Creative vegan geniuses

I have great admiration for the vegan cooks who have come before me and figured out how to make bacon out of rice, milk out of nuts, burgers out of grains, cheese sauce out of vegetables, and today's wonder of wonders: buttermilk biscuits with no milk, butter, or lard!  These people are seriously creative and intelligent.  I was getting bored after cooking for 30 years the old way, but now every time I go into the kitchen, I'm excited about what amazing experiment I get to do!  Today I made mac and cheese with an unbelievable cheese sauce, and then I used that same cheese sauce (made from vegetables!) to make the biscuits.  It took me the better part of the morning, but I had extra time this morning because my kids were sleeping off their post-World Series hangover.

 

Vegan buttermilk biscuits

• 2 cups flour
• 1 Tbls baking powder
• ½ tsp baking soda
• ¾ tsp salt
• ½ cup Cheese Sauce (see recipe below)
• 1 cup unsweetened plain Almond Milk
• 2 tsp Apple Cider Vinegar

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees
2. Whisk almond milk and vinegar together and set aside
3. Mix all dry ingredients in a large bowl
4. Add cheese sauce and stir in with a fork until it resembles large crumbs
5. Slowly pour in buttermilk mixture and stir with a wooden spoon until just slightly combined
6. Spoon out onto a floured work surface and gently knead 2-3 times
7. Roll out dough to 1" thickness and cut circles with cup, glass, jar, or biscuit cutter.
8. Place biscuits on parchment lined cookie sheet so they touch each other
9. Bake for 15 minutes or until golden brown.

Cheese sauce

• 16 oz potatoes (about 3 medium yukon golds) chopped
• 7 - 8 oz carrots, chopped (about ½ of a 16oz bag of baby carrots)
• ½ cup water used to boil vegetables
• ¼ cup plus 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast (I didn't measure, just dumped in a lot)
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1 tsp apple cider vinegar
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp onion powder
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• ½ tsp brown mustard
• 1/2 tsp turmeric

Instructions

1. Wash and scrub both potatoes and carrots (I didn't even peel them)
2. Chop into uniform pieces and boil for 10 minutes
3. Let rest for 5 minutes
4. With slotted spoon, transfer veggies to blender
5. Add ½ cup potato water
6. Pulse to mix (don't overmix or it turns into glue)
7. Add in remaining ingredients and blend until smooth