Monday, December 29, 2014

Vegan Grilled Cheese Sandwiches

From: veganyumminess.com  Author: Lindsay Rey

In my quest to make a grilled cheese sandwich to go with my tomato soup, I thought I'd give this recipe a try.  The cheese was very good! It's the consistency of Velveta cheese...just much healthier and tastes better! :) I put it in the refrigerator for an hour to thicken up.  I will say, it is very messy.  I didn't mind.  I dipped it in the tomato soup recipe on my blog and it was fabulous!!  I have a lot of the cheese mixture left over.  I will make macaroni and cheese out of it tomorrow night!


Ingredients:
1 2/3 cups peeled and finely diced potatoes (i used Russets, but yellow work as well)
1/4 cup peeled and diced fresh carrot
1/3 cup peeled and diced onion
2/3 cup water (preferably from pot of cooked veggies above)
1/2 cup raw cashews (pre soaked for a few hours if not using a high speed blender)
1/4 cup coconut milk (lite or full fat)
2 tbsp nutritional yeast flakes
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp salt (or to taste)
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1 loaf vegan french bread, or vegan bread of your choice
Vegan butter (I used Earth balance) or coconut oil for grilling sandwiches.

Instructions:


  1. In a medium saucepan, bring several cups of water to boil.
  2. Place prepared potato, carrot, and onion into the boiling water, and cook until potatoes are fork tender, or about 10 minutes.
  3. While your potatoes, carrot, and onion are cooking, place ⅔ cup water (preferably water from your pot of cooking/cooked vegetables), cashews, coconut milk, yeast flakes, lemon juice, salt, and garlic powder into your blender. Blend on high until everything is creamy smooth.
  4. When potatoes are fork-tender, place potatoes, carrot, and onion into your blender--using a slotted spoon to avoid adding excess water to your cheese.
  5. Blend everything on high until smooth.
  6. You can use this cheese as is (pretty warm) to make your grilled cheese sandwiches, or you can place it in the fridge for a few hours or days to cool and thicken up slightly--which makes a less messy grilled cheese sandwich. If you're like me, you don't mind ooey gooey all-over-the-place cheese, and the hot stuff works just fine.
  7. Slather your cheese sauce on 2 thick slices of bread, slap 'em together, and brush the outsides of your sandwich with either coconut oil (or other heat-safe oil of your choice) or vegan butter. (I use Earth Balance, generally.)
  8. Place your sandwich in a preheated pan or griddle on medium heat. Usually, my sandwiches only need about 30 seconds to 1 minute on each side to be nice and crispy. Check your first sandwiches frequently, as they can burn quickly without warning.


Vegan Creamy Tomato Soup

From: veganyummies.com  Author: Lindsay Rey

I was on the hunt for a delicious tomato soup that didn't contain any dairy.  I found it in this recipe!!  This is delicious!!  Everyone in my family loved it.  I made this along with the vegan grilled cheese sandwiches.  A perfect combo meal for a chilly December night!  I doubled the recipe so that I would have leftovers.


Serves: 3-4

Ingredients:
1 cup diced onion
1 large clove garlic,  minced
1 tsp plus 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil (divided, optional)
1/2 cup raw cashews (soaked for a few hours, if you are not using a high speed blender) I used
  my Vitamix blender and did not soak them.  It came out perfect.
1/2 cup water
4 1/2 cups stewed tomatoes (three 14.5 ounce cans)
1/4 cup coconut milk
1 tbsp granulated sugar
1 1/2 tsp dried basil
3/4 tsp salt (or to taste)

Instructions:
1. In a pan, saute onion and garlic in 1 tsp olive oil for 1-2 minutes, just until they are soft and fragrant

2. Place cashews and water in blender. Blend on high for about 30 sec or until the mixture is fairly smooth and creamy. If you need more liquid, add a cup or two of your stewed tomatoes and blend again until all the cashew pieces have disappeared.

3. Add your sautéed onion/garlic and remaining stewed tomatoes to blender and blend until smooth.

4. Pour blender contents into a saucepan on medium to medium-high heat. As soup begins to simmer, stir frequently to prevent lumpiness and burning.  Simmer for about 8-10 minutes, or until soup color has darkened slightly.

5. Add remaining ingredients: 1 tbsp olive oil, coconut milk, granulated sugar, dried basil, and salt to your saucepan.

6. Taste for salt and serve immediately!