to borrow Vegan Diner - or we should have mac and cheese cooking hang outs!! Yuuum!

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  8. You leave me hungry! In Germany we call this cheese maccharoni but it's not nearly as famous as in the UK or US. I never really liked it pre-vegan but I could eat the vegan versions, especially Isa's all day long.

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  9. As someone who wasn't really a cheese fan before becoming vegan and would shudder at the thought of eating mac and cheese I've become surprisingly obsessed with vegan mac and cheese. But so far I've only made the AFR Mac n Trees, or if I don't have the trees, Mac and Peas!

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    1. I love mac & peas too! I'll throw peas into almost any mac!

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  10. Mmmmm I love macaroni cheese! I've not got hold of Isa Does It yet (for some reason???) but that last photo looks amazing. I am going to have to try it!

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    1. It's so good! I just found and added the recipe link to my post http://www.theppk.com/2013/10/roasted-red-pepper-mac-cheese-video/

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  11. Wow, awesome post! You can't go wrong with mac & cheese; these all look so good, especially the last one, the roasted red pepper mac & cheese. YUM! I definitely need to make that sometime. :)

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  12. I love that new farm recipe! That was the first vegan mac I made.

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  13. like others the new farm was my first! i make mac & cheeze weekly, just simple stove top stuff - but man is it comforting!

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    1. Mmmm, so comforting and delicious. Now that I'm home I need to make it asap!

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  14. One of my favourite mac & cheese recipes is the Oh She Glows pumpkin one. I use a bit more nooch and milk, and it's so good! And you can fool yourself into think in it's healthy!

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  15. Yummmm to all of these. I am still not sure if I've had a legit vegan mac & cheese, which is a shame.

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    1. That is a shame :( You need to keep making macs until you find your perfect match!

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  16. Wow, what a great list! I may have to try all of these. Though that might end up with me having a purchase a larger pair of pants...

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    1. Do it! I find dresses are better for mac & cheese eatin' ;)

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  17. I love mac and cheese, my favourite is still the one from Vegan Diner. But there are so many out there!
    I really want to try the Isa one with sauerkraut, that sounds awesome.

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  18. oh man now I want M&C. I think that 5 cheese one is the one you made for me once and you're right - totally epic and one I'm probably too lazy to make.

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    1. I will totally make it for us again some time buddy!!

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  19. Ah yes, the old portion size gets me every time. I really like Dreena Burton's Mac-oh-Geeze. But the best thing about vegan mac n cheese are the clever recipe titles people come up with ;)

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    1. I totally agree! And I'll have to have a look for Dreena's recipe!

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  20. Wow, so many recipes on this list that I haven't tried! Clearly I haven't been eating enough mac & cheese.

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  21. Most epic post on mac and cheese that I have ever seen!

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    1. Haha, thank you! I take mac & cheese pretty seriously!

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  22. immediately bookmarked; there are so many recipes in this post that i haven't tried before! also, i had NO idea there was such a thing as canned mac & cheese. my all-time favorite is cheezish macaroni (glad cow cookbook), but it's a roasted red peppers base, too... so i think the isa does it recipe needs to be next on my list.

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    1. Yay! And also I find it totally surprising that the US hasn't gotten on the canned mac & cheese bandwagon, it sounds like something you guys should have!

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  23. Oh my goodness, this post is epic. So many I haven't seen before and I even have a few of the cookbooks!

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