Authors in Bloom Blog Hop!

I am so excited to be getting back into blogging with my first blog hop in .... well, a very long time. I barely remember how to do these anymore, but I will try my best!

The objective of this hop is to share a gardening tip, a recipe or both which gives me a great opportunity to share some of my vegan discoveries. A little over three years ago, my family and I decided to start following a plant based diet. It was the best decision ever. Our health improved dramatically; my husband's daily migraines all but went away and my daughter was able to get off of her three daily medications for allergies. Even my mother who recently began living with us was able to get off of her diabetes medication. On top of that, I have so much more energy and I'm not trying to sound conceited or anything, but I look great for a woman knocking on 40. I teach college and my students thought I was in my 20s.

Anyway, I actually enjoy cooking so much more now that I am vegan. I get to be so creative and try new flavors all the time. Not to say that it was always easy. In fact, shortly after giving up dairy, I quickly realized that I had been a cheese ADDICT. So I spent several months discovering the best ways to appease that addiction the plant-based way. Today, I am going to share my simple go-to cheese sauce that can be used in a variety of ways. I like to keep it on hand for a quick easy mac and cheese that the kids love. I add a green pepper or salsa to make it a nacho cheese dip. I add a little cornstarch and agar and then refrigerate to make it a slice-able cheese. It really is a foundation recipe that can be tweaked according to your own preferences. After you read the recipe, please check out my giveaway.

Recipe

Ingredients

• 2 12oz boxes of Pasta
• 4 Yukon Gold potatoes chopped
• 2 carrots chopped
• 1 white or yellow onion quartered
• 1 clove of garlic
• 1 cup of cashews
• 1/4 cup nutritional yeast
• A dash of liquid smoke
• Salt and Pepper to taste

Directions
Boil vegetables and cashews until soft. If you have a high speed blended like a Vitamix, you don't need to boil the cashews. I discovered once when I was out of cashews that they are actually optional. It tastes perfectly fine without them. Put all of the boiled vegetables in a blender and just a little pasta water. Add the nutritional yeast and liquid smoke. Blend until smooth and creamy like hot  melted cheese. Keep adding water until it gets to the perfect consistency. Do not add too much water. Taste the mixture and add salt and pepper to taste. Add other seasonings like paprika to your liking. Pour of pasta and you have vegan mac and cheese!

That is an hones to goodness picture of my mac and cheese. In the background is my vegan Popeyes Chicken. I'll put that recipe up on my website!

Giveaway Time

Today I am going to be giving away a copy of the first book in the Priscilla the Great series.

a Rafflecopter giveaway
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