Vegan Mac and Cheese my toddler loves!

So many vegan mac and cheese recipes are overly spicy and not creamy.  I came across this one and modified it to have less fat.  It does have a substantial amount of fat because of the cashew butter, so be aware of that.  This recipe can be doubled easily. 

Combine the following ingredients in a sauce pan and whisk them while they heat.
1/2 cup raw cashew butter
1/4 cup nutritional yeast (you can add more, but use less salt if you do)
tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp salt (or less, wait to salt after it's all together)
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp white pepper
1 3/4 cup nondairy milk (I use plain soy milk, but unsweetened coconut dream would probably be fantastic!)

After that is all combined, whisk in...
1 1/2 tbsp cornstarch

the mixture will take on air and expand.  You could dress pasta with it at this point, but the last two ingredients add some depth to the flavors and you might want to try them.

Take 1/2 cup of the hot mixture and dissolve 2 tbsp. of white miso paste in it.  Return this to the pan and whisk together.  Whisk in 1 tbsp lemon juice. 

Pour this over cooked macaroni, wheels, or mini-shells.  It's sooooo good.  My first batch was a touch salty so it needs to have a side of snap peas or greens etc.  My toddler loved this and begged for more! 

Why we get fat

Stumbled across this compelling talk.  This fellow is a low-carb guy, but I didn't dismiss him out of hand because he looks healthy.  He is saying something very similar to what Drs McDougall, Esselstyn, and Barnard.  "Processed, calorically dense and nutrient poor foods make you fat." 

• processed, calorically dense foods make you fat
• eating less doesn't make you thin
• exercising more is not the magic bullet that makes you thin
• thermodynamics does NOT apply to weight loss, it's NOT a simple matter of calories in and calories out.  If you restrict calories, your body will simply burn fewer calories.
• obese people can and often are undernurished and even starving

Temperance

In the words of nineteenth-century Russian Bishop Ignatius Brianchaninov:

"Wise temperance of the stomach is a door to all the virtues. Restrain the stomach, and you will enter Paradise. But if you please and pamper your stomach, you will hurl yourself over the precipice of bodily impurity, into the fire of wrath and fury, you will coarsen and darken your mind, and in this way you will ruin your powers of attention and self-control, your sobriety and vigilance."

Eat to live!

The Weight of a Nation, HBO special

Sometimes I think I just can't do it and that I'll never be a normal looking person again.  But I know if I just plug away at my veggies and try out new recipes and pray, I'll be okay.  This is a good documentary from HBO.