As I told you yesterday, I love to have this easy cheese mix from The Complete Idiot's Guide to Vegan Cooking on hand for emergency last minute meals. It's as simple as the Kraft of your youth with less orange flavor and cardboard packaging. Here is the recipe, just as it appears in the book, reproduced with the permission of the very nice authors. We have made it three times, so clearly we like it, but next time I'm going to cut back on the garlic and onion a tiny bit.
3/4 cup raw cashews or almonds
1/2 cup rolled oats
1/4 cup raw sunflower seeds
1 cup nutritional yeast
2 TB. arrowroot
2 tsp. dry mustard
2 tsp. garlic powder
2 tsp. onion powder
2 tsp. sea salt
1 tsp. paprika
1. Place cashews, oats, and sunflower seeds in a food processor fitted with an S blade, and process for 2 or 3 minutes until finely ground. Scrape down the sides of the container with a rubber spatula. Add nutritional yeast flakes, arrowroot, dry mustard, garlic powder, onion powder, salt, and paprika, and process for 1 minute longer.
2. Transfer mixture to an airtight container and store in the refrigerator for up to 2 months.
3. To prepare cheese sauce from mix, whisk together 1/2 cup vegan cheese sauce mix and 1 cup water or soy milk in a small saucepan, and cook over medium heat, whisking often, for 2 or 3 minutes or until thickened. This makes 1 cup vegan cheese sauce. Serve as a sauce with raw or steamed vegetables, baked potatoes, pasta, or other dishes, or use dry mix to season and flavor sauces, soups, vegetables, or popcorn.
Variation: For a nut-free version, use an additional 1 cup rolled oats to replace the cashews and sunflower seeds. For a quick and easy preparation, replace cashews, rolled oats, and sunflower seeds with 1 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour or other flour of choice, and simply stir together with the remaining ingredients in a medium bowl.
Thyme-ly Tip: (It took me about 100 pages to stop expecting herbs in these sidebar tips. This book is rife with those characteristic Complete Idiot puns. After I got over my own idiotic herb confusion, I was really surprised at how many of these tips I had marked as quite useful bits of information.) To make vegan fondue, cook together 2/3 cup Vegan Cheese Sauce Mix, 1 1/4 cups soy milk, 1 1/2 teaspoons light miso or tamari, and a pinch of freshly grated nutmeg or black pepper. If you're in a festive mood, add a little red or white wine. Or use 2/3 cup Vegan Cheese Sauce Mix, a bottle of your favorite beer, and a little chili powder or hot pepper sauce. (Clearly, I want beer cheese.)
The book is filled with those variations and tips - I like that - it means that there are about three times as many recipes as it appears at first glance.
And finally, thank you so much for all of your thoughtful comments yesterday. What a treasure trove of easy meal ideas, and just all sorts of nice sharing. Man, I love the Internet and all you people.
