Collard Greens and Mac 'n' "Cheese"

'Cause I didn’t get to the collard greens last night, they had to be done tonight. No excuses. But what to have with collard greens? Usually when I think of collard greens i think of fried chicken, but seeing as I've been having faux chicken meals all week, that idea went out the window. and then the answer came on page 104. Mac 'n' cheese. So my wife stopped by Sticky Fingers and grabbed some Daiya cheese. And now it’s 9 pm and we’re finally sitting down to dinner. Tasty, tasty dinner that took a while to make and was so worth the wait. Who doesn’t love mac’n’chesse?

Collard Greens

(WSCC pg. 90)

2 lbs collard greens, center veins cut out

2 ounces peppered vegan “bacon” product from Asian health food store (DC peeps, Terry’s Healthy Foods = faux meat heaven!)

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon sugar

8 cups water

Dice peppered vegan “bacon” product, combine with water, salt and sugar in a large stock pot and bring to boil. Add collard greens, turn heat to low, and simmer until tender. Apparently you should cook collards for 6-8 hours. But Fannie says 1-2. I cooked them for about 2 and a half hours. Also, the leftover liquid, called “pot liqour” one is supposed to dip cornbread in. Unfortunately, I didn’t make cornbread, so I can’t actually tell you if that’s any good or not.

Macaroni and “Cheese”

(WSCC pg. 104)

3 tbs margarine

2 tbs all purpose flour

2 cups nut milk (I used soy)

¾ cups silken firm tofu

½ tsp black pepper

½ tsp salt

Daiya cheddar “cheese” in the following measurements: 1 2/3 cups; 2/3 cups; 1/3 cup.

6 cups cooked elbow macaroni

¾ cup panko breadcrumbs

In a blender, combine soy milk and silken tofu until smooth. Melt the margarine in a medium saucepan. Whisk in flour until smooth. Whisk in soy milk/ tofu mixture. Add 1/3 cup daiya cheese and pepper is salt. Whisk until smooth and a little thick.

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Put 3 cups cooked macaroni in large glass baking pan. Cover with 1 2/3 cup Daiya cheese and layer the remaining noodles over the cheese. Pour all the sauce over the noodles and cover with the panko bread crumbs. Bake in the oven for 40 minutes. Sprinkle the remaining cheese over the breadcrumbs and bake for another 10 minutes.

Yum. Yum. Yum yum yum yum yum yum. Yum. 
 

Originally I made this with 8 cups, but upon further reflection I thought it may be too dry. So when my friend Julia asked for a mac 'n' cheese recipe, I told her to try 6 cups instead of 8. She did, and this is what she had to say: "I used jumbo macaroni because we already had it. We (her and her husband) ate it until we felt sick. I've never liked any vegan mac 'n' cheese until now." Thanks Julia!