{"id":1386522,"date":"2019-02-01T20:36:00","date_gmt":"2019-02-02T03:36:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/news\/vegan-mac-and-cheese\/"},"modified":"2019-02-01T20:36:00","modified_gmt":"2019-02-02T03:36:00","slug":"vegan-mac-and-cheese","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kkch\/local-news\/vegan-mac-and-cheese\/","title":{"rendered":"Vegan mac and cheese"},"content":{"rendered":"
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(Editor’s note: The Post Independent introduces a new bi-weekly food column and recipe today from local contributor Jordan Callier, to be included as part of our new Saturday Food section. Enjoy!) <\/p>\n

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Eating vegan is more of a lifestyle than a choice, and it is not just for hipsters. People choose a vegan diet for many reasons. For some, a vegan diet is necessary for personal health or ethical reasons, while others choose to eat vegan for its minimal environmental impact. <\/p>\n

I am not a vegan, but in the last several years, I have eaten less animal products for health reasons. I was recently diagnosed with a genetic blood disorder, hemochromatosis, which causes my body to absorb too much iron from food. While many different foods can cause an iron overload, certain animal products are definitely off limits to me. For better health, I have opted to eat a more plant-based diet.<\/p>\n

Eating a vegan diet can also have drawbacks. Frankly, some of the vegan food is not as tasty as animal-based food. Vegan cheese? Yuck. Living in a small town, it can also be difficult to find affordable vegan products, while preparation can take a lot longer than processed foods \u2014 vegan or not. <\/p>\n

Instead of feeling disheartened about the difficulties of a plant-based diet, I often use Pinterest to find culinary inspiration. One such recipe that caught my eye is “Super Creamy Vegan Mac and Cheese.” The original recipe has 92 five-star reviews and takes about 20 minutes to make. If 92 people give it five stars, then there is a good chance it is delicious. <\/p>\n

Mac and cheese is one of my favorite comfort foods, so I am thrilled to find an easy to make vegan replacement. I approach this with an open mind, because I fear the coconut milk will make it too sweet. The best way to find out is to make it.<\/p>\n

I find all of the ingredients, except one, at our local City Market. The produce is beautiful and fresh, and I really do enjoy the Private Selection brand “Italian Trottole” imported from Italy. The noodles are wonderful al dente, and they also hold up if you accidentally overcook them as I have done many times. The only ingredient I cannot find at City Market is the nutritional yeast flakes. Luckily, Vitamin Cottage carries nutritional yeast flakes, and the yeast flakes really are the secret, since they add that cheesy flavor dimension to the dish.<\/p>\n

Once my ingredients are gathered, and staged in an aesthetically pleasing way, I am ready to go. I always improvise ingredients from original recipes to add my own signature, so I also include scallions, vegetable bullion, curry, turmeric and fresh made bread crumbs. My modifications add some extra time but are worth it. See my modified interpretation of “Super Creamy Vegan Mac and Cheese” below.<\/p>\n

I have no idea what to expect, but I am blown away with the results. The sauce is creamy and rich. It does not exactly taste like cheese, but it is certainly complex and flavorful. I’m usually a light eater, but I happily help myself to a second bowl. I have enough leftovers to eat for days. <\/p>\n

This is a cheap, easy and delicious dish for those who are vegan or just looking to be adventurous. The recipe can be made for about $20 and can feed a family of five. Whatever your reasons, this could be your new healthier, carbon conscious comfort food \u2014 as good as grandma’s, if grandma was a hipster vegan! <\/p>\n

Jordan Callier is an avid foodie and owns a digital marketing business in Glenwood Springs. <\/p>\n

via:: Post Independent<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(Editor’s note: The Post Independent introduces a new bi-weekly food column and recipe today from local contributor Jordan Callier, to be included as part of our new Saturday Food section. Enjoy!) — Eating vegan is more of a lifestyle than a choice, and it is not just for hipsters. People choose a vegan diet for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[112],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1386522","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-local-news"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-10-02 09:53:52","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KKCH - The Lift FM","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kkch","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kkch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1386522","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kkch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kkch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kkch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kkch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1386522"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kkch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1386522\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kkch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1386522"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kkch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1386522"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kkch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1386522"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}