Foodie Friday: I steal plates.

It's Foodie Friday! Foodie Friday is my weekly feature that gives you a window into my kitchen. I love to cook, I love to eat, I love to read cookbooks, and I love to inspire people to give vegan food a chance. Thus, Foodie Friday was whipped up and baked to perfection.

First, something that is not food, but somewhat related: I was browsing my sister's Crate and Barrel wedding registry, and I fell in love with her fiancé the chef's dishes of choice. I'm thinking of getting a set of them to replace my hand-me-down/Goodwill dishes.


Worst sister ever, right? I know it's horrible to steal their dishes before anyone buys them a single salad plate. I know! But hear me out: My dishes are mismatched, two of the three sets came from a Goodwill in Norfolk, Virginia, and darn it, food will look good on them. Plus, I asked my sister if she'd be mad if I got the same dishes, and she said no.

What do you guys think? Would it be totally gauche if I got the dishes? Give me your best lady-friend advice.

On to the food (and think of how much better everything would look on a snow-white plate):

Chef Jason's chocolate chip cookies, from 1,000 Vegan Recipes.

Saag (Indian-spiced spinach) from 1,000 Vegan Recipes and baingan bartha, an Indian eggplant dish that I made using parts of two recipes. Jason raved about the saag. If I had been thinking right I would have spooned it onto the plate instead of poured it, so there wouldn't be so much liquid pooling under it. Lesson learned.
Roasted lemon asparagus with pine nuts and sesame spinach, both from 1,000 Vegan Recipes. Again with the pooling sauce, ugh. Hip square plates are not going to solve that problem for me.
Macaroni and cheez with a sauce of my own creation.
This sauce doesn't taste like cow cheese sauce, but it looks like it. It has a much more mature taste than blue box mac and cheese. Nutritional yeast has its own unique flavor, and ground flax seeds add thickness and a nutty note. This sauce is based on the mornay-style cheeze sauce from 1,000 Vegan Recipes.

1 Tbsp. olive oil
1 large yellow onion, chopped
1 14 oz. can vegetable broth
2 cups nutritional yeast
1 Tbsp. corn starch
1 cup plain soy milk
1 Tbsp. ground flax seeds
1 Tbsp. yellow mustard

In a large pan, cook onions and olive oil until onions are soft. This should take about ten minutes over medium heat with the lid on, but check the onions often to make sure they aren't burning.

Add the vegetable broth, nutritional yeast, and corn starch to the pan and stir well. Use a whisk if you have one--it will break up any clumps of cornstarch or nutritional yeast. Cook for a minute or so.

In a blender or food processor, pour in soy milk, ground flax seeds, and yellow mustard. Spoon or pour in onion mixture. Blend until smooth.

Pour into a pot of cooked, drained pasta and stir to coat.

Eat, rejoicing in the knowledge that no cows were stabbed with pitchforks in order to make your meal.