Nacho Vegan Pasta

It’s my pasta, na… I mean, you see where this was going, right? I don’t know where all I cobbled this recipe together from, but suspect it has been a variety of sites over the years. So, if that’s you, thanks! The recipe makes more than enough sauce for the pasta so you have some left over.

This sauce uses sweet potatoes as a base for a creamy, sweet and spicy, bright orange “nacho cheese” sauce. I typically dislike garlic powder, but it’s a small amount for the amount of sauce it makes, so it doesn’t bother me here. We combined it with elbow pasta, crumbled vegan bacon, browned vegan “beeve” crumbles, guacamole, and vegan sour cream. Delicious!

Ingredients
4 medium sweet potatoes 
1 cup coconut milk
1 /2 cup nutritional yeast flakes
1/2 cup olive oil
1 /4 cup soy sauce
1 /3 cup lemon juice
2 teaspoons garlic powder
Salt to taste
Diced jalapeños (to taste)
Additional hot sauce if desired

1 lb pasta, cooked al dente
Vegan bacon, cooked crisp
Vegan meat crumbles, browned
Guacamole and/or vegan sour cream
Cilantro

Process
Wash potatoes and cut out any areas that concern you. Pierce and place in the oven at 350* until soft to a fork. Remove and allow to cool enough to handle.

Slice potatoes and scoop out the soft insides. Place in your blender or food processor. Add other ingredients except diced jalapeños. Blend until smooth. Taste test and add more of the lemon, soy, salt if needed. Then add your diced jalapeños and any additional hot sauce fold in.

Add to your pasta and add on bacon crumbles, meat crumbles, guacamole, vegan sour cream, and cilantro if desired.


Slow Cooker Veggie Stew and Polenta

This is one of those “clean out the veggie drawers” kind of recipes. I listed below what I put in, but you can make this more like ratatouille by skipping the carrots, chickpeas, and mushrooms and adding more eggplant and some zucchini.

Ingredients

  • 2 tbsp olive oil 
  • 1 eggplant, cubed 
  • 2 stalks celery 
  • 2 summer squash, chopped 
  • 1 red pepper, chopped 
  • 1 onion, sliced 
  • 3 carrots, sliced
  • 4 oz mushrooms 
  • 2 tbsp garlic, minced 
  • 2 tbsp Italian seasoning 
  • 28 oz diced tomatoes 
  • 1-2 tsp capers
  • Salt and pepper 
  • 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar 
  • 2 18 oz. prepared polenta tube
  • Vegan parm (purchase or make using nutritional yeast combined with finely crushed pine nuts or almonds and sea salt)

Process

Chop your veggies. Add everything but the polenta to your slow cooker or Instant Pot. In a slow cooker, give it about 4 hours. In the Instant Pot, you’ll want about 5 hours.

About ½ hour before the stew is complete, oven fry the polenta in ½ inch slices. Place a little olive oil in a baking pan. Add slices. Sprinkle with vegan parmesan. Bake at 375, flipping over when bottom begins to brown.

Serve stew over polenta with your choice of seasonings or hot sauce.

UnKrabby Patties

My family has always like tuna patties, aka Krabby Patties. But when several of us went vegan, I knew we needed a substitute. After a lot of tinkering, this is what I ended up with.

UnKrabby Patties

1 container extra firm tofu, mashed
1 can garbanzo beans, blended or mashed
1.5 sleeve crushed saltines
2 tsp soy sauce
2 tsp dulse (seaweed) flakes
salt and pepper to taste
olive oil

Mix all ingredients.  Add salt and pepper and knead until dispersed.  Form into patties.  Slightly oil a baking pan and place patties on pan in 350* oven.  Turn when browned.  Serve with or without buns!