Today I made my first vegan soulfood meal and I must say that it is delicious!! I am so excited because I made one of my favorite dishes mac & cheez. In fact, I have a 13 year old daughter who I don’t force to join this lifestyle. However, I encourage her to try the dishes that I make. Surprisingly, she is asking for my dishes more and more. This way, I am not forcing her to make changes – it is a gradual decision that she is making on her own. Well, she loves mac & cheese! She asked for a serving after trying mine. I haven’t told her that it was vegan just yet. LOL.

We are also making some dining changes by eating on salad plates instead of dinner plates. We add fresh veggies to each dinner (well, me more than her). If we eat from a dinner plate the goal is for half of the plate to be fresh veggies or salad. Ok, here are some pics of my first VEGAL SOUL FOOD DINNER – YEAH!! I’m not the best at measuring ingredients for recipes (I’m kinda the R. Ray type – eye ball it, hand full, drizzle, etc) so I’ll give you the ingredients I think you should cook and season dishes to your personal taste. With that being stated, I shared the ingredients & cooking process best I could below.

MAC & CHEEZ
(makes about 5 servings)
- 2 cups brown rice penne pasta
- approx. 6 oz light coconut milk
- approx. 3-4 tbsp of soy margarine
- approx. 1/2 pack of daiya cheddar (save some to sprinkle on top)
- approx. 2-3 tbsp of nutritional yeast
- hawaiin sea salt (HSS), fresh cracked pepper & paprika (too taste)

COOKING TIP: melt the butter, than add coconut milk and once it thickens add daiya & seasoning, Slowly add in pasta & put in caserole pan. Add the cheeze you site aside to the top. I add additional paprika & pepper on top.

COLLARD GREENS
(makes abotu 4 servings)
- approx. 1lb of greens
- diced oninon & green peppers
- pack of vegetable soup
- HSS, freshed cracked pepper & paprkia

COOKING TIP: Sautee diced onions & peppers, add hot water, then fill pan with greens. Cook greens slowly and when they start to get tender add in the vegetable soup and more seasonsing of your choosing. Cook a few more minutes and then mix all together. (Cook according to the tenderness that you prefer, but do not overcook them).

This was absolutely delicious. There is hope for me!! I am so thankful to everyone that post recipes – I can mix and match various ingredients and then make it my own like I did today.