As I mentioned in my last post, Vishnu and I are heading to Atlanta today.  Woo hoo!  I can’t wait to spend some time with my family before the big day.  There’s still so much left to do before the wedding, but I’m confident that my mom and I will get it all done with time to spare.  And now that Vishnu’s a little more free, in terms of time, he’ll be able to help as well. 

More wedding related updates to come in the coming weeks – stay tuned…

Because we’ll be gone for a few weeks, I didn’t stock up on groceries.  Instead, I managed with the things currently in my fridge and pantry.  Lots of egg whites and vegetables were consumed over the past few days.  Not too surprising though!

Anyway, not wanting to eat yet another omelet, I was forced to come up with something new for lunch yesterday.  I knew I wanted to use up some whole wheat penne and spinach I had sitting around.  With no marinara to top my bowl of pasta with, I decided to make my own cheese sauce….with nutritional yeast…dun dun dun!

My family and a lot of my friends have tried my “normal” mac n’ cheese made with real cheddar.  In fact, I’ve made it so many times now that I don’t even have to look at a recipe.  So, when I was trying to figure out how to make my nutritional yeast cheese sauce, I thought about that tried and true recipe to come up with my new healthy version.

I wasn’t sure how the sauce was going to turn out, but I’m happy to report that it was delicious.  In all honesty, it didn’t taste exactly like the real thing, but it was rich, creamy, flavorful, and cheesy”esque” – exactly what I was hoping for. 

“Cheese” Sauce for One
Serves 1

2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
1 tablespoon all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1/4 teaspoon paprika
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 tablespoon olive oil
1/4 cup water
2 tablespoon milk of choice (I used unsweetened almond milk)
1/2 teaspoon lemon juice

Mix all of the ingredients together in a bowl until combined.  Microwave for 30 seconds, stir, and repeat for another 30 seconds.

Sautéed spinach was the perfect addition to this dish.  All of the flavors really worked well together! 

I’m not going to lie, I kind of felt like I was on the Food Network show Chopped.  If I do say so myself, I think this dish would’ve survived the chopping block. 

Wow…the next time I post, it’ll be from Atlanta.  YAY!

What’s the most creative and resourceful dish you’ve come up with lately?  Ideas are always appreciated!