Mac and Trees and Buffalo Tempeh

 

Here's my latest Appetite for Reduction meal.  I used brown rice pasta, which I'm really loving lately, and the suggested vegan cheese sauce.  I topped off the Mac and Trees with the super spicy Buffalo Tempeh.  I didn't quite follow the recipe for the wings exactly.  I didn't have a cayenne based hot sauce so I used Sriracha instead.  Holy hotness!  It was almost too hot, but still really fun on top of the mild Mac and Trees.  Adding broccoli to the standard macaroni was a really good idea.  It just goes well.  The only part that I didn't love was the cheese.  I replaced the all purpose flour in the recipe with whole wheat pastry flour, so that might be the reason.  It's supposed to be low fat, and I suspect that might be another reason why it didn't quite work out as well as I'd hoped.  

As far as vegan cheese sauces go, I love a similar flour-based cheese sauce from How it all Vegan.  It only has one tablespoon of oil, no granulated garlic or onion flakes, and less flour.  The only time I usually make this version of cheese sauce is when I make the accompanying Faux Eggs Benny recipe, but I might use this recipe the next time I make mac and trees.  Come to think of it, it's been a while so I think I might bring it back the Faux Eggs Benny into the breakfast rotation.

My old standby mac and cheese recipe is also from a Sarah Kramer book, this time The Garden of Vegan.  It's a bit tangy from a bit of apple cider vingar (which I love), it's got protein from the tofu, and I think it's pretty low in fat besides.  Next time I make mac and trees, I'll try another cheese sauce to go with it.  I think it might be worth finding a cayenne based hot sauce for the next time I want to make tempeh wings too.

Next post, a fast and yummy all green pasta dinner.