Vegan for Day: Mock Mac and Cheese (and Pancakes!)

Okay, so we didn't really eat mac and cheese and pancakes together....we had mac and cheese for dinner on Friday night and pancakes for breakfast on Saturday. We had Q's teenage girls for the weekend (the youngest just turned 14 this week!), so while I still like to make some vegan dishes, they have to be extra-yummy to please everyone.

When we were in North Carolina two weeks ago (post on that this week!), I met up with a close college friend, Jess, who has been vegan for 2 years. She offered to make Q and I and our friend a vegan dinner...complete with vegan dessert (cupcakes!). She made this mac and cheese dish, and I had to have the recipe.  It's from VegNews (the premiere vegetarian magazine) and it's amazing. I'll just link you to the recipe, but I did take some of my own photos. The cheese sauce is made mostly with veggies...and cashews.  But you won't believe there's not cheese in this somewhere! The girls loved it (including Aurora!) and I could eat the whole dish full--it's that good.

The noodles, covered in "cheese" sauce

Breadcrumbs on top (I used storebought, but it's best w/ homemade like the recipe calls for!)

A sprinkle of paprika for color and flavor.

Out of the oven, looking and smelling delish!

 THE RECIPE HERE:

Veg News Vegan Mac and Cheese


As for our pancake breakfast...you can easily make it into a breakfast-for-dinner Meatless Monday (we do this a lot!) Just add a fruit salad or some veggie sausage or tofu scramble on the side.

I found a really easy vegan pancake recipe...the pancakes are really fluffy.  Q made them and added some dried blueberries to the second batch, which was super yummy.

Easy Vegan Pancakes

INGREDIENTS
1 cup flour
1 Tablespoon sugar
2 Tablespoons baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 cup soy or almond or coconut milk (we used coconut!)
2 Tablespoons vegetable oil
(optional mix-ins:  dried or fresh fruit, chocolate chips, nuts)

PREPARATION
1. Mix dry ingredients together.
2. Add wet ingredients to dry and mix well.
3.  Pour onto skillet, flipping when bubbles begin to form.
 

The pancakes went fast, so I don't have a lot of photos...but I do have photos of someone who REALLY liked them with some blueberry peach butter on top:

We had a great weekend as a family, made better by great food. Just how it should be.

Enjoy your Meatless Monday! What are you having?

Bon Appetit,
Amanda