Vegan Better-Than-Cheese Sauce

[BlessedBlue]

I have not been impressed with many cheese substitutes. Considering I wasn't impressed with cheese much to begin with, soy-ing it up just seemed :yuck. Not a fan of soy anyway...

Last night, DH wanted stuffed baked potatoes. He can have the cheese melted on it no problem. But the kids and I are dairy free. And I thought it sounded yummy. So I googled vegan cheese sauce, and found something that is pretty yummy! Oh, and NO SOY! :rockon Of course, I changed it up a little to make it work for us. Sooo:

Vegan Better-Than-Cheese Sauce

2 cups water
1 carrot, peeled and chopped
1/3 cup gluten free flour
2 tablespoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 tablespoon sunbutter (the original recipe called for 1/4 cup nutritional yeast flakes, I think anything with an umame flavor can be substituted... and adjusted to taste)
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 teaspoons onion powder
1.5 teaspoons salt



Cook carrot in 2 cups of water
Puree carrot and water in blender.
Add remaining ingredients and blend thouroughly.
Return puree to cook on the stove until thick and bubbly, stirring often to prevent scorching.
Serve over pasta, veggies, potatoes, etc.


:yum

[Eesti]

Ohh, gonna have to try it. Thanks!

[cobluegirl]

looks good....

one question.... the recipe says "anything with a ?? flavor can be used? "

[Blue-EyedLady]

umame = meaty/savory flavor http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Umami

BlessedBlue - you may have just saved my sanity. I was dreading going cheese-free again! Can't wait to try this (and mom is taking some of my sunbutter so she can try it too).

[cobluegirl]

interesting..never heard of it. I thought it was a typo....LOL

[sweetpeasmommy]

I keep meaning to try this, but I can't remember if nutritional yeast is okay on an anti yeast diet or not.

[curlymopmom]

I can't wait to try this. Thanks! :heart

[NewLeaf]

:yum

[Singingmom]

Does it taste...cheesy?

[BlessedBlue]

Almost cheddar-ish. ;)

It was definitely enough for my brain to see the yellow sauce, and accept the taste as acceptable for being on broccoli and baked potato. :yes I may or may not have swiped the leftovers out of the bowl with my finger and licked it. :shifty I definitely did go back for seconds of just broccoli and sauce. And used it for fondue-ing some eggplant.

My side by side taste tester declined this project. He wasn't feeling good.

[Blue-EyedLady]

I keep meaning to try this, but I can't remember if nutritional yeast is okay on an anti yeast diet or not.

IIRC, no, it's not.

---------- Post added at 03:33 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:32 PM ----------

Almost cheddar-ish. ;)

It was definitely enough for my brain to see the yellow sauce, and accept the taste as acceptable for being on broccoli and baked potato. :yes I may or may not have swiped the leftovers out of the bowl with my finger and licked it. :shifty I definitely did go back for seconds of just broccoli and sauce. And used it for fondue-ing some eggplant.

My side by side taste tester declined this project. He wasn't feeling good.

Ah, but did the kids eat it?

[sweetpeasmommy]

IIRC, no, it's not.
:impouting C is allergic to sunflower seeds and most nuts. What other umame ;) thing could I use?

[BlessedBlue]

Bean puree, Mild fish sauce, beef stock, chicken stock (of course, the last 3 cancel out the VEGAN claim ;)).

EBug was reticent but I believe she'll come around. She just needs the standard introduction of 2-3 times.

ABoo doesn't DO sauce, unless it's straight sunbutter. (Yes, he will dip his hotdogs and potato chips in sunbutter if given the chance.) So he declined.

Chunk-a-lunk thought it was an interesting offering. But he's majoring on cereal flakes right now.

[Blue-EyedLady]

Ok, I made the sauce. Having been dairy-free for only a week, my tastebuds haven't yet adjusted to the lack of dairy in my diet. So I knew I was taking a chance on whether or not I would like it or not. I was going for a mac-n-cheeze type thing. The sauce, imo, is too onion-y for that application. It looks like cheese sauce, and would probably work well as a nacho sauce for dipping chips, putting on tacos, etc. But not so much for mac-n-cheeze.

I think next time I will cut the onion in half, and up the salt instead.

[NewLeaf]

I'm so glad you bumped this! I need to try it :)

---------- Post added at 03:28 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:20 PM ----------

And couldn't resist this umami tid bit

"The first encounter of umami is in breast milk.[26] It contains roughly the same amount of umami as broths." Wikipedia :D

[NewLeaf]

I made this today and thought it was delish! :yum I'm short on vegan sauces and I put this over quinoa and broccoli today. It would definitely be good with potatoes. :yes

Mine didn't taste oniony. :shrug

[Blue-EyedLady]

Ok, so this has happened a couple of times. My sauce oxidized and turned grass-green. The first time it happened, the sauce had been in and out of the fridge and reheated a couple times, so I thought it had gone bad. This time, it turned green right in the pot I cooked it in, and it was clearly only the top layer that turned green. Any thoughts to prevent this? (Although DS1 says that green is his favorite color, so green sauce is ok! :lol)

[Zipporah]

Cut a piece of grease-proof paper to size, moisten slightly and lay it directly on top of the sauce? Saran wrap (sp?-it's called something different here :)) will do too if you use it.

[Annainprogress]

Might have to try this :) once I've bought something "umami" ;)

[BlessedBlue]

:scratch

I have no idea! Mine doesn't turn green.

[NewLeaf]

I haven't had that happen either. I have no idea. :think

[Annainprogress]

:think What sort of pan did you use?

[Blue-EyedLady]

anodized aluminum. It started turning green in the blender. My blender isn't fancy - just a cuisinart that you could get at walmart or wherever.

[BlessedBlue]

Made sauce tonight. It's yellow.

B, what flour are you using in your recipe?

[HomeWithMyBabies]

I have to try this! Today marks week three of dairy free for me, and I need some kind of sauce or I'll go mad.

[rheadeja]

Not to hijack this thread, but have any of you heard of Daiya?

It is an AMAZING, soy-free, casein-free, gluten-free vegan cheese product. It makes fantastic grilled cheese sandwiches, pizza, mac and cheese etc. Today I even made mozza sticks!!

You have to check it out if you can.....

http://daiyafoods.com/index.html

[BlessedBlue]

:hug Thank you, but I also need a corn-free product. Daiya has a number of ingredients that are corn-derived.

[rheadeja]

Too bad!! :(

[Blue-EyedLady]

:hug Thank you, but I also need a corn-free product. Daiya has a number of ingredients that are corn-derived.

:up This. :yes

J - I use brown rice flour. I tried making it again this week without the calcium powder and it's stayed yellow so far.

[BlessedBlue]

Now that's weird.

[4MKfam]

THANK YOU!!!! Just what I needed :). I'll add this to the recipe box!