Mac and "Cheese" x2 - Guest blogging from sister!

As a vegetarian, I often hear these words from people who eat meat: "I think I could be a vegetarian. But ....but.... BACON! Can I be a vegetarian and just eat bacon? I can't live without bacon!". When I hear this my usual response is to smile and say something like "Oh you get used to it." or "It's easier than it looks". Meanwhile my internal monologue is more like this.

YES. YES YOU CAN LIVE WITHOUT BACON. YOU CAN TOTALLY NOT EAT BACON FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE AND I PROMISE YOU WILL LIVE. YOU KNOW WHAT ELSE WILL LIVE? THE PIG. THE PIG WILL TOTALLY LIVE IF YOU DON'T EAT BACON. PIGS ARE ADORABLE. AND SMART! A PIG IS A SMART AS A THREE YEAR OLD. WOULD YOU EAT A THREE YEAR OLD? OF COURSE NOT. 

OH. AND THEY ARE TOTALLY NOT DIRTY. THEY ARE VERY CLEAN ANIMALS. THEY SMELL BECAUSE HUMANS PUT THEM IN CLOSE QUARTERS SO THAT THEY HAVE NO CHOICE BUT TO LIVE IN THEIR OWN FECES. HUMANS ARE JERKS. SAVE THE PIGS!

......and so on. 

So yah. I will admit to a fair bit of moral superiority regarding my diet. Your diet causes the death of innocent and adorable animals. Mine does not. And my food still tastes good. Neener neener!

Or so I thought. 

It turns out, a vegetarian diet still causes harm to animals. How you ask? Let's talk about dairy to start.

Dairy products come from milk (duh). Milk comes from cows (also duh). The milk industry has done an awesome job of convincing people that cows are always producing milk. It's just what they do. We might as well collect it right?

Wrong. 

Cows produce milk like women produce breast milk. Meaning, they make milk when they have a baby. A calf. No calf. No milk. So. Dairy cows are constantly impregnated to ensure they are always producing milk. The calves are taken shortly after birth. A good number of them are killed for veal. Certainly the vast majority the male calves are, since bulls don't make milk at all. And you only need a small number of studs to impregnate a whole bunch of heifers. 

In addition, the normal lifespan of a cow is twenty years. Dairy cows live about 4. That's because they are sent to slaughter after they past their peak milk producing years. 

When I learned all this. I was horrified. I immediately resolved to become a vegan and not participate in this system of animal cruelty.

And this is when I had to eat my cap locks. I issued an internal apology to all the meat eaters I had ever judged. 

Because cheese. 

Cheese is to vegetarians what bacon is to the meat eaters. Cheese is awesome. It's salty and gooey and stretchy and tastes good on EVERYTHING.

Give up milk? I never liked the taste anyway

No more yogurt? Fine, I'll switch to oatmeal in the morning

Ice cream? *shrugs* better for my waistline

Baked goods? Vegan baking is awesome!

But CHEESE?

When it comes to me transitioning to vegan, cheese is my downfall. Store bought vegan cheeses are okay (i.e Daiya and other). But I find it's actually better to try and make your "cheese" type things. You wind up with a better flavour. And it's fun!!!

And thus the point of this very long post. 

Yesterday, my sister and I both made vegan Mac and "cheese" using two different recipes. First up is sister-dearest!

Recipe: http://chefchloe.com/entrees/vegan-mac-n-cheese.html

Sister's comments: I thought this would make an excellent base for a recipe, but I knew I wanted more. More heat and more umami. I made some important changes. First of all, margarine scares me, and so I used butter instead. I am skeptical of the need for gluten free products for non celiac patients, and so I used regular whole wheat flour. I used skin cow's milk since I don't use soy or almond milk. I substituted sriracha for tomato paste to lend heat. I didn't have broccoli and I love mushrooms, and so I sauteed some portabello with garlic and used this instead.  The final product was pleasantly warming and savoury. If I made this for guests, I would finish it with scattered frizzled onion and perhaps some minced green onion/chives/parsley.

My notes: Sister is not a vegan clearly. Nor does she intend to become one. But she is dedicated to healthy eating and an awesome chef!

My turn!

Recipe: http://chefchloe.com/on-the-side/sweet-potato-mac-n-cheese.html

Note 1: Both recipes are by Chloe Coscarelli. She is an amazing vegan chef. Her vegan cupcakes won "Cupcake Wars" a reality TV show. She beat out all the traditional (egg and milk) bakers. I own the book "Chloe's vegan Italian Kitchen". I don't think I've ever made a bad recipe from it. The "meatball" sliders are a crowd favourite. My meat eating friends go crazy for them. 

Note 2: I added more salt, more lime juice, more soy sauce and more garlic to the sauce. 

Note 3: I boiled my pasta in veggie broth

Note 4: Over the weekend I heated some water for another purpose. I saved it and used it again to boil the sweet potato. Water conversation. Try it. 

Note 5: At the last minute I threw in some tomato paste. It changed the colour and the taste slightly.

Results: I think next time I will use soy/rice milk. I got the "cheesy" flavour. But the almond milk was masking it somewhat. I need something that has less of a distinct flavour. 

End notes: In later posts, I will talk about the egg industry, as well as the environment. My soapbox is not done.